this is pretty much a every company thing...at every company i've worked at...not surprised
‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
501–510 of 717 posts
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#502Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you think 11 instances in a company of 1,394 employees shows an "extensive pattern"? We also don't know how many of those were even accurate or corroborated.
When it's 50% of the black employees, yeah. When discussing issues in crosstabs, you can't use the overall number as the denominator. That's bad statistics.
Why are black employees the only PoCs that matter? Are you suggesting 100% of the non-black employees aren't marginalized?
To get a complete view, surely you need data from Asians, Indians and other minorities.
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#503Earlier quoted context omitted.
To repeat the grandparent, what else can they do? Many of the "issues" bought up in this article aren't even problematic. It says John Russ left because Armstrong took public stance that he wanted Coinbase to focus on crypto space stuff. Coinbase's stance there is fair, reasonable and moral. It is desirable that some companies just do what it says on the tin. If Russ had a reason for quitting that was race-related th…
> Coinbase's stance there is fair, reasonable and moral The 60 people who left makes it clear this is not agreed upon. HN has already played out this debate on the original post so I'll save going into it here, but it's disingenuous to say that Russ didn't quit because of race-related policy, whether or not you think the policy is race-related. That said, putting out that "apolitical stance" in the direct wake of Geo…
We are in dynamic world and businesses need to stay away from politics and focus on its core value. Someone leaving has nothing to do with racism. We live in a time where few people and the media are manipulating the rest.
Note that I am Black too.
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#504Earlier quoted context omitted.
>What else can they do if they are really innocent? Innocent of what exactly? At a certain point whether the leadership of Coinbase is racist or not doesn't matter. What matters is their actions. The article says "roughly three-quarters of the Black employees" left the company over a 6 month span due to feelings of being discriminated against. That isn't an accusation. It is a fact. It also isn't something that will…
> The article says "roughly three-quarters of the Black employees" left the company over a 6 month span due to feelings of being discriminated against. That isn't an accusation. It is a fact. I am not comfortable with promoting the framing of the article to an automatically established fact. The only solid fact here is people leaving and the inferred reason is racial discrimination. I am not saying this inference is…
> I am not comfortable with promoting the framing of the article to an automatically established fact.
It is a fact claim that has yet to be disputed on the record by anyone who is in position to dispute it. All media outlets have their biases, but the most prominent ones tend not to make up easily refuted lies. In the claim you are referencing, they say three quarters of the black employees left over a six month period. If that's a lie, Coinbase can simply say so. But they probably won't because it is probably true.
The reasons why are more up to interpretation. Probably no way to get a firm answer on this since many of these people have signed NDAs or otherwise won't talk on the record. But I don't think it's reasonable to claim, without evidence, that the NYT is lying about the proportion of black employees that left over the given time period.
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#505From Coinbase's preemptive rebuttal[1]: "we hired an external consultant in August of this year who specializes in data science and diversity and inclusion to cull through all of our historic data related to diversity ... and conduct a high volume of interviews with employees representing all background, functions, and tenures to understand the employee experience. The independent investigation concluded that there w…
If you've never done this sort of thing before: there's a huge market for these "external consultants". Their unstated job (and reputations) are as whitewashing firms. You hire them to ensure there is "no evidence" of anything done wrong. The primary purpose is to create a credible defense in lawsuits but PR purposes are also common. Firms that find problems suddenly see their business dry up because most companies d…
I think that’s unfair, not all corporations are big bad monoliths trying to crush the little guy. The New York Times article is a hit piece, and main stream media’s continuation of constantly looking to create racial tension.
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#506Why did they hire so many blacks in the first place? what is it good for? People shouldn't hire blacks or women or whatever just for diversity sake, it just cause problems because those people are bitter and can't compete.
If someone come to me and force me to do some political act I am going to fire them immediately, who are they to tell me what to do with my political view? even if they force other people in the company I will fire them without apologies. Google did it for this Damore guy for just stating his opinion about diversity, not even forcing anyone to accept his views. Imagine he go to Pichai and force him to chant "diversity is bullshit", which it is, but does it matter? you can't do such stuff even if you think your cause is right
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#507Earlier quoted context omitted.
When it's 50% of the black employees, yeah. When discussing issues in crosstabs, you can't use the overall number as the denominator. That's bad statistics.
Why are black employees the only PoCs that matter? Are you suggesting 100% of the non-black employees aren't marginalized? To get a complete view, surely you need data from Asians, Indians and other minorities.
I am suggesting that even if no other employees are marginalized, the marginalization of black employees is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#508Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many companies regularly work within mainstream political action such as LGTBQ+ rights, data privacy, homelessness, local housing or public works, and children's orgs such as Big Brother Big Sister. While these vary in controversiality, relevancy, and apolitical nature, it's not at all uncommon to see companies working in these areas (and others unlisted). Often companies grow into them along with size and profits, s…
He’s asking specifically about Coinbase. Referencing how “most companies” do things isn’t relevant to his question. And can you explain to me why one is absolutely required to publicly vocalize their stance on the George Floyd issue? How is not wanting to speak on the topic in the workplace equivalent to being racist?
Seems like an application of the "white silence is violence" principle.
Vox (among others) wrote a piece on it: https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21278245/antiracist-racism-race...
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#509Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are black employees the only PoCs that matter? Are you suggesting 100% of the non-black employees aren't marginalized? To get a complete view, surely you need data from Asians, Indians and other minorities.
I am suggesting that even if no other employees are marginalized, the marginalization of black employees is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Why did you say that 11 employees of a single race reveal a "extensive pattern" of racism then? This seems to imply other POCs don't matter.
Re: ‘Tokenized’: Black Workers’ Struggles at Coinbase
#510Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am suggesting that even if no other employees are marginalized, the marginalization of black employees is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Why did you say that 11 employees of a single race reveal a "extensive pattern" of racism then? This seems to imply other POCs don't matter.
Because an extensive pattern of racism against Black employees is still an extensive pattern of racism. Being an exceptional employer to Asian or White or Middle Eastern employees does not excuse an extensive pattern of racism against Black employees, and vice versa.
Like, I'm not sure how to clarify this further. Being racist against only a specific race or races is very much still racism (sort of by the definition, isn't it).