My Response to “Racism, Prejudice and Oppression in the Information Technology and Social Media Marketing”

I’ve just read “Racism, Prejudice and Oppression in the Information Technology and Social Media Marketing” and am very impressed that such an article with such a title exists, apparently written by a person younger than my early 40s. What’s even more impressive is that this article came to me though the auspices of BDPA! These are the reasons why I’m impressed by these very superficial things:

The usual kind of personality writing such an article is not concerned with what happens to technical Black people—because a “nerd” is a “nerd” and we know how Americans traditionally treat “nerds”—even so-called “African-centered” Americans.
Technical Black people suffer from their expensive European-style education such that they are less likely to recognize the existence of racism—or they are so politically savvy and long-time, vice-president employed that they will never speak of it openly.However, this article that impresses me so much fails to meet the documentary research standards established by my teachers of American history, like Dr. Gerald Horne or Ivan van Sertima. There are even typographical errors in the article that the racist subconscious lurking in all American of all skin colors will desperately cling to in order to dismiss this subject entirely. And that last sentence will make my next point: it does not matter how much evidence you have—this racist shit will continue to go on…

But what is important to understand—especially for the victims of racism—is never to assume that institutional racism (or cult-of-tea-party-personality racism) is a single defect in an otherwise perfect team of objective, scientific business people. No: racist behavior is an indicator of a lack of vision, low creativity and non-innovation. Racism is just a specialized case of fascism and patriarchal, unsustainable, pollution-causing poverty of billionaires. When you read an article like, “‘The 4 Percent Universe’: Dark matter and dueling scientists,” understand that the correlation of racism exists in the intellectual system that fails to understand “dark matter.”

I have a summer full of IT-job-hunting stories and, yes, many of my “misfortunes” had racist (and, gasp, even ageist) components—but these were mixed with the overall whack-ness of the company. For example:

Two companies in Orange County rejected me as I was to be the first Black guy on their Euro-Asian team. However, the “deeper” issue that “we” can actually talk about is how one of these companies would like to use Silverlight without using XAML and how the other company is weighed down by old Microsoft technologies that they would like to upgrade while keeping up with day-to-day business demands.
You want more drama? Okay how about the work-at-home position I had for one day? A recruiting company based in Atlanta hooked me up with a company based in New York. I did one video chat with my new co-worker and the next day I get a phone call from Atlanta telling me that my project is cancelled and I need to move to New York to continue working with them. That might have been a racial experience but it was also an experience with a company in New York with poor planning skills (or poor lying skills)—I would not want to “win” some civil rights lawsuit so that I could work for such losers with several hundred thousand dollars.
I worked for another company for less than two weeks. When I saw that my “supervisor” had nothing prepared for a new hire and was walking into work in the afternoon, I found no reason to be the sharp kid on a ship of fools. I “stroll” into work at 11am with no meetings, no deadlines to miss and the next day my contract is cancelled. What I found out later was that my supervisor was setting the lax tone behind his boss’ back. Silly me: I did not catch on to this… but what about the long run here? When you find out that your new company is bunch of recession-era losers do you quit or do you let racist indignation take its course?You see kids I am no position to quit a job because my savings is depleted (again) trying to look for work in one of the worst economies in the history of television. Finding “racial healing” in a situation like this is not going to solve my problem(s)—“racial healing” would only be a minor side effect for authentically reforming/revising the unsustainable culture that would truly make my life (and all human life on Earth) better.

Too many Black people want to find “racial justice” in order to have the right to commit divine injustice to the planet for the sake of sick white profit… Anyway…

So, yes, my long-ass resume and my first and last name printed on it make recruiters and employers very, very excited to meet with me. I get call after call after call. But when they actually* see *me, something very complex happens—something conscious and subconscious—and these simple-ass, Pollyanna, white-liberal, tie-dye band aids are not going to fix what’s wrong…

Yes, “it’s 1630 all over again…”

My Response to “Racism, Prejudice and Oppression in the Information Technology and Social Media Marketing”

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