Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
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Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
1–10 of 126 posts
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#2People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them.
I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be.
Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distinguish between blacks and Indians is flawed.
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#3[deleted]
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#4People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them. I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be. Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distin…
Americans didn't enslave Indians for centuries, have a civil war that created deep political fractions till this day, made it illegal for Blacks to read or drink from Whites-only water fountains, and then launch a series of legal structures that prevented Blacks from being treated as human beings.
In actuality, a landmark Supreme Court case was of an Indian man who wanted to own US property but couldn't and his defense was that he was related to Aryans and therefore could be considered White.
Black isn't so much a color, it's both an individual and collective experience, and the experiences of Blacks in America in relations to Whites is what makes race-relations and social, political, economic progress unique to Blacks as opposed to other ethnic groups who have faced discrimination and even oppression but not to the degree of Blacks.
The closest comparison I would make to Blacks and Indians is of the higher Indian castes and the Dalits (Untouchables). So, yes, Black and Indians can be distinguished from one another and at the same time learn from one another.
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#5People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them. I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be. Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distin…
You only covered the "like them" aspect, what about the "fit a pattern that appeals to them" part?
Chinese and Indians fall into "model minority" stereotypes, which have their own set of evils (you are X so you must be good at Y is it's own kind of dehumanization). So someone making a gut call might have underlying prejudices for Asians and against blacks.
In other words, when is the last time a white person has crossed the street to avoid a Chinese/Indian person walking towards them. Ask a black guy when the last time that happened.
I think there are also many cultural differences at play, as well as people's perceptions of those cultural differences.
Startups take their own kind of crazy, and it really helps to be surrounded by people that tell you its ok to be crazy or are at least as crazy as you. And if you are going to be around crazy people, you will probably want to know that they are the same kind of cazy :) Being from different cultures (or assuming you are) will make it harder to sense this.
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#6People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them. I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be. Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distin…
Americans didn't enslave Indians for centuries, have a civil war that created deep political fractions till this day, made it illegal for Blacks to read or drink from Whites-only water fountains, and then launch a series of legal structures that prevented Blacks from being treated as human beings. In actuality, a landmark Supreme Court case was of an Indian man who wanted to own US property but couldn't and his defen…
> Black isn't so much a color, it's both an individual and collective experience,
> and the experiences of Blacks in America in relations to Whites is what makes
> race-relations and social, political, economic progress unique to Blacks as
> opposed to other ethnic groups who have faced discrimination and even
> oppression but not to the degree of Blacks.
[I know the original Indian referred too, I was disputing the "unique" part]
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#7People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them. I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be. Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distin…
Americans didn't enslave Indians for centuries, have a civil war that created deep political fractions till this day, made it illegal for Blacks to read or drink from Whites-only water fountains, and then launch a series of legal structures that prevented Blacks from being treated as human beings. In actuality, a landmark Supreme Court case was of an Indian man who wanted to own US property but couldn't and his defen…
Chinese were effectively imported as a mass of slave labor, and American Indians were subjected to slavery and genocide. (The European colonies in America joined the African slave trade because the supply of American Indian slaves was being exhausted, as a matter of fact.)
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#8People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them. I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be. Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distin…
You only covered the "like them" aspect, what about the "fit a pattern that appeals to them" part? Chinese and Indians fall into "model minority" stereotypes, which have their own set of evils (you are X so you must be good at Y is it's own kind of dehumanization). So someone making a gut call might have underlying prejudices for Asians and against blacks. In other words, when is the last time a white person has cros…
You know what immigrant population, statistically, is even more successful than the stereotypical "model minority" Chinese and Indians? Immigrants from actual Africa.
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#9People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them. I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be. Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distin…
Chinese and Indians are also not "like them"
Yes, they often are. One of the biggest names in the VC world is Vinod Khosla. Kleiner Perkins has a whole team dedicated to China. Accel has multiple Chinese and Indians on their US team (and dedicated China and India teams).
Every major SV VC firm looks like this. White (US), White (European), White (Israeli), Indian, and Chinese.
The "them" isn't just Caucasians, but it includes Chinese and Indians.
Re: Arrington, Race, and Silicon Valley
#10People, for the most part, want to work with people that are “like them” or that fit a pattern that appeals to them. I see this argument made a lot. But this argument has a huge hole in it - Chinese and Indians are also not "like them". And yet, Chinese/Indians are not underrepresented. If Hank William's theory were correct, they should be. Any theory concerning the underrepresentation of blacks which does not distin…
You only covered the "like them" aspect, what about the "fit a pattern that appeals to them" part? Chinese and Indians fall into "model minority" stereotypes, which have their own set of evils (you are X so you must be good at Y is it's own kind of dehumanization). So someone making a gut call might have underlying prejudices for Asians and against blacks. In other words, when is the last time a white person has cros…
Exactly, it's an issue of prejudice more than racism- I would bet that a white american with a thick southern accent would probably face more of an uphill battle than any of the above.