[hardwaregeek]

I wonder how many people on HN have experienced being the only person of their race in the room. In my case I was put into a French public school where I was the only Asian student. It took me a bit to realize why I found that experience so shitty. The language and culture barrier was definitely a factor. But also it just sucks standing out. Sometimes this difference manifests as racism. Sometimes it manifests as simpering. Either way the manifestation reinforces your otherness, your difference.

There are certainly people who can surmount these obstacles and fit in. Who have the charm and charisma to ingratiate themselves into any group in any place. I'm not one of those people. I'm not obligated to be one of those people. Those people are quite rare.

Another point: Perhaps there are fewer Black people in STEM because Black people have more pressing issues. If I were Black and intelligent, I'd probably be interesting in combating larger social issues and not biochemistry. But that's just me.

[scarface74]

Another point: Perhaps there are fewer Black people in STEM because Black people have more pressing issues. If I were Black and intelligent, I'd probably be interesting in combating larger social issues and not biochemistry. But that's just me.

No. Most Black people don’t feel any more of a calling to “combat larger social issues” than anyone else.

Yes, I worked at one company where I was the only Black person out of maybe 200 people until another one of my friends got hired based on my referral. They constantly mixed up our names when talking to us.

We were on a conference call once and my friend “John” was talking and one of our coworkers in another state mixed us up and said we “sound a like”. My friend was from up north and had a Boston accent. I have a southern accent. We sound nothing a like.

I am not saying that the company didn’t have any Black peoples because it was racist. The company was based in another state that was about a two hour drive. I would go there and not see any other Black people. We worked in a satellite office.

I was also in the awkward position of being in the city of the main office during Election Day 2016. As the only minority it seemed like in the entire city where people were driving around in their pickup trucks with their confederate flags and MAGA bumper stickers.

[stareatgoats]

> I wonder how many people on HN have experienced being the only person of their race in the room

I have that experience. In my 6th and 7th grade I attended a school in rural Tanzania. It was in the years following Tanzania's independence from colonial rule and there was a certain resentment towards us Europeans harbored by (many) teachers and students, and I was many times harassed and/or ridiculed, and subjected to corporal punishment for the slightest offense (in my own view at least). I have plenty of "charm and charisma" (again in my own view!) but could never get accustomed to the treatment. And indeed felt I shouldn't have to and so was eventually taken out and home schooled instead.

Now, did this break me, make me despondent or not believe in myself? It id not, and the reason is context. Because even if (many) young Tanzanians resented us Europeans, many if not most of the elderly did not. As a 12 year old it was not uncommon for me to be greeted with "shikamoo"(roughly meaning "I kiss the dust off your feet"), a greeting normally reserved for really old people - and people within the colonial administration. I was also treated as someone potentially very rich (not that I was, except relatively only). I still did not come away from the experience completely unscathed but that is another story.

I could go on but in short; being singled out or even maltreated on basis of skin color because people see you as privileged is something quite different than being disrespected because your skin color signals relative under-privilege. Which should give pause I believe. It may take a long while yet until our ethnically related appearances no longer play any role in our relationships.

[andromeduck]

I've been there, I think a lot depends on the specific situation and what you make of it, I ended up with a bunch of eastern european and middle eastern friends, all refugees/immigrants and few of us much above the peoverty line.

I've noticed of them have become pretty alt right in recent years though, a lot of it arising out of resentment on being accused of having benefited from white privilege when they get they were afforded neither the opportunites of wealth or acceptance/fitting-in growing up because they weren't the right kind of white growing up all the societal support, sympathy and recognition of their hardships now because they're too white.

[galoisgirl]

Not race, but I was sent to a French public school at six.

When I started, I could only say my name. Within a year, I was fluent. After 3 years, I was made to skip a grade. I stood out, but knowing I was better than all those kids at their own native language was quite the ego boost.

Later on, the same race, combined with the language fluency, allowed me to blend in, so I was spared from most negative experiences that immigrants face.