Here is the article from Quartz where I grabbed the headline for this diary.
In the US, computer science is (unfortunately) a privilege
We can probably say getting into any field where (white) people make a bunch of money takes some level of privilege.
I've been in tech for more than 30 years - when I started in the 80s most of the women who were learning to program ended up changing careers once they got going. I guess it's only gotten worse. And forget about not being white unless we're talking about someone from India - throughout my career.
During all of my time in tech it has been a relatively easy way to get into a specialized field with minimal training with the potential to make a very good salary.
Once I got my BA in Poly Sci and Journalism I went to San Diego City College to take some machinist classes so I could postpone 1) going to school to be a lawyer 2) postpone graduate school in political science 3) working for a newspaper or PR firm.
Most of my classmates were not white. Nor from India.
Then about 4 years later I decided to go back to school to learn how to code. Most of my classmates were as white as me.
I never really thought about that. I always recognized that I was lucky to have the GI Bill to put me through school and my Mom's house to go back to (or get a loan from) if desperately needed.
It wasn't until the last few years that I associated that good fortune with being white. And how much it really does suck to be non-white OR poor, but especially non-white AND poor.
It also makes me realize how utterly contemptible and racist republicans are. It doesn't matter if they really are not white supremacists, neo-fascists or evil doers. They caucus with the white supremacists, neo-fascists and evil doers and ensure that those policies are implemented.
I quit giving to the Sierra Club several years ago when they endorsed a republican in the northeast. The excuse was that this candidate's positions on the environment were OK. Lacking in the analysis was that he would also be caucusing with the white supremacists and helping to keep that agenda in place - including preventing support for clean air etc.
Republicans like to say that everyone has the same opportunities - or at least should have. And yet the reality is that entrepreneurs are white from money (even if it's relatively modest money like Bill Gates (who used Dad's connections, if not his money) and kids who parents own or run businesses are almost guaranteed a cushy spot in life.
So, anyone saying Blacks are privileged (how else did Obama get into an Ivy League school and become president), we shouldn't pay reparations, shouldn't use affirmative action (instead of the white affirmative action we now have in place) or why can't they be like (fill in the blanks) - you're an asshole and you piss me off. And probably a republican, or perhaps a libertarian.
Thanks for letting me rant - hopefully you find the Quartz article interesting.