Google expresses ‘support of racial equality, and all those who search for it’

This past week has seen widespread protests in cities across the United States. Google today expressed solidarity for this moment in history with a message on the Search homepage. YouTube has a similar display and is encouraging donations.

Underneath the Google logo and search field, there is a black ribbon with the following line: “We stand in support of racial equality, and all those who search for it.”

In addition to Google.com, this message appears at the bottom of Chrome’s New Tab page on desktops. Those high-profile spaces are usually reserved for advertising new services and hardware products.

The message is not accompanied by a link. Stateside, it replaces a Google Doodle “celebrating the Galápagos Islands.”

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai also expressed his personal thoughts today:

Today on US Google & YouTube homepages we share our support for racial equality in solidarity with the Black community and in memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery & others who don’t have a voice. For those feeling grief, anger, sadness & fear, you are not alone. pic.twitter.com/JbPCG3wfQW

— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) May 31, 2020

YouTube on Friday evening shared the same sentiment and announced that it’s “pledging $1M in support of efforts to address social injustice.” The video site’s Twitter account also switched to a more somber avatar, with the previous icon encouraging people to stay home in light of COVID-19.

We stand in solidarity against racism and violence. When members of our community hurt, we all hurt. We’re pledging $1M in support of efforts to address social injustice.

— YouTube (@YouTube) May 30, 2020

On Sunday morning, YouTube.com in the US has a banner ad and “Donate Now” button about taking a “Stand Against Racial Injustice” that links to a video from the official channel:

Meanwhile, Google late on Friday announced that the Android 11: Beta Launch Show would not take place this coming Wednesday. The team felt that “now is not the time to celebrate” as the San Francisco Bay Area where the company is headquartered experiences protests.