"Yes, I graduated from MIT. Yes, I live in a nice neighborhood in Menlo Park. And yes, I’ve been interrogated at gunpoint by police because I 'fit the description' (literally their words, not mine)." -Makinde Adeagbo
I believe that this quote by Makinde Adeagbo encompasses more than just the problem of diversity in Silicon Valley, but issues that stretch across the nation, maybe even across the world. However I believe he hits the issue of diversity in the tech industry right on the head. I believe one of the roots of the issues pertaining to diversity is the fact that people of color, do not "fit" the description of some one who is fit to work in the technology industry, especially in a dominantly white concentration.
If we look at things in perspective, we live in a time where just over 50 years, the Civil Rights movement took place to end racial segregation and discrimination. This was not that long ago at all, for some of us, that may have been during our parents lifetimes, and our grandparents' lifetime. I bring this up because although segregation has been ended, the outward expression of discrimination is not as prominent, now I would argue to say that it is implicit. This what I would argue is the problem when it comes to diversity in technology industry. If we look at Silicon Valley, we see that it is not as diverse, as a matter of fact, it is primarily White and Asian. The lack of diversity can and has lead to a cultural rift between minorities and the majority. For example if we look at Adeagbo's experience in an interview with the CEO of the company asking him why its no longer acceptable for him to use a racial slur. I'm not making this point to call out the CEO and say he is a racist, but just to show the cultural rift that exists.
This is not just an issue that exists in technological industry, but also in the world. I would not venture to say that it is any one person's fault. This is just an issue due to timing, in the bigger picture, discrimination, racial segregation, even gender roles are problems that have been propagated for generations, however until recently, there is stuff being done to fix the ways old and the old school trains of that. Due to the recency of events, we are the generation that is making the change. I am not sure what industries can do to encourage minorities to participate.
One thought that comes to my mind that might help is to try and encourage the workforce to be inclusive of everyone. For example, the students from Howard that had opportunities in the tech industry had generally the same complaint. They felt as if no one wanted to engage them, they were all caught up in their own worlds and did not appear to make an effort to reach out and include the students. They stuck to their own pop culture references, their own jokes, and things that only pertained to them. To the students from Howard, it did not appear as if they wanted to get to understand where they came from, as in they did not particularly care about their interests, or how they're experiences differed from everyone else's. Trying to make an environment that is inclusive of everyone is something that would probably help to encourage minorities to want to participate. Once again, I am not saying this to say that those who were working are racist, or discriminatory, we all have our own implicit biases that fuel our actions and decisions, whether or not we are aware of them depends on the person.
All in all at the end of the day, I believe that there will be a day in the future in which everyone will feel as though they "fit" the description of a person who belongs in the tech industry. We are already beginning to make progress towards it, but we still have many more moves to make before we get there. It is going to be up to us, and future generations to end the cycle of gender roles and discrimination in any form so that we may advance together as a society and improve the quality of life for everyone. If we all work together, I believe that anything is feasible.