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For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

bloomberg.com

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Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#561

Post by bulgagoo »

this article title is so racist. stop normalizing it and represent the success stories.

the whole, "X is so marginalized and victimized," narrative represents negative stereotypes and reinforce a victimhood identity that only disempowers X, and reinforces to the dominant ethnic groups' superiority narrative

few would believe that such psyop propaganda is part of systemic racism, lured instead by the virtue signaling and fake "solidarity" parroting such victimization narratives would seem to yield. but it is.

you'll resist the idea I propose by saying, highlighting how bad everything is, is doing something about it, while pretending there's no problem is part of the problem.

viewing another way you'll see that editorializing to consistently represent a problem is a problem.

but such psyop propaganda is so embedded in the politically corrected social discourse programming that few will be able to escape

you'll most likely dismiss this idea by pretending this idea is just apologizing for racism.

it will be very hard for you to see beyond that but you should try, it's worth it.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#562

Post by toyg »

seppin wrote: post #512
jsharf wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Christmas feels weird to me -- It feels vaguely exclusive.

I mean no offense by this, but the jewish experience in America doesn't compare to the black experience. In 99% of cases you are just another white person.

It has to be said that, by all accounts, this didn't use to be the case until about WWII. But yeah, like all "white" minorities, Jews were eventually freed of the stigma. Obviously that's not the case for others.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#563

Post by scooble »

hef19898 wrote: post #513
blub wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about racism makes white people uncomfortable because whether it's talking about a specific individual or not, there's an implicit undertone that they're also white and part of the problem. This is particularly grating when considering that white people are a very diverse group and the experience of a white male in Iran is completely different to the one of a white upper-class female in the US or a lower-inco…

Racism against white people? Definetly notin the wstern world. And if you really want to put a strawman for anti-white-racism up there, use some of the actually happened atrocities against white land owners in some Africna countries after de-colonisation. Obviously without the historic context, because it wouldn't work otherwise. Don't pick Iran, besides being the current boogey man for conservative circles, it reall…

"Racism against white people? Definetly notin the wstern world."

Iirc, in the UK, around half of victims of race hate crimes are white.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#564

Post by bestnameever »

lappet wrote: post #453
ibudiallo wrote: post #140

I usually choose to believe in "the honest mistake". It happens, two people walk in, one of them is the CEO, you assume it is the one on the right. And then when you realize it is a mistake, you apologize. We are only human. But when it happens over and over and over, you can't help but feel frustrated. You realize that people natural instinct is to think you are the subordinate. One second your are on stage at Techc…

Man, I feel you, I have worked in the valley for 10 years and am yet to work closely with a black developer. I have felt the loneliness at times - I seem to oscillate between all white teams and teams with many Asians (I am Indian). When you are a minority in a group, I think you tend to overthink things, feel very judged, and may be put in to an uncomfortable position to speak for your community. It can be weird and…

> When you are a minority in a group, I think you tend to overthink things, feel very judged, and may be put in to an uncomfortable position to speak for your community.

why do you feel judged?

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#565

Post by blub »

hef19898 wrote: post #513
blub wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talking about racism makes white people uncomfortable because whether it's talking about a specific individual or not, there's an implicit undertone that they're also white and part of the problem. This is particularly grating when considering that white people are a very diverse group and the experience of a white male in Iran is completely different to the one of a white upper-class female in the US or a lower-inco…

Racism against white people? Definetly notin the wstern world. And if you really want to put a strawman for anti-white-racism up there, use some of the actually happened atrocities against white land owners in some Africna countries after de-colonisation. Obviously without the historic context, because it wouldn't work otherwise. Don't pick Iran, besides being the current boogey man for conservative circles, it reall…

Attacking people because of their skin color (even verbally) is the very definition of racism.

This is exactly what's happening these days as white people are all put into one bucket and blamed for all the injustice in the US.

Iran is a good example. Turkey too or any country that has a different religion/political system but where a part of the population is in fact "white".

Mexico's another good example.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#566

Post by hebrox »

GaryNumanVevo wrote: post #57
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #21

I thought this was a great article. One of the most interesting things to me was how the embarrassment/defensiveness of the white people involved was one of the biggest blocks to the black CEOs in their advancement, e.g. the VCs who "just wanted to get the hell out of there" after mistaking a white subordinate for the CEO. I've recently been reading/watching some videos and writings by Robin Diangelo on systemic raci…

I'm skeptical about Robin Diangelo, I read her book a few months ago, and it only seems to be an advertisement for her services as an anti-racist instructor. Her entire argument frames race relations within the context of the workplace which is problematic because her approach is coercive, not educational. It's more a guide on "how not to get fired for being racist" than anything. There are much better books for foun…

This also made an impact on me: "Traveling While Black" on the Oculus Quest https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2121787737926354

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#567

Post by buran77 »

bmn__ wrote: post #525
brabel wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The very fact they find it necessary to use a different word to describe themselves, "expats", than what they call foreigners who live in their countries, "immigrants", shows that they do not at all consider themselves to be in any way similar. I've lived as part of a minority in other countries for half of my life. I try as much as I can to blend in, not because I think they are superior, but because I want to learn…

> The very fact they find it necessary to use a different word to describe themselves, "expats", than what they call foreigners who live in their countries, "immigrants", shows that they do not at all consider themselves to be in any way similar. I was taught these are two words for different concepts. An immigrant expects to take permanent residence in a foreign country, an expatriate – temporarily. The former doing…

After living for many years in another country and being called an "immigrant", while hearing other foreigners being called "expats" I realized that people just create a mental rule for what each word means: coming from a rich country = expat, coming from a poor country = immigrant.

So an American permanently living in the UK will be considered an expat. A polish will be called an immigrant. Despite the actual definition of the word, "immigrant" has a negative nuance artificially attached to it so people use it to this effect.

In Europe I noticed that skin color makes less of a difference than "source country". Many British people will still treat African-American individuals as expats, and an Albanian as an immigrant, once they find out where they came from.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#568

Post by raxxorrax »

freddie_mercury wrote: post #386
js2 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am Jewish. This gives me no insight into what it is to be black in America. But it does give me some insight into what it is to be a minority in America. I have an inkling of your loneliness and you have my profound sympathy. I wish everyone could experience what it is to be a minority in some, any, aspect of their identity to the extent that it might provide them some empathy for others. (I also never realized wha…

> I wish everyone could experience what it is to be a minority in some, any, aspect of their identity to the extent that it might provide them some empathy for others. You would be surprised at how pervasive and long-lasting majority privilege can be. I live in Southeast Asia where foreigners are a very distinct minority and they experience all kinds of hardships. Difficulties making (local) friends, difficulties dea…

It is pretty normal that you hold onto traditions of your original country as an expat, you can observe this everywhere in every culture. Sometimes that loyalty goes far beyond that of people still in their home countries.

That said, someone has to be the majority and I think minorities in general have no problem with it. It isn't necessarily a "privilege" or a problem. If it is too hard on you, perhaps relocation is a better option. Most people just don't give it a thought after a while and no society can adapt to every whim, it is on minorities to adapt to the present culture.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#569

Post by peteretep »

dgb23 wrote: post #291
ibudiallo wrote: post #140

I usually choose to believe in "the honest mistake". It happens, two people walk in, one of them is the CEO, you assume it is the one on the right. And then when you realize it is a mistake, you apologize. We are only human. But when it happens over and over and over, you can't help but feel frustrated. You realize that people natural instinct is to think you are the subordinate. One second your are on stage at Techc…

> You wouldn't believe how lonely it is. In my team of 150 people, we were two black people. This is a huge part of the problem isn't it? I believe these painful interactions would be much less common if tech culture were more diverse in the first place. Women share a similar fate. Whenever I hear some of these stories I cringe. Some of them are surprising/shocking even. But this seems important. Hearing those storie…

> I believe these painful interactions would be much less common if tech culture were more diverse in the first place.

I have this bias that people who get into programming as kids tend to end up as the strongest developers. My own personal effort to try and help tech diversify is support and promotion of https://www.blackgirlscode.com/

When I've worked in London I've been often surprised at how diverse QA teams are, especially compared to dev teams. I wonder if that's related.

Re: For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

#570

Post by tarkin2 »

ibudiallo wrote: post #140

I usually choose to believe in "the honest mistake". It happens, two people walk in, one of them is the CEO, you assume it is the one on the right. And then when you realize it is a mistake, you apologize. We are only human. But when it happens over and over and over, you can't help but feel frustrated. You realize that people natural instinct is to think you are the subordinate. One second your are on stage at Techc…

Do you wonder if at least a few people are nervous? Some members of my family are straight-out racist. But then a few have said they prefer not buying goods from British Indians in my hometown because they feel somehow uncomfortable, yet bode no ill-will. How the British social awkwardness relates to American culture, I don’t know, however.
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