Hey White Guys, You’re Invited!
By Laura Donnelly, Founder CEO Latinitas
Over the night’s signature drink–a delicious Don Julio Paloma–at a joint event hosted by Latina magazine and Austin’s exponentially emerging Latinas in Tech professional group during SXSW, I met another advocate for girls of color in STEM and she wondered, also, where were all the White guys at SXSW Diversity and Inclusion driven panels?
I had just finished a presentation called “Minority Report: Engaging Kids of Color in Tech” representing Latinitas–the Texas-based non-profit I co-founded 16 years ago empowering all girls to innovate using media and technology– along with Kimberly Bryant, founder of Black Girls Code; Dalinda Gonzalez-Alcantar, founder of Border Kids Code; and Danny Lucio, a community impact manager at Google Fiber. We, too, wondered at our panel: where were all the leaders of industries where less than 5% of staff overall are Black or Latino wanting to know our secret formula of getting more kids of color and girls into tech (9% of Latinitas alum are in STEM, 3% more than national average).
At the popular South Congress Hotel, post-Latina magazine’s Latinas in Tech panels, my fellow inquisitor, Bostonian Maribel Mendoza, a longtime volunteer for national network Latinas in STEM, thought maybe they needed a direct invitation. That “White Guys” might be afraid of being “called out as the only white guys” in the room. It inspired an on-the-spot brainstorm for a slew of D/I presentations at SXSW 2019 such as the straightforward: “Hey White Guys, You’re Invited,” or “Start Line Here if You Want to Make it in a 21st Century Economy,” and lastly, “Don’t be Afraid of POC in Media and Tech Who Have been Fueling Original Creative Thought All Along Here.”
But, really, where were all the #MeToo allies who I swear I saw on social media wondering how they could help their female peers or colleagues of color achieve fair pay and respectful treatment?
A sense of urgency was missing in the tech sector this past SXSW, in relevance to the vibe on social media. Where was the follow-up to the onslaught of questions and concerns about how men could be more inclusive of women, of people of color, and of people with disabilities, and LBGTQs? Of course, I want to give kudos to SXSW, because they made sure all the experts were there this year to share their wisdom, from Black Girls Code and Latinitas to the editorial team at Mitú and Remezcla, as well as the almost entirely Black cast of Showtime’s “The Chi.” Even Rubén Blades was there, an expert in the bias-laden trifecta industries of music, cinema and politics (Blades ran for President of Panama in 1994). There were panels devoted just to these dialogues, but what was missing was not on the schedule or the roster of speaker, but in the audiences. Where were all the forecasters? They missed crucial information about their current and future customers — that “millennial” is interchangeable with person of color since 42% of millennials are multicultural reports the Pew Hispanic Research Center. Or, in other words, that is who they will be selling their startup products to, since we are poised to be a minority-majority country in the next 3 to 5 years.
One thing I want to make clear to all the “White guys” attending the various panels and SXSW offerings is that This is your America, and whether you are obsessed with Blockchain technology or the futures of cryptocurrency , your economy is never going to make it without DREAMers and their families consistently contributing to America’s tax coffers, which, according to conservative magazine The Nation, is currently over $11 billion to the American economy annually.
I visited LatinX influencers paneling from Remezcla, Latina Rebels and Mitú — feeds that reach a cross-cultural audience that will soon be the majority of the U.S. Mitú, specifically, which is headquartered in Los Angeles and has operations in Miami, New York, Chicago, and Bogotá, broadcasts on more than 7+ platforms from Snapchat to television. They are Influencers outpacing the reach of even Oprah and the Kardashians.
The founder of the colonialism combatant news feed Latina Rebels, Prisca Dorcas, put it best: “I get called out. If you don’t get called out, you don’t grow.” White guys — we need to see you at these panels. You may get called out. But, you will grow.
