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A comment on Tell HN: DEI initiatives undermine the self esteem of PoC within a company. Parent comment

Re:Tell HN: DEI initiatives undermine the self esteem of PoC... by syzarian on Monday February 06, 2023 @09:48AM (#34678007)
The U.S. has a long history of discriminating against brown people and an especially nasty history of discriminating against black people. This discrimination was so ingrained amongst the white population that after desegregation public pools declined. Blacks were discriminated against when it came to getting a mortgage. Whites fled the major cities to the suburbs leading to cities having gutted public schools due to lack of funding.

How does a nation overcome that legacy with its accompanying negative effects on people of color? We aren’t all equal when the effects of centuries of policies and attitudes can still be seen. I don’t know the answer but I think it is OK for companies to be cognizant of these issues and attempt to go out of their way to hire qualified people of color.

It sucks for one to feel they didn’t get a job because they are white but I think this doesn’t happen in statistically significant numbers. It’s known that people with “black sounding” names are less likely to get interviews. I don’t know the solution. I suspect that if we didn’t tie health care to employment and had a better system for unemployed people then the issue of reverse discrimination would largely go away.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tell HN: DEI initiatives undermine the self esteem of PoC... by Spoznaja on Monday February 06, 2023 @03:55PM (#34684207)
Translated; "Racism is bad, so we're going to use racism now to counter balance previous racism." This won't end well for anyone.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tell HN: DEI initiatives undermine the self esteem of PoC... by domain8543 on Monday February 06, 2023 @05:40PM (#34685553)
Are you also vocal when Native American tribes are given things? Quite a bit of money goes to them directly -- that is racism to you, right?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Tell HN: DEI initiatives undermine the self esteem of PoC... by syzarian on Monday February 06, 2023 @05:51PM (#34685665)
That is obviously not a valid translation. It appears you did not understand what I wrote. When dealing with a complex problem, in this case several hundred years of discriminatory practices and laws, it’s not possible to come up with a remedy that is satisfactory to all. An all or nothing mindset leads nowhere. We must go with imperfect solutions since perfection does not exist. We can try to minimize negative side effects but not erase them. On the whole the ongoing level of discrimination against blacks is at least an order of magnitude greater than the amount of reverse discrimination.
[ Parent | on HN ]