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

I thought this was a great article. One of the most interesting things to me was how the embarrassment/defensiveness of the white people involved was one of the biggest blocks to the black CEOs in their advancement, e.g. the VCs who "just wanted to get the hell out of there" after mistaking a white subordinate for the CEO.

I've recently been reading/watching some videos and writings by Robin Diangelo on systemic racism - here's a great starting point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7mzj0cVL0Q. She also wrote the book "White Fragility".

Thinking about that, I'm just wondering how different it would be if one of those people who mistook the employee for the CEO instead turned to the CEO and said "I'm sorry, please excuse me for the instance of racism I just perpetrated against you, I promise it won't happen again." I realize how outlandish that may sound writing that out, but I'd propose that the fact that it does sound outlandish is the main problem. Everyone in the US was raised in an environment that inculcated certain racial ideas, subconsciously or not. We can't address them if we're so embarrassed by their existence as to pretend they don't exist.

I know this is probably not a podcast that is frequently brought up here, but Chapo Trap House recently discussing their issues with the book White Fragility and brought up many of the same issues here (it's marketing material for a anti-racism instructor, the author is white, racism is presented as an issue that must be constantly atoned for in perpetuity [because DiAngelo would like to be hired in the future], it's geared towards the workplace which is inherently not a place people associate with emotional openness, it's geared towards what not to do as opposed to what to do, etc etc). I'm a longtime fan but I enjoyed it because i didn't know anything about White Fragility besides it's constant recommendations within the last few weeks.