1) Silly black-person. In the US, "black" means "loser", so if you are successful, you are ipso facto not black. Uh, unless you're an athlete, or other entertai

1) Silly black-person. In the US, "black" means "loser", so if you are successful, you are ipso facto not black. Uh, unless you're an athlete, or other entertainer. 2) I grew up in a prosperous white neighbourhood and spent a lot of time at University of Toronto, as a kid. My dad was a math-teacher and programmer. I recently met a developer -- a young woman of colour at a conference, who came from a stereotypical deprived background. I could barely understand her experiences or the language she used about identity, inclusion, and diversity, because I have never felt excluded. Ambitious, envious at times, but never excluded. 3) I've just realised in the last few months that it's probably harder to be a woman in tech, of whatever skin shade, than to be a 6'3" half-black guy from a scholarly middle-class background. As far as I can tell I've faced no discrimination. I've been sexually harassed once, but it started as a joke and the woman had no power over me. One time outlier. Caveat: I have not sought VC funding, nor have I progressed to leadership roles in someone else's organisation. 4) At one small company I worked at, we were approached to do a TV segment. Two of the four founders are white Africans. The reporter seemed really intent on pushing a rags-to-riches story. The guys had to keep reminding her that they had started the company from their basement while they both had well-paying jobs. They were the sons of a professor. This was really eye-opening with regards to reporters pursuing pre-conceived narratives.