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by blackfemcoders 4839 days ago
Here here. It's not that we don't exist: we do and we always have. It's that the problem is two-fold: 1) we don't get the access and resources needed at a young age to encourage us to pursue STEM fields and succeed/achieve in that realm and 2) for those of us who choose to pursue that route anyway, we don't get the exposure later on once we have achieved. The positive is that I see change happening, even if it's not as quickly as I would like, but it's still an issue that will need to be continually acknowledged and addressed by all until it is (ideally) not an issue anymore.

--http://blackfemalecoders.tumblr.com/
1 comments
brewgardn 4839 days ago
So how to fix the exposure problems. Are media outlets like Inc, Forbes, Techcrunch making a good enough effort to cover stories like this?
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ggreenlee 4839 days ago
I think it's going to be more organic. This is the age of the internet. The internet is media therefore we have the best outlet possible to get the word out ourselves. We can do this by supporting each others causes. People have already laid the ground work, so support them. As numbers increase the visibility increases and all these other outlets will follow not because they want to it'll be because they have to. Think about the Negro Leagues. It's a perfect example of something that grew organically and made such an impact that it couldn't be ignored. Now there is no Negro League, just Major League baseball.

Greg Greenlee Founder of Blacks In Technology (http://www.blacksintechnology.net) Founder of BIT Tech Digest (http://www.bitdigest.net)

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blackfemcoders 4839 days ago
I think one of the main reasons media outlets such as the ones you mentioned don't cover these stories is because they just aren't aware of all of the work that is going on in the community to resolve this. It's just not on their radar. I think, in part, it is our responsibility as founders and community advocates to continue doing what we're doing and putting our work out there, but it also just as much (if not even more) the responsibility of these larger media sources to make addressing this a priority.

The hardest part, in my opinion, is getting people to understand that this conversation is not limited to one subset of the community. It involves everyone in some way.

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