Dear Marc Benioff

Dear Marc,

Salesforce was built on empowering communities—not deploying the National Guard into them. But last week, that's exactly what you endorsed.

We are Salesforce employees, alumni, community members, tech workers, San Francisco residents, and our allies. Many of us chose to work with or for Salesforce because you said business could be the greatest platform for change. In your book Trailblazer, you wrote that values are the bedrock of a resilient company. In 2015, you canceled all Salesforce programs in Indiana and threatened economic sanctions when the governor signed a law enabling discrimination. You fought for Proposition C, a business tax to fund homeless services in San Francisco. You told us capitalism could have a conscience.

Those values inspired many people to build their careers at Salesforce, to partner with the company, to believe the tech industry could be different. But your recent actions have revealed a troubling hypocrisy.

Last week, you told the New York Times that President Trump should deploy the National Guard to San Francisco, saying "we don't have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I'm all for it." After local officials condemned your comments and supervisors threatened to boycott Dreamforce, you issued a carefully worded statement and announced a vague $15 billion investment pledge with no specifics.

Walking back your words doesn't undo the damage.

The danger is now mounting. Yesterday Trump said San Francisco will be the next target for National Guard deployment. In our opinion, your endorsement gave him permission. Elon Musk amplified your statement, calling military deployment to San Francisco "the only solution." If federal troops arrive—and they may, the responsibility will be partly on your shoulders.

The National Guard deployments you endorsed have a track record.

Federal judges have blocked Guard deployments in Portland and Chicago, finding the administration exaggerated threats and that deployment would make things worse, not better. In both cities, federal agents used tear gas on protesters, detained journalists, and in Chicago, shot two people, killing one.

San Francisco's own District Attorney, Brooke Jenkins, said she would prosecute anyone, including federal agents, who becomes violent or harasses residents. She noted that San Franciscans are scared that "we are next in line for what Trump is delivering to other cities."

Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Portland are already living this reality. San Francisco could be next and your words help make that possible.

Salesforce was built on community, not militarization.

The force of collective action and community strength should be celebrated, not the use of military force deployed against the city that built you. Community means trusting local democracy, investing in long-term solutions, and treating people as neighbors. Militarization means overriding local control, using suppression instead of support, treating residents as threats.

These aren't compatible values, and you need to choose.

We live here. We work here. Our families are here. Many of us have children in San Francisco schools. When you call for federal troops from your home in Hawaii, you're inviting potential violence into our neighborhoods—the places where we raise our families, where we shop, where we build our lives. This isn't abstract. It's personal.

There's no middle ground here: you either support deploying troops against San Francisco, or you don't.

This is binary. Either you publicly retract your call for federal troops, or you own that you support military deployment to American cities over the objections of their residents, their elected officials, and federal judges. Either Salesforce commits resources to proven community-based safety solutions, or the company's stated values are just marketing.

A vague monetary pledge and a carefully worded statement don't address this moral question. Some things matter more than quarterly earnings or federal contracts.

Our demands are clear:

1. Fully and unequivocally retract your endorsement of National Guard deployment to San Francisco.

   Not through PR spin. Make a direct public statement that you were wrong to welcome federal troops, that you oppose any military deployment to San Francisco, and that you recognize federal courts have found such deployments unconstitutional in other cities. There's no way to soften this. Either you retract it, or you don't.

2. Commit Salesforce to community-based, nonviolent safety solutions.

   Work with San Francisco's community leaders, service providers, and residents—the people actually doing this work—to develop meaningful, measurable investments in permanent supportive housing, harm reduction, and mental health services. These are the interventions your own UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative research shows actually work.

We're not dictating dollar amounts or timelines. Community leaders are better positioned to define what's needed. What we're asking is that you listen to them, amplify their voices rather than override them, and commit Salesforce to supporting their solutions—not calling in outside militarized forces that research shows make things worse.

As a prominent business leader, your voice carries immense weight. Use it to support, not undermine, the people who live here and do this work every day.

If you choose not to act, we will hold you accountable.

We won't stay silent. We'll use every tool available to us—as employees, as alumni, as community members, as partners, as residents of this city—to ensure the public understands the gap between Salesforce's stated values and your actions. We'll make sure people know who invited troops to San Francisco, and who refused to make it right.

San Francisco is watching. The tech community is watching. Your employees are watching. When Trump threatened other cities with troops, most business leaders stayed silent or pushed back. You were one of the only major tech CEOs to publicly welcome it. That makes you responsible for what comes next.

All we're asking is that you honor the values you built your brand on.

You built a company on the idea that business leaders should do the right thing even when it's hard. That vision of values-driven business attracted talent, partners, and respect. You built Salesforce's reputation on it and called it trailblazing. Prove it wasn't just marketing.

You stood up publicly in Indiana and Georgia. It made a difference. San Francisco deserves the same courage.

The choice is yours. Make it count.

We invite all San Francisco residents, Salesforce employees, tech workers, and allies to add their names. This affects all of us.