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For black CEOs in Silicon Valley, humiliation is a part of doing business

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677 points saeedjabbar | 3 comments | 16 Jun 20 15:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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DevX101 ◴[16 Jun 20 22:09 UTC] No.23544897[source]▶
Some of the most successful blacks in tech had to 'hide' their blackness to achieve success. Robert Smith, the wealthiest black man in America, specifically didn't put up a photo on his investment firm's site to avoid any possibility of bias (now that he's a multi-billionaire who's "made it", this is no longer a concern).

Calendly, who's CEO is black, and is one of the top performing black led tech startups curiously doesn't have an about us page (and though I don't know the exact reason, I can only suspect why).

A very good friend of mine, a black woman in finance, had to have drinks with and entertain obnoxiously racist jokes from a potential white client to close the deal.

Black folks don't get the presumption of competence. You're assumed to be mediocre (or worse) until you can prove yourself exceptional.

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1. pessimizer ◴[16 Jun 20 22:26 UTC] No.23545062[source]▶
> You're assumed to be mediocre (or worse) until you can prove yourself exceptional.

And to make this personal, feeling like you have to be the best in every group in order to be respected enough that you can't be ignored leads to overwork and burnout.

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2. root_axis ◴[17 Jun 20 01:03 UTC] No.23546456[source]▶
Very true. There is less tolerance for middling black people in general, I jokingly refer to it as the Obama effect. Mediocrity in black people is often viewed as a function of their race rather than as the quality of an individual with flaws. If you aren't living up to the Obama standard you're sometimes thought to be a net negative compared to what might have been if there was a white person in your place. Mediocre white people are just assumed to be the best available option for the organization at the time. I've heard coworkers literally refer to other black people as "the price of diversity" (and just to be clear, their point was that the price was "worth it" in the name of diveristy). It sucks.
3. armonraphiel ◴[18 Jun 20 05:54 UTC] No.23560181[source]▶
Growing up, my grandmother would often tell me I needed to be "twice as good as the next best white person" to be taken seriously. I resented the premise behind that statement but she was not wrong.

It's a feeling that doesn't go away & often compounds on imposter syndrome.