YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders • Hacker News Board

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#61

Post by atg2 » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:16 PM UTC

djtriptych wrote: post #49

colmvp wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notice that it's Black and Hispanic, and not Asian? At least Asian women might have dedicated office hours ("We will start with Black and Hispanic founders and if successful we hope to launch future Open Office Hours for Women, Veterans, and International founders.") Always seems like Asian men in the U.S. get the 'worst' of being a minority. Neither the societal advantages of white majority, nor the ability to acces…

Asian men are not underrepresented in the tech industry.

"Asian" is not a race.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#62

Post by clwk » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:16 PM UTC

santaclaus wrote: post #6

This is very exciting! Is the program open to those of Brazilian descent?

Good job cutting right to the heart of the language. As written, it sounds like the answer would be 'it depends…'. I'm curious whether I'm reading that accurately, though.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#63

Post by mindcrime » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:16 PM UTC

I think this is a good move, and glad to see YC doing it. And this is coming from somebody who is neither black nor hispanic.

I mean, I get the whole "isn't this just affirmative action and isn't AA bad?" thing, I really do. But this is a private business, not a government agency, and they are free to try and address issues of equality and what-not in whichever way they see fit. And when you're part of a group that is (or is seen as) disadvantaged, it can only help to have some very specific support thrown your way.

If this does even a small bit of good in terms of creating more successful companies founded by black or hispanic founders, I will benefit us all in the long run.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#64

Post by robot » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:17 PM UTC

Hand-holding minorities label them even more as a group that needs to be helped. They should be encouraged to be successful in the "same" environment as others and treated the same. The moment you do something "for" them is the moment you label them as that group that needs hand-holding even more. I don't think they need special treatment this way. It is done by good intention, but it does not need saying, you're black, let me help you. I would just do it without naming it.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#65

Post by IkmoIkmo » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:17 PM UTC

I'm a fan, let's be clear on what we're talking about 'short sessions to brainstorm, get advice, network and bounce around ideas' etc for those who are underrepresented. Knowledge transfer and capacity building like this is one of the best ways to help along minority groups in a manner that is deemed fair by most and, importantly, upholds the dignity of the individuals who get help.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#66

Post by stepmr » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:17 PM UTC

Is this open to Indigenous (i.e. Native American, First Nations, Inuit, Métis, etc) founders?

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#67

Post by tptacek » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:17 PM UTC

officialchicken wrote: post #55

arturventura wrote: post #9

I'm not trying to be a troll, I'm just trying to find a justification. Having something that says you can only can come in if you are "Black, Hispanic, Women, Veterans, and International founders" kinda racist as fuck? It sounds exactly like segregation to me. Again, not trying to be a troll. Not American, just trying to understand.

Whenever you are confused about our culture, just try following the money... problem + buzz + market = opportunity. These are good capitalist VC's acting normally, nothing unusual about it. And if I didn't miss it already, I wouldn't be surprised at a diversity-focused startup fund announcement some time very soon. In this light, this announcement is probably a test/market research for that fund.

Do you have some special insight about YC you can relate to us showing why that isn't just a bunch of stuff you made up?

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#68

Post by anigbrowl » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:17 PM UTC

78666cdc wrote: post #29

OmarIsmail wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because racism still exists: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-blac... "For her research, Pager pulled together four testers to pose as men looking for low-wage work. One white man and one black man would pose as job seekers without a criminal record, and another black man and white man would pose as job seekers with a criminal record. The negative credential of prison impaired the employment ef…

That's a poor study to cite. If you took two people of any one race and sent them looking for jobs, probably as often as not one would fare much better than the other just because of individual variability. You get hired based on your interview(s), not your resume.

Generally people who research employment discrimination send out identical resumes except for a test factor and then use the number of interview invitations as a proxy for reaction to the test factor.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#69

Post by tptacek » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:18 PM UTC

mojuba wrote: post #53

tcdent wrote: post #42

The explicit nature of identifying these groups by race is off-putting, mostly because it is short-sighted. Racial identification can't be the solution if the ultimate goal is to end racial disparity. This obviously isn't the first or last program YC implements, but as some point the message has got to become more sophisticated to accomplish the core goal. YC is a numbers game. This simply encourages stereotypically…

Exactly this. By announcing separate open hours for groups B and C, don't they deliberately make their normal hours even more A?

I do not follow this logic. There are minority and women YC founders who already get the (A) hours.

Re: YC Open Office Hours for Black and Hispanic Founders

#70

Post by balls187 » Wed, Sep 16, 2015, 7:19 PM UTC

78666cdc wrote: post #48

balls187 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Go ask a white kid growing up in a mostly black, poor neighborhood whether he feels like it's "his time." Yo Eminem, what do you think? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem#1972.E2.80.9391:_Early_...

By your logic, there are no social disadvantages for blacks either, because Jay-Z. Which is clearly false.

Strawman.

I made no mention of social disadvantages. I merely pointed out that Eminem fits the description of hypothetical "white kid" the parent commenter referenced.