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

(www.bloomberg.com)
677 points saeedjabbar | 1 comments | 16 Jun 20 15:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.199s | source
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hn_throwaway_99 ◴[16 Jun 20 21:01 UTC] No.23544053[source]▶
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.

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conductr ◴[17 Jun 20 01:44 UTC] No.23546766[source]▶
I’ve not gone over the background content you have. Why is a simple but sincere apology not enough? Why do I have to make myself feel like a horrible person for this subconscious faux pas?

Yes it’s an embarrassing. But to me, it’s like when meeting someone and you reach to shake their hand using your right hand out of habit but you don’t realize their right hand is full thus creating a awkward handshake interaction (especially if they don’t quickly offer a twisted left and laugh it off).

I’d prefer to focus on the problem (underrepresented black CEOs) instead of a symptom (subconscious “racism”).

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1. moftz ◴[17 Jun 20 12:53 UTC] No.23550762[source]▶
Nobosy wants to be branded a racist despite how minor the faux pas may be. The correct attitude is to just apologize and move onto networking. Instead, these VCs are assuming that their mistake is going to anger the black man and that they need to get out of there before it turns ugly. A better understanding of how these mistakes are made would allow someone to realize that it's just better to acknowledge the mistake and work towards not doing it again. I think in this case, the problem and symptom are reversed. The subconscious racism of the VCs caused the black CEO to miss out on vital networking opportunities. It seems like that guy turned out ok but what if that was a critical time for him when that meeting could been the last shot at getting some investors before his company went bankrupt? Simply ignoring the issue and trying to get out of it was more harmful than just acknowledging it and moving past it.