Oh, man, not this issue again... Listen, we don't want to get into a heated discussion over racial quotas and affirmative action (we'll leave that for the feedback section of MacCentral's coverage of yesterday's shareholders' meeting, where the debate appears to be raging nicely), but without getting into the politics of the issue, we're just a little tired of hearing people complain that there are no minorities on Apple's board of directors. We'll tell you why in a minute, but first a little exposition is probably in order.

To the best of our knowledge, this issue first garnered widespread attention with respect to Apple just over two years ago, when civil rights leader and Dr. Seuss reciter Jesse Jackson publicly blasted Apple for using the images of people like Cesar Chavez and Miles Davis in its "Think Different" ads while not actually having any minorities on its board. It was at that time that Jackson announced that he had purchased Apple stock and "fully intended to be among the attendees at Apple's next shareholders' meeting." Strangely enough, though, we didn't hear about any Jesse vs. Steve showdowns at last year's do.

This year, however, someone else picked up Jesse's baton and the question popped up again; CNET reports that a shareholder noted that "Apple has no racial minorities on its board" and that "adding women and minorities would truly help Apple 'think different.'" Steve agreed, and admitted that it's Apple's fault for not having looked hard enough for suitable candidates.

Okay, now here's where we start to lose it. When he started this ball rolling ,technically Jackson complained about the lack of "African American or Latino" representation on Apple's board, but considering that two paragraphs later in his original statement on the subject he includes "Asians" in his list of minorities for whom he wants to open the "world of venture capital," does it strike anyone else as strange that amid all this complaining about a lack of minorities on Uncle Steve's dream team, nobody ever seems to remember Gareth Chang? The man's not even just of Asian descent-- he's a full-on native of Chengdu, China, according to Apple's press release announcing Chang's addition back in 1996. The picture of him there is broken, but we dug up an excerpt from a Cable & Satellite Europe article that includes a couple of snapshots of ol' Gareth, just in case anybody doubts the man's ethnicity.

So what's the deal, here-- are Asians no longer considered minorities among the proponents of racial diversity? Again, we're not saying that Apple wouldn't benefit solidly from more diversity on its board, but every time someone starts complaining about the alleged no-minority status of Apple's board, we always picture poor Gareth reading these articles and checking to make sure that he hasn't turned invisible. Even Steve seems to have forgotten Gareth, since you'd think he would have at least mentioned the man when the whole "no minorities" thing came up. Maybe Gareth just needs to score some more press coverage to get back into the public's view; perhaps he can find the time to date a wanton celebrity or get caught committing a highly embarrassing misdemeanor. There's always hope.