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Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

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Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#441

Post by diyorgasms »

HarryHirsch wrote: post #416
Joof wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for chemistry, but this is a horrificly shitty thing. There are many factors influencing what schools a student chooses to attend. Finances being an important one.

College choice is a problem, especially for first-generation students and those whose families aren't well-off. There are students who could do much better than Tumbleweed State, but they didn't pick the nearby Ivy because they it never crossed their minds that they could have gotten in. There might have been a decent financial aid package. If there wasn't one, who can risk debt in this economic climate. But I can't…

This is one of the most horribly elitist comments I think I have ever seen on this site.

Cost is a huge consideration for prospective college student, especially since the onset of the Great Recession.

Furthermore, quality education is available at (I would estimate) most institutions of higher learning. It's just that the students have to do some research to find out who the good professors are at the less prestigious schools.

I think you are doing yourself, your company, and the graduates of less prestigious institutions of higher learning a great disservice being so dismissive toward "lesser" schools.

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#442

Post by natrius »

xaa wrote: post #204
pc86 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's pretty standard in the US, due to our history, for colored people to just feel out of place in 9/10 white environment. Calling them "colored people" certainly doesn't help.

Isn't it interesting how "people of color" is a common self-designation for (most frequently) black people, whereas "colored people", literally synonymous, is considered offensive? Of course there are valid historical reasons for it, but many people (probably including GP) don't know about them. The euphemism treadmill can get quite exhausting.

"Colored" isn't offensive, it's just old-fashioned. Words become old-fashioned all the time.

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#443

Post by School-Cotton »

niels_olson wrote: post #435
School-Cotton wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am from the Southwest and it is not very diverse compared to SV. Having a lot of Latinos doesn't make a place diverse. There are tons of Latinos and tons of Whites in Arizona. Not much of anything else.

As I said: > that's not diversity, that's just a different homogeneity

Right, I misunderstood your post -- my mistake.

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#444

Post by pmorici »

beachstartup wrote: post #430
dcole2929 wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an absolutely serious question. Can you elaborate on some of the racism you as an Asian male have experienced? Honestly, outside of certain examples of the "good minority" I've seen very little racism towards Asians in any context so I'm interested to hear what is you may have experienced.

i seriously can't even believe you're asking this. i'll start with a real easy one for you. how about being called a chink while walking down the street? how about needing to be not just significantly better than the overall population, but specifically better than other asians at literally everything to even be considered for an elite school or job? how about a 'comedian' openly saying everyone of your race has a sm…

An Asian friend of mine had to work with a guy once that thought it was funny to make jokes about how he didn't feel safe leaving his dog alone with him and things along that line.

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#445

Post by ebola1717 »

colmvp wrote: post #343
ebola1717 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://medium.com/message/the-tech-diversity-story-thats-no... http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/01/...

You know, every day I feel like I'm told that I have to do something to help other people. There's always a cause. And you know, I'm not against that. I realize people have it rough. But there is this weird perception that Asian men have this amazing privilege in Western society and that we don't endure any racism or discrimination despite the fact that we still do. They range from how we're depicted in the media, to…

You're absolutely right that there is racism against asians, including within the tech industry. You're right that we have awful media representation (I mean look at the oscar stats... http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/01/film-and-rac...).

But saying "there's tons of PoC in SV cause there's lots of asian guys" is missing the point. First of all, as you mention, there's a Bamboo Ceiling problem. Secondly, that doesn't change the fact that blacks and latinos are underrepresented. Diversity is good because it provides a broader range of perspectives, and it helps correct for historical injury. Having a ton of asians helps a little in those two areas, but clearly there's still huge room for improvement. Thirdly, you're allowing our small privileges be used as a wedge. The implication is that blacks and latinos should just work harder like asians if they want to be in SV, which is classic model minority bullshit. We need solidarity between minority groups, not division. It's true that other minority groups don't care enough about asian issues, but that's a reason that we all have to do better, not an excuse for us asians to be worse.

> who the hell helped me as an Asian man?

The Civil Rights Movement was instrumental in the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Literally, we wouldn't be allowed in the United States without the help of everyone from the Civil Rights era.

Academic work about microaggressions and racism owe a lot to black thinkers and the black experience. The condition of the million or so undocumented asian americans goes hand in hand with the struggles of undocumented latinos. Blacks are spearheading the fight for media representation with stuff like #OscarsSoWhite. We have to do the work to include ourselves in these fights, but other PoCs clearly are our allies.

Finally, I'm gonna leave you this article from a few months ago:

http://unhyphenate.me/2015/12/18/our-asian-america/

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#446

Post by MollyR »

cgy1 wrote: post #406
dcole2929 wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an absolutely serious question. Can you elaborate on some of the racism you as an Asian male have experienced? Honestly, outside of certain examples of the "good minority" I've seen very little racism towards Asians in any context so I'm interested to hear what is you may have experienced.

1) dating as an Asian men 2) representation of Asian men in popular media

Yea I may not understand the plight of being an asian guy, but I do remember my younger brother being almost traumatized by this article, that was being passed around his friends.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2945756/Man-39-plung...

https://archive.is/evS1k

He really saw himself in this guy, and after that he began to withdraw from non-korean social groups.

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#447

Post by ashwinaj »

niels_olson wrote: post #427
ashwinaj wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like? The Midwest and South (minus urban areas i.e.cities which are few and far between) there aren't many diverse places.

I think you're asking for regions in the US, not cities, where you can meet lots of people, so as to demonstrate diversity. Well, there are plenty of black people in the deep South. There are plenty of latino ranchers in the Southwest. There are some pockets of even non-English speaking folks in Louisiana and the Chesapeake. But that's not diversity, that's just a different homogeneity. Although I can certainly attes…

Since this post is about race, isn't it obvious it would be ethnic diversity of a place?

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#448

Post by farnsworth »

rntz wrote: post #339
Animats wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be the same problem as women have in Silicon Valley. If you didn't spend a lot of time with computers on your own before college, you're not in the running. Up until 1985 or so, that wasn't the case, because few people had pre-college access to much CPU power. More women were going into computer science then.

Do you have anything more than anecdata for the idea that "If you didn't spend a lot of time with computers on your own before college, you're not in the running."? I've heard that idea in a lot of places, but it's never matched up with my personal experiences. I did my undergraduate at CMU, and plenty of the better programmers there I knew hadn't done any programming before they came to CMU. But of course, this too…

I think it's a dangerous myth, and I also have plenty of anecdata that matches yours. I only switched to software engineering partway through college, worked hard, and had a great job 3 years later. And people can always start in a basic position and spend their career improving and moving up.

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#449

Post by School-Cotton »

Joof wrote: post #405
dang wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canadian disputes this.

At least to Canadians we can point out 'French' Canada. The people are different, but still Canadian.

You really want to hold up Quebec's relationship with Canada as a shining example of good integration?

Re: Silicon Valley and Black Coders: Howard University fights to join the tech boom

#450

Post by jorgecurio »

alistproducer2 wrote: post #187

I'm a black guy working in IT at a company in the top 5 of the Fortune 500. This is complicated issue. There have been experiment that show having a "black" name lowers your job prospects [1]. Other studies that show: "...race actually turned out to be more significant than a criminal background. Notice that employers were more likely to call Whites with a criminal record (17% were offered an interview) than Blacks w…

what has your experience been like?
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