4 ms·

I'm not sure how you got that read on the situation. Georgia is top, and then if you add together FL, TX, NC, MS, the south is still the population-center (and

I'm not sure how you got that read on the situation. Georgia is top, and then if you add together FL, TX, NC, MS, the south is still the population-center (and arguably the current cultural center, via ATL) of black people in the US. Add in the fact that we're seeing trends of migration of more black people back to south (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Great_Migration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Great_Migration ) and there's no escaping the fact that companies which exclude the south are effectively excluding many black people, including some of the most educated ones (Lookup the states with the most HBCUs, they're all in the South). The south is a big place though, and those places you named are not typical of the places that are growing now (ie, "New South" cities). Charlotte is my home town, and if you look at maps comparing the degrees of segregation there, vs places like Philadelphia, there's no competition. There's one expensive neighborhood area with mostly white peope, but on average people in CLT are FAR more likely to live in diverse neighborhoods than people in most other cities. Add in the fact that southern cities (including Charlotte) have historically practiced school busing for diversity, and you'll find that the handle on diversity in many Southern metros is actually pretty good. Check it out yourself. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/segregation-us-cities/?utm_term=.6844fafbce67 https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/segreg...

seanmcdirmid 8y ago
To say California doesn't have many black people still isn't correct, it is in the top 5, and most of those people are concentrated in two regions (LA and Bay Area). New York is #2, and many of those are in the NYC area. And obviously, Detroit, Chicago, .... There are lots of places of diversity outside of the south. There is a huge difference between the south and the deep south (the other city I lived in was midwest near Detroit with different issues completely). Mississippi is going to have much larger problems than North Carolina or Georgia. Still, being forced into busing doesn't mean you have a leg up in handling diversity, it means quite the opposite actually. Places like Boston have had similar conflicts, but I guess I wouldn't call them peachy either.
- sudosteph 8y ago
  I'm not seeing where I claimed that California doesn't have many black people. I recognize it does, but as of 2010 57% of all black Americans live in the Southern US, and trends keep showing that number is only growing. Heck, black millenials in particular, the people who are of the age to contribute the most to the workforce in the next few decades are disproportionately moving to the south, from all regions[1]. To reiterate, my main point is still that it impossible to have a number of black people in tech that is even close to being representative of the overall population of black people in the US without including the southern US in the tech workforce. Fair enough on busing though, seems there is a lot of inconclusive data floating around. First hand though, I went to an extremely diverse high school for 3 years (about equal parts white, black, and hispanic students) and a not diverse HS for one (90%+ white, in a different county) and there's no doubt that the on-campus environment was less toxic towards people of all races at the diverse one. I never once heard a white person throw out a racially insensitive term just to be "edgy" when half of that person's friends and classmates would actually notice and be offended. It happened way too often at the other school though. [1]https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-everywhere-so-why-not-move-south.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-... > A report released last year by the New York City comptroller, Scott Stringer, found that between 2000 and 2014 about 61 percent of millennials moving to New York were white, while only 9 percent of 18- to 29-year olds moving into the city were black. > Nationally, almost 82,000 black millennials migrated south in 2014, according to an analysis of census data done independently by Artem Gulish, a senior analyst at the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown. Forty percent of these black transplants came from the Northeast, 37 percent from the Midwest and 23 percent from the West. Black millennials from abroad are more likely to settle in the South.
  - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
    I went to a racially diverse HS as well in Vicksburg that was 60% black, 49% white. n-bombs were dropped all the time, outside of band mixing was rare. Even the neighborhoods were pretty segregated (whites mostly living out in the county, blacks mostly in the city). The next county west across the river was where David duke had all his political support. Our experiences differ significantly (MS, LA, and AL are also bottom ranked states for issues like this). It is hard to consider the south as a monolithic entity. Some states are way behind others.

seanmcdirmid 8y ago

To say California doesn't have many black people still isn't correct, it is in the top 5, and most of those people are concentrated in two regions (LA and Bay Area). New York is #2, and many of those are in the NYC area. And obviously, Detroit, Chicago, .... There are lots of places of diversity outside of the south. There is a huge difference between the south and the deep south (the other city I lived in was midwest near Detroit with different issues completely). Mississippi is going to have much larger problems than North Carolina or Georgia. Still, being forced into busing doesn't mean you have a leg up in handling diversity, it means quite the opposite actually. Places like Boston have had similar conflicts, but I guess I wouldn't call them peachy either.

sudosteph 8y ago
I'm not seeing where I claimed that California doesn't have many black people. I recognize it does, but as of 2010 57% of all black Americans live in the Southern US, and trends keep showing that number is only growing. Heck, black millenials in particular, the people who are of the age to contribute the most to the workforce in the next few decades are disproportionately moving to the south, from all regions[1]. To reiterate, my main point is still that it impossible to have a number of black people in tech that is even close to being representative of the overall population of black people in the US without including the southern US in the tech workforce. Fair enough on busing though, seems there is a lot of inconclusive data floating around. First hand though, I went to an extremely diverse high school for 3 years (about equal parts white, black, and hispanic students) and a not diverse HS for one (90%+ white, in a different county) and there's no doubt that the on-campus environment was less toxic towards people of all races at the diverse one. I never once heard a white person throw out a racially insensitive term just to be "edgy" when half of that person's friends and classmates would actually notice and be offended. It happened way too often at the other school though. [1]https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-everywhere-so-why-not-move-south.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/08/opinion/sunday/racism-is-... > A report released last year by the New York City comptroller, Scott Stringer, found that between 2000 and 2014 about 61 percent of millennials moving to New York were white, while only 9 percent of 18- to 29-year olds moving into the city were black. > Nationally, almost 82,000 black millennials migrated south in 2014, according to an analysis of census data done independently by Artem Gulish, a senior analyst at the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown. Forty percent of these black transplants came from the Northeast, 37 percent from the Midwest and 23 percent from the West. Black millennials from abroad are more likely to settle in the South.
- seanmcdirmid 8y ago
  I went to a racially diverse HS as well in Vicksburg that was 60% black, 49% white. n-bombs were dropped all the time, outside of band mixing was rare. Even the neighborhoods were pretty segregated (whites mostly living out in the county, blacks mostly in the city). The next county west across the river was where David duke had all his political support. Our experiences differ significantly (MS, LA, and AL are also bottom ranked states for issues like this). It is hard to consider the south as a monolithic entity. Some states are way behind others.