21–30 of 35 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not very surprising since they are "minorities", implying that there aren't as many of them.
Minority in the sociological sense doesn't necessarily refer to numbers, but voting majority. ie. blacks in South Africa during apartheid outnumbered whites but were a sociological minority.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then why is the headline "Two 11-year-old entrepreneurs learned the hard way what it’s like to be a minority in tech during Startup Weekend"? Is minority here referring to being outliers in the age distribution or "a sociological group that does not make up a politically dominant voting majority of the total population of a given society"[1]? If it's the former then you should say "in the minority" or something. If i…
yes, I state that in the post about ALL the factors for the 11yrs old as "minority" in terms of their age, gender for the little girl and race.
You said that wasn't the point you were making: ie. that the point you were making was not that "being a minority" (read: ethnic minority - being young does not constitute being a minority since everyone is young at some point in their lives but not everyone is black, for example) influence the outcome for these two.
Now you're saying that you were making that point - but that you're saying that they were both a minority, and "minors" in that they were so young.
I think you were quite clearly link baiting here using the race card even if you're not admitting it - however the story clearly shows that these two couldn't get serious hackers to work on their ideas because they're 11 years old. I seriously doubt that their ethnic or gender minority status had anything to do with their outcomes at this event.
Also you've described Marci as a woman. She's 11. She's not a woman, she's a girl. You couldn't even describe her as a young woman - she's most definitely a girl.
Comparing age based prejudice to race or gender based prejudice is erroneous anyway. Discrimination based on age (in the case of exclusion of young people from certain activities) is entirely appropriate. Discrimination and exclusion based no race is never appropriate and gender based exclusion is rarely appropriate (I say rarely since exclusion of women from competing against men in, say, professional rugby is a safety issue).
We were all young once, but I've never been black and I've never been female (although I could approximate the latter through surgery if I was keen).
edit: removed "as stated above"
If an 11 year old black child pitches me an incredible startup idea, I would not join their team. Calling me racist for that is racist in itself. I don't think an 11 year old is competent to run a company or manage a product.
This article is a rarity in being such a clear example of reverse racism. Get over yourselves. The fucking president of the United States is black. Do you think attendees of startup weekend are more racist than your average American who voted for Obama?
If a competent black adult pitched a startup, they would have had no more of a problem assembling a team than a white or asian.
This sort of self-important racism by people fixated on the past is exactly what holds black culture back.
I attended startupweekend in nyc recently and enjoyed myself thoroughly! That event also included a kid pitching an idea (this kid was white). That idea was selected but I believe no one joined the team until day 2 (Saturday). I did find this surprising because the idea was decent. On the morning of day 2, the organizers made an announcement if people were still looking for a team, the kid's team was "open". A few pe…
Interesting story, I personally think that their age was the major reason for being left out. Both ideas weren't worse than some of the stuff I've seen out there being lunched and getting funded. At least they picked things that were directly related to their personal interest. I wish someone had pointed them to AppInventor for Android. I think App Inventor is directly targeted to young people like them. While I was…
Yes, I their age played a big roll. Also you had to be there to experience it. I tried to tell the story as it happen. The kids were serious in pitching and people voted for them but I don't think everyone who voted for them took them serious and wanted to join their team.
I see you run an accelerator for minorities. Why not run them through your program?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
yes, I state that in the post about ALL the factors for the 11yrs old as "minority" in terms of their age, gender for the little girl and race.
The original comment you replied to said you were (subtext: intentionally in order to create more traffic for your article) confusing racial prejudice with age/quality of idea. You said that wasn't the point you were making: ie. that the point you were making was not that "being a minority" (read: ethnic minority - being young does not constitute being a minority since everyone is young at some point in their lives b…
There's this part:
> Out of the 170 or so attendees, I would guess there were about 15 to 20 blacks and maybe 10 of other ethnicities. The majority of participants were white and mostly guys.
If the focus is on their age, why doesn't he mention the age distribution there?
The only time in the entire post that he conflates their age with being a minority is, "...in terms of age and race".
Also, the accelerator program he's running doesn't exactly appear to be geared towards kids -- although, to be fair, it's hard to tell for sure, since the founders' ages aren't included in the bios of the companies they're working with. So, when he says, "Numbers like this is just another reason why we’re launching the NewME Accelerator to help other minorities launch their startup," I don't think he means age there, either.
This really bugs me. If the focus is on ethnicity and gender, I think that could become an extremely pernicious idea in this industry, because any bets on the future successes of an idea should rest solely on the quality of the idea, and any bets on the future successes of founders should rest solely on the founders' personalities and their determination to make their business successful. Ethnicity and gender should not be playing any role in any of that; to give extra attention to a startup because of the gender or ethnicity of the founders is to do a disservice not only to them -- because they will still need to compete in a market which is far less interested in their ethnicity or gender -- but also to other startups competing for resources.
Oh, and then there was this part:
> Marci and Ben experienced what it’s like to be a minority in tech. You can have great ideas, and people can and will say it’s a good idea but at the end of the day you may be own your own with little support.
No, they experienced what it's like to be people in tech.
> What happened next was a hard wake up call for two young entrepreneurs who were
> ready to start working on their startup and something I hope any entrepreneur,
> parent or kid never experiences in their life.
A few years down the road, maybe you'll be chronicling a 15 year old Ben asking Susie to go on a date. Will Susie's rejection be a hard wake-up call that you hope nobody ever experiences in their life?
Instead, pull them aside and offer a little bit of mentorship. Tell them that this is exactly the same thing that white men with MBAs go through when they come up with an idea (it's the next Facebook!) and no hacker joins them either. Show them this site, where we developers mock rich privileged kids who think their ideas are zomg awesome: http://whartoniteseekscodemonkey.tumblr.com/ Teach them that ideas are a dime a dozen and that if they can't code and they still want to prove themselves, then they're going to have to roll up their own sleeves and get to work showing people why they theirs should be taken seriously. Teach them that they're NOT entitled to automatic help because of their age and skin color, but that they need to earn it.
But hoping that they never learn any hard life lessons? Ridiculous.
Don't get me wrong, I think that there are certainly serious barriers within the start-up world for women and minorities. I'm not sure this is an example of that bias playing out, though.
Ugh. If an 11 year old black child pitches me an incredible startup idea, I would not join their team. Calling me racist for that is racist in itself. I don't think an 11 year old is competent to run a company or manage a product. This article is a rarity in being such a clear example of reverse racism. Get over yourselves. The fucking president of the United States is black. Do you think attendees of startup weekend…
Subprime mortgage rates are nearly double for black and hispanic households: http://www.epi.org/economic_snapshots/entry/webfeatures_snap...
Black males are 10 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug offences than whites: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0309web_1.p...
Black sounding names are less likely to get a callback, despite identical resumes: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/29/national/main57568...
This is not an issue that is solved by a single election, or by making it sound like a "moral" failure on the part of blacks or whites. It is complex, systemic, and we all have our internal biases that are difficult to recognize, let alone root out.