Racism in Tech Doesn’t Go Away When you Own the Company
Reading another LA Times article about the racism in tech experienced by Black and brown workers, was very frustrating. As these articles always are. Although diversity and inclusion initiatives like PledgeLA have shown modest success, there is still more to do. The experience of a Black woman assumed to be the server rather than the tech founder at a recent venture capital pitch event, reminds us too that owning the tech company does not make one immune from racist bias of others. Both stories brought a personal incident rushing back to my mind.
I was involved with a small tech start up several years ago. Two of the founders were White men and the third, my husband, was Black. I would often participate in their meetings on operations and client relations issues. On one occasion, a last minute meeting invitation presented a scheduling conflict for me with a property appraiser.
My husband and I were selling a 3-bedroom property sitting at the top of a small hill with a beautiful view of the surrounding Los Angeles suburb. We loved the house. It was the first house we had owned in California and kept it after we had bought another home nearby. So when the tenants moved on in a good real estate market, it was the perfect time to sell.
Being the operations person I am, I suggested that we have our business meeting in the vacant house. This meant I wouldn’t need to reschedule the appraiser and I could get both things done.
The appraiser showed up on schedule. I’ll call him Reggie. I introduced myself and invited him in. As I was explaining to Reggie that we were meeting in the house, but would not get in his way, he acknowledged me as the “appointment maker” and walked passed me towards the three men sitting at the kitchen counter. He shook the hands of the two White men and acknowledged my husband only with a quick nod. When Reggie spoke, he addressed the White men only. “This is a lovely view you have here,” he said to them. It was clear that Reggie was trying to figure out which of two White men was the real property owner. He spun around the kitchen, turned to me and asked me to show him the rest of the place. During the tour Reggie asked me if I knew why “they” were selling. I responded that “we” thought the time was right. He didn’t seem to hear that because a few more times, Reggie referred to the seller, without acknowledging that it was me.
Because the house was empty, the sounds of the meeting bounced off the walls. Reggie could overhear the team’s discussion and asked me if I knew what kind of business it was and what they did. I told him it was a software company developing scheduling tools to manage film and television production. He seemed impressed as he listened to the team talk about a project status with a major Hollywood studio. I left him to do his work.
It turns out Reggie’s presence was actually distracting since he made noises too - doors, closets etc - so the team had retired to the back patio for a break. Reggie finished his outside work and emerged from the side yard. As he approached us, my husband turned to him and asked “So, what do you think?” Reggie, without missing a beat, turned away from my husband and looked directly at the two White men, “You have a good one here. I think the amount (insert realtor’s name) came up with is good.” At no time did he look at my husband who had asked the question. One of the business partners, seeing what was happening, pointed towards my husband and I, saying to Reggie, “You should be talking to them. They are the owners.”
Reggie looked at my husband, then at me, hand finally outstretched for a handshake, fake apology at the ready. Neither my husband nor I budged and took him up on the handshake. Reggie’s apology was disingenuous, because even as he was saying the words, he was pulling out his business cards to give to the men who did not own the property. He seemed embarrassed that one of the men had checked him in front of the group. He mumbled his way to the front door. I called the realtor and said I wouldn’t be paying Reggie’s fee because of his actions during the appointment. At settlement however, we realized that the realtor ultimately paid Reggie via her commission. So he still made his money.
Reggie had spent around 45 minutes on our property and none of the clues - my introduction at the door, showing him around, the introduction to my husband and his business partners - broke through his bias. His reality did not allow him to grasp the possibility that it was the Black couple in the room that owned the vacant property he was appraising. Only when one of the White men, an ally in diversity parlance, to whom he was talking told him to speak to us, did he get it.
These kinds of incidents leave indelible marks on those of us who experience this kind of racism. Memories of these incidents rush back to you because of some external trigger when you least expect it. The trigger here being the articles about racism in tech. Someone who hasn’t experienced racism that way - being looked at, but not seen - could probably say Reggie just made a mistake. Yes he did and even though he lost future potential clients, unfortunately, he still got paid.
Whether you experience racism as a Black tech employee (my husband has those stories too) or a Black tech business owner, there is always a price paid by the overlooked and the dismissed. Even though you can be gracious and bounce back when you realize what is happening the reality is that you don’t forget those situations. The constant expression of surprise when one produces good work, has mastery of a subject or when one’s accomplishments are beyond what some anticipate - wears Black and brown tech workers down, one potentially debilitating interaction after another.
To Reggie, the Black man could not have been an equal founding partner for the tech start up or indeed the Chief Architect behind the software. I, as the Black woman, could not have been the MBA graduate who wrote the business plan. We could not have been the owners of this vacant house.
As leaders, we just can’t afford to let Black and brown tech professionals like those in the LA Times article, have these personal stories of corporate neglect. Simply put, that is what it is. People aren’t looking for special treatment in their profession, they are looking for fair and equitable treatment. They are looking for respect.
Leaders of tech firms who want to combat racism must:
Acknowledge that it exists, even in their organizations
Speak up about discriminatory behavior when they see it at any level
Build a company culture that is intolerant of both racism and tokenism
Educate employees at every level on the business costs of racism
Acknowledge the lingering, long term effects that racism has on individuals
Avoid comfortably settling into routines that perpetuate racially insensitive practices
Create environments that are fertile for allyship
Examine business systems that make racism hard to dislodge
Apply benefits and rewards systems to racism eradication
The saga of racism in tech will continue without specific, purposeful and authentic efforts to hold violators accountable and make its practice uncomfortable. The data is clear that inclusion is good for business, because it is good for people.
After years of effort, perhaps the LA Times article shows that maybe it is only the idea of inclusion that some companies want to rave about, rather than the actual results?