Apple Inc.'s Cook Makes Civil Rights Pitch At Commencement Speech

At the start of his commencement speech at George Washington University Sunday, Apple Inc. AAPL Chief Executive Timothy D. Cook made a standard announcement. "You've heard this before. About silencing your phones," Cook said. "Those of you with an iPhone, just place it in silent mode. If you don't have an iPhone, please pass it to the center aisle. Apple has a world‑class recycling program." Cook, who in October was the first head of a major American corporation to come out as gay, made a brief pitch for civil rights. Citing Martin Luther King's Letter from the Birmingham Jail, "Dr. King wrote that our society needed to repent, not merely for the hateful words of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people," Cook said. Cook recalled that as a teenager he met the then-governor of his native Alabama George Wallace and President Jimmy Carter during the same week. "One of them was right, and one was wrong," Cook said. "Wallace had built his political career by exploiting divisions between us. Carter's message was that we are all bound together, every one of us." Much like in a 2010 commencement speech Cook gave at his alma mater Auburn University, the 54-year-old Cook reminisced for students about his early experiences with Apple founder Steven Jobs. http://www.fastcompany.com/1776338/tim-cook-apple-ceo-auburn-university-commencement-speech-2010 "He convinced me if we worked hard and made great products, we too could help change the world," said Cook, who was hired by Jobs in 1998. "And to my surprise, I was hooked. I took the job and changed my life. It's been 17 years and I have never once looked back," Cook said Sunday. "We believe that a company that has values and acts on them can really change the world," Cook said.