That’s essentially the idea Michael Arrington pushes after he describes his “gotcha” moment in his CNN interview with Soledad O’Brien. Race and the startup world is much like race and everything else, there are many issues, both good and bad. When Michael Arrington’s first response about being asked about who his favorite black entrepreneur is, it shouldn’t be:
“I don’t know a single black entrepreneur,”
followed by,
…my brain database doesn’t categorize people in terms of skin color. Or hair color. Or sexual orientation. When I queried that database, under stressful circumstances, I got zero results.
and then, followed by,
The interview went on for 45 minutes or so after that, and I amended my statements. I talked about Clarence Wooten, the CEO of Arrived. Wooten has been my friend since the mid 90′s, and I was his lawyer for his first startup, a wildly successful company that made Wooten rich. I’ve followed his career and I’m now a shareholder in Arrived. And tons of other friends and acquaintances who are black popped into my head as well.
it sounds all to much like someone who acts racist, but quickly denies it by listing all of their black, or non-white friends. What makes it worse is, he points the finger at CNN for being deceptive about the topic, mainly because they didn’t state the interview will include questions about race. It sounds like the rest of the subject about startups were discussed. That’s like Sarah Pailin saying her interview with Katie Couric didn’t include questions about her reading material, and thus should be thrown out entirely. It’s an interview, you should be ready for any question they ask.
I’m not calling Michael Arrington a racist. Nor am I suggesting he is racist, or doesn’t like black people. If anything, I’m suggesting Michael Arrington is ignorant, and it’s further expressed by his statements in his blog post, attempting to redeem himself. I believe, when you’re in a position of power, and you’re not fully aware of the challenges that are faced in the world you wield your power, or fully aware and do nothing about addressing those challenges, then you’re ignorant. For example:
The problem, I said, was that there weren’t enough minorities getting computer science degrees, or otherwise finding entryways into Silicon Valley. To fix the problem, we need to fix that.
Arrington is absolutely right, there aren’t enough minorities getting Computer Science degrees, or many of them are landing in CIS (Computer Information Systems) degrees which are glorified computer training programs and aren’t competitive for today’s technical world. Arrington sees this problem, but I wonder what he does to address it. Nothing in his post suggests that he helps to promote, or is doing anything to help overcome this issue. Merely he says:
At Google Zeitgeist I sat with Will.i.am, Ron Conway, Larry Page, and others over lunch. Will.i.am was proposing an ambitious new idea to help get inner city youth (mostly minorities) to begin to see superstar entrepreneurs as the new role models, instead of NBA stars. He believes that we can effect real societal change by getting young people to learn how to program, and realize that they can start businesses that will change the world.
I said I’d support that in every way I can, and to let me know when, to start things off, I can write about it.
Saying “I’m willing to support you” and actually supporting a larger cause an issue are two very different things. Arrington is a venture capitalist, you can do more than just write about it, but fund it, find people to participate in the process, or create a scholarship for minorities entering college who are pursuing Computer Science degrees, at that very moment, with those people sitting at that table. That’s what happens everywhere else, so it’s no excuse to hide behind a story of sitting next to one black person, who wants to help solve the problem, only to say “I’d support you!”
I’ve been reading TechCrunch for a while during Arrington’s tenure. It pains me, when I see something like this:
Soledad was following NewMe, an accelerator for black entrepreneurs, for the documentary. She wanted to know if I’d heard about it.
Nope.
But I said that sounded awesome, just like the accelerators for women entrepreneurs. That we always write about.
And after the interview I asked Alexia at TechCrunch to cover NewMe’s demo day, which we did, enthusiastically.
Maybe we forgot the roles of journalist, but they are supposed to go out and find stories, instead of just waiting for people to come after them. Knowing there’s a problem with minorities and Computer Science, shouldn’t Arrington and the team at TechCrunch begin to find and highlight programs like these, instead of waiting for them second hand? Yes, maybe people aren’t being vocal enough and telling the major technology blogs like TechCrunch about their minority driven initiates. That doesn’t excuse not knowing, seeking, or discussing the problem. Falling behind “we covered it enthusiastically… once” doesn’t help. Do a search for “Black History Month” on TechCrunch, and you’ll notice the first article that appears in its search result is about “Call of Duty: Black Ops”. While I know Arrington isn’t editor of TechCrunch now, he was in February 2011. He could have found a prominent black person in the startup, or Computer Science field to discuss the issue, during a month where issues like these are often discussed. Covering a topic once, with all of the confetti in the world, doesn’t excuse you from being ignorant. Nor does acknowledging your ignorance:
I may be the poster child for racial ignorance in Silicon Valley, but my motives are pure and I always have and always will do anything to help out the underdog.
For someone who’s quick to support an issue, or problem, recognizing you’re ignorant and doing nothing about it, doesn’t help. Don’t hold Will.I.Am as the only saving grace, there should be ten Will.I.Am’s you can pull an example from. You have two.
I used to run, teach, and organize technology programs in Brooklyn, particularly in high minority school districts, for 6 – 12 grade students. The programs focus wast to merely introduce them to technology, but to enable them to use technology to explore powerful ideas, research, and address issues that effect their lives. The program paired with NSBE to also introduce engineering as a component to program. There were middle school and high school students, who were primarily inner city youth children, who became exposed to technology and engineering in ways they usually weren’t. The program ran out of money due to the economic crisis because we were primarily state funded. One could suggest I should have gone to people like Michael Arrington and begged for money or submitted proposals. Maybe I should have. At the same time, people like Michael Arrington, who have enough money to invest in startups, for the silliest of things, that may possibly fail, aren’t helping by not developing programs, funds, or initiatives to help address the problem.
So anyway, I just don’t feel like a racist. Even though many, many people are telling me that I am and that I just don’t know it.
Michael Arrington is completely correct, he’s not racist. He’s ignorant, and that’s worse.
