Let me start by saying we need more people like you who are willing to not only speak up, but to take action to change things they believe in and be willing to stand behind it 100%

I think this is a well intentioned post, but I also think you cannot be what you know nothing about… When I talk to kids… as a black man, working with kids that don’t know any black people that are in the technology industry, I am pretty comfortable with the saying you can’t be what you can’t see… because I think they understand what I am saying and what the meaning is, there is no context for them, there is no starting point.

I also think that we all need to acknowledge even the privilege of words and speaking up about what we feel strong about… If I wrote a blog post like this… using this type of language it would be perceived differently coming from a black male, my passion would be perceived as “anger”, I know because it has already happened and we all know what happens to “angry black men” in this country.