"The mutual suspicion has to stop. People like PG Fred Wilson, Scobelizer, Mike Arrington and other powerhouses in the startup world should feel as comfortable

"The mutual suspicion has to stop. People like PG Fred Wilson, Scobelizer, Mike Arrington and other powerhouses in the startup world should feel as comfortable talking about it as they do, talking about the absence of women in technology." ---- I think they avoid that topic as much as they can as well, everyone has a side to blame and it just gets nasty (I've been on the end / in the middle of this a few times) I don't quite get your point here, "Something happened on Hackernews that made me conclude on what the real issue is as regards to the absence of black founders." Okay.. but your point is I'm not sure Black people don't get covered enough on techcrunch / HN enough? I don't know about you but I just a startup on its merits not on if the founder is male/female black/white british/american, You seem to be actively looking for this information with each post on TC (looking at your http://oonwoye.com/2010/04/05/black-founders/ http://oonwoye.com/2010/04/05/black-founders/) post "High profile and connected black founders should endeavour to speak about this issue. My post last year only got traction after a Retweet from Tristan Walker." This could / is also be said about women and any minority, I run a conference in the UK and the percentage of women that actually apply is minimal let alone women that fit our speaking criteria. "The truth is that a vast majority of my tech friends in Europe are white (obviously) and they are some of the nicest people I have met (The co founder of my last startup Joel is actually British). They are extremely helpful and I have NEVER noticed any form of discrimination. i assume it is the case in the US too. Which is the reason I am a bit confused as to why discussing this issue is a problem." I'll admit I have a problem discussing this because its very easy to say the wrong thing and things get taken the wrong say, I've had the same discussion with women in technology and things were twisted and any points I came up with were rebutted with "your an average white male so you don't know" and that argument gets old pretty quickly when your trying to have a discussion..