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Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

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Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#71

Post by athms »

Ancapistani wrote: post #43
mytailorisrich wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Black people are not systematically stopped from succeeding. Here in the UK Indians 'succeed' because, as I mentioned, they invest massively in education. If you look at the grammar schools (selective state schools) exam, quite often the majority of children in the room are Asians. The same route is open to black people, to white people, to anyone. The issue is much more complex than claiming that a specific group is…

I think this is a difference of language. It’s clear that Blacks are less likely to succeed in the US than Whites. One can phrase that as “Blacks are disadvantaged” or “Whites are advantaged”. Both are true statements, but one leads to positive actions and the other to negative. As a society, our goal should not be to eliminate the advantages of one group above another. We should be trying to provide more advantages…

Being black isn't the determining factor. Consider that black immigrants tend to be more successful than black Americans. They earn more than black natives and are more likely to be employed. Likewise, white immigrant groups outperform their native cohorts. The children of black immigrants are more likely to go to and complete college than native blacks (and whites) and are less likely to drop out of high school. The children of black immigrants also earn more than native blacks or first generation immigrants.

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#72

Post by bsanr2 »

charlesu wrote: post #55
bsanr2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*economically sabotaged

I don't know why you're being down voted. Blacks were purposefully if not explicitly excluded from many economic programs for decades, from the Homestead Act to the GI Bill. Several of their towns and communities we're destroyed, like Greenwood Tulsa. That sounds like sabotage.

It's a sore subject, particularly on HN, because it calls into question the meritocracy Americans want to believe they epitomize. Suffice it to say that, while the examples you relate were significant and infamous, such sabotage also manifests insidiously in smaller ways.

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#73

Post by Takharsec »

exolymph wrote: post #50
Ancapistani wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like I’m going out on a limb here, but I’ve made it a personal goal to try to reconcile the language used in political conversations as best I can. > being arrested for no reason I think a lot of people in the US would disagree with this statement. It’s (typically) not precisely true, but the idea I believe you’re expressing absolutely is. Blacks (and other minorities) in the US are policed more aggressively t…

> Blacks (and other minorities) in the US are policed more aggressively than Whites. This is a fact, and I don’t know anyone who would disagree with it. Many actual black people, for one: > When asked whether they want the police to spend more time, the same amount of time or less time than they currently do in their area, most Black Americans -- 61% -- want the police presence to remain the same. This is similar to…

Just because they want more of a police presence doesn't mean they want aggressive policing.

If you live in a rough neighborhood, it is reassuring to have a police officer nearby or at least in the area. However, that doesn't mean you want that police officer harassing you for trivial offenses.

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#74

Post by Takharsec »

charlesu wrote: post #53
mytailorisrich wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can't provide "advantages" to everyone. We can provide opportunities (maybe that's what you mean) by investing in education from an early age, including services related to education like nurseries and extended hours. Then, people take the opportunity, or their don't. Race should not be relevant. My problem with current climate is that it perpetuates race as something to notice and to treat specifically when we sh…

The current climate perpetuates race as something to notice? I'm sorry but was the previous climate different?

This is key. If we could wipe the slate clean and provide equal opportunity, then we would have a strong blueprint to do so.

But we are fighting close to 400 years of systematic oppression to turn those opportunities into tangible results. That history requires some type of direct action to advance the current state of Black Americans.

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#75

Post by adwn »

burfog wrote: post #56
jknz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truancy: the action of staying away from school without good reason; absenteeism. (Had to google it! Thanks for a new word) Truancy can be dealt with by providing food to the kid at the end of the school day, food meant to be brought home. There are of course arguments against this, e.g., school are not meant for this. Well, schools are not meant to operate with absent students and whatever can fix should be consider…

Perform a trick to get a food reward? It sounds like training dolphins. I don't even know if that is a good sign or a bad sign, but... wow.

Sure, you can turn up your nose at this "trick", shrug with resignation, and tell yourself "Well, nothing we can do about it!"

Or you can get off your high horse, try something new, and see whether it solves this problem.

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#76

Post by dingsbumps »

athms wrote: post #70
Mc91 wrote: post #6

Tech entrepreneurs come out of IT. In the US, when I was a teenager, blacks kids who were into computers were doing the same things the other people going to computer clubs and whatnot did. Some knew more than a lot of the white kids. As people graduated high school, went to college, got internships and jobs, somewhere along that route a lot of them fell off. Also, I worked at some places with a lower manager that ju…

I have been in the IT business for thirty years in Silicon Valley and have interviewed hundreds of candidates, not one of them was black. I can count on one hand the number of blacks I have worked with in that period of time. Black college students are over represented in low earning majors. Blacks that focus on high paying majors go into law, medicine, or business. If black leaders want more black IT executives, the…

> That mentality can be seen in everybody

Various humans have various racial biases -- but that doesn't mean we should just throw our hands up and give in to those biases! Seeing those biases should spur us to recognize them as real and damaging, rather than normalize them

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#77

Post by anemoiac »

danhak wrote: post #7

Generational wealth. Ask yourself why there are so few entrepreneurs—of any race—who can take big risks without a family safety net to fall back on. Now realize that slavery was only two generations ago, Jim Crow / legal segregation ended with this generation, and mass incarceration and systemic racism are ongoing.

It seems to me that (non-black) Americans commonly overestimate the amount of time that’s passed since the end of slavery - there are still living children of slaves! [1]

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/27/slave-son-...

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#78

Post by mytailorisrich »

tootahe45 wrote: post #62
mytailorisrich wrote: post #4

For whatever reasons, it seems to me that relatively few black people study for engineering and science degrees. At least that's my feeling in Europe. Then it's simply a trickle down effect, like for women in tech: Few choose this path so even fewer end up being tech entrepreneurs or at Google/Facebook, etc (since the article mentions the workforce of these companies). So, once again, education from primary/secondary…

I've pointed this out for the women in tech debate. Probably 3 of the 30 or so CS students were women here. So the question becomes why do blacks and women want tech jobs without becoming qualified for said tech jobs? or do they even want tech jobs in the first place? is it just someone else who wants them to have tech jobs?

There's never been many women in technical subject in Western countries. I think this stems from the traditional view that some jobs are for men, and some jobs are for women.

That's why we now have campaigns here in the UK to make girls in primary and secondary schools interested in these subjects and to make the message that girls can study anything they want. The same goes for boys and 'girly subject' though the push seems less visible.

Re: Why are there so few black tech entrepreneurs?

#79

Post by Twixes »

athms wrote: post #66
Ancapistani wrote: post #2

While bias in hiring is certainly an issue, I don’t believe that its the primary factor. Most of this disparity is due to differences in opportunity. Blacks in the US are less likely to have the resources at their disposal to enter our field. They are less likely to have two parents at home, to be able to afford college on their own, to have the familial financial and emotional support system necessary to have the re…

>Blacks in the US are less likely to have the resources at their disposal to enter our field. What is "our" field? Food service? Car repair? Carpet cleaning? >to be able to afford college on their own No college is needed to be an entrepreneur.

I imagine grandparent meant the broad field of software. Where you do need at least somewhat performant hardware and an environment to focus in to enter it.

To be an entrepreneur, you do need connections and a cushion (like savings or family with means to support you) though.

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