Rariel

What program like this exists in DC?

If you have zero interest in the news I think there is something wrong with you not the news. If you don't educate yourself about the issues going on in the world you're contributing to the ignorance of the American (and global) public. Would your life be virtually unchanged if you didn't know about SOPA? Saying that politics doesn't interest you is like saying you don't care about your society and those around you. Imagine if people hadn't watched/read/listened to some form of "the news" during Arab spring, during Prop 8, during the Civil Rights movement, during the height of the fight for women's rights, during apartheid? I guess you would just go on living right? This really reeks of a super young person (which the author outed himself as). I'm all for finding alternative sources of information rather than traditional media (which is biased no matter what source you use). In UG I took a course called "making the news" and learned some very valuable information, namely don't trust what you read--you've got to dig deeper and find several sources in order to truly understand an issue and the various bias of content producers--authors, publications and even geographic regions.

I know humor is sort of frowned up on HN but that was hilarious.

How long have you guys been up and running?

Somewhat, but most liberal arts PhDs only get a small stipend from being a TA plus in-state tuition if it's a public University. Maybe what you're thinking about is being funded, that allows you to get your PhD essentially for free. I'm sure that is available for STEM as well?

I would agree with you for the most part. Top schools ("T14" for us law nerds and "the Top 14 law schools" for the lay people!) are fairly easy to get B's in given effort is extended, but A's are still hard to get. I don't know many T14 schools that have curved and capped classes. I wasn't in an extremely lower ranked school (top 30) but it was a hardcore school in terms of the curve. They've since relaxed a bit (now A's are capped around 18% I believe). I do know people that went to Boalt and got D's so it's possible but failing out is pretty unheard of in law school, period. Also the legal job market has shifted dramatically in the past 4 years so those B students at high ranked schools can't bank on an offer from a big firm based on the name of their school anymore--I know too many who are unemployed for that to be the case.

Funny thing is my husband did his UG in ME at Berkeley and that department ( and the College of Engineering in general) was a sheer nightmare. The unimaginable things that took place and the workload he endured (while working 20 hours at LBNL) blew my mind and that was just a BS. I can imagine a PhD would be insane.

But my point wasn't that one is harder, just that law is hard and it's not an easy thing to grasp because they ask you to learn and be tested in a way that is very non-traditional, at least in my experience. It makes babies out of people who thought of school as a cake walk. It was actually funny at times to see the emotional breakdown over their first B or C because they were so dramatic about it.

But I commend you on your choice to leave law school, probably smartest thing you ever did! ha.

Law school is actually extremely hard, there is no grade inflation in law school, if anything grades are deflated because there area maximum number of As (and B's) given out (usually around 10-15% is the max for A/A- and 20% for B's) for each and every class. So you end up with a bunch of liberal arts majors who have never gotten a C and suddenly they're getting a whole heaping lot of them. They get complexes.

First of all, I was talking about the death penalty in rape cases, the statistics are old because it's an old problem, "The 1977 Coker v. Georgia decision barred the death penalty for rape, and, by implication, for any offense other than murder." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_Unite... So your point is moot.

As for your wiki cite, first of all you're talking about murder when your first comment was regarding the total number of black people incarcerated. Which would you like to discuss? You pulled that quote (as of 2005) off of a graphic, had you read the text to the left you would have seen this: "As of 2008, statistics report that of 16,277 murders, 10,568 were committed by males, 1,176 were by female, and 4,533 were committed in which the offenders sex was unknown. Likewise, 5,334 murders were committed by white offenders, 5,943 were committed by black or black and Hispanic offenders, 273 were committed by offenders of other races, and 4,727 murders were committed by offenders whose race is not known. [12]" So white people murder about the same as black people. There are less black people in the united states, what do you think the reason behind this is? You think black people just have more bad apples in their bunch than whites? Are blacks just more prone to be criminals? Or is it based on the conditions of their community? How did their community get that way? Was it their own doing or did it have anything to do with Jim Crow laws, were those laws racist?

Your other statistic is NY specific therefore I will not address it because I am talking about a systematic problem, not NYC which is a major metro area and therefore likely to have more crime.

"Slavery ended 150 years ago" But how long ago was it that Jim Crow was in effect? How long did it take for Jim Crow to be completely abolished? There are still signs up that say whites only because they haven't been removed--I've seen some with my own two eyes.

It's unfortunate that you cannot see the connection between the current state of the black community and the trans-atlantic slave trade, hundreds of years of enslavement followed by legal racial segregation that just ended 40 years ago--I know plenty of people who went to segregated high schools.

"The causes of this situation are complex, and reducing them to one dimensional truisms does no one any favors." I don't believe I ever said it was due to one thing. Racism in itself is highly complex and in no way one dimensional.

I really have no interest in continuing this debate with you. I'll agree to disagree.

You are incorrect, it is not poor men. "Of the 455 men executed for rape in the United States between 1930 and 1967, 90 percent were African American." Although I'm sure the vast majority of those men were poor.

re: stats please provide some if you'd like some in return because you've made a huge generalization and I'd say that it's your bias speaking (not racism). In response to your question, if it is true that black men commit more crimes I'd say that the situation of blacks in america is directly tied racism, slavery and the like so yes, it is due to racism too.

The only thing I agree with Mike on is this "The way to fix this problem is to try to get more very young minorities interested in business, science and math, and create a culture that celebrates these interests in the same way that being good at sports is celebrated today." Yet he doesn't even realize that "the same way that being good at sports is celebrated today" is extremely offensive coming from him. The only reason Black people excelled at sports was that there weren't many other options for making a great deal of money without a good education. A quick survey of black athletes will undoubtedly show that they weren't at the top elementary schools and high schools in their areas. When you don't have a solid education or any place to get one because of your socio-economic class you turn to other options for making money, namely sports or entertainment if you're "good" selling drugs and crime if you're "bad." The comment itself is true but the idea that he can't understand the historical context of his proposition or the reason it isn't already the case is sad.

I agree. All this drama over an un-aired special. CNN must be so happy with the hype created and the ratings that will result.

What about the fact that Black men were disproportionately executed for rape, so much so that they stopped making the death penalty an option for rape cases? Is that institutionalized racism or just bad luck?

This idea that you're either "racist" or "not racist" is ridiculous. We all have bias and prejudice, very rarely are people making n-word jokes or saying things like "Tim is great but he's black/latino so I think he's not as smart as Sally because she's white."

To have any sort of useful and truthful discussion about race in this country we must look at it from a holistic perspective and be honest with ourselves about the ideas and bias we have, it's less about shouting racist at somebody and more about understanding how our society socializes us to believe certain things (e.g. Asians are good at math, black people are good at sports and entertainment, Jews are good with money and law). If we own up to the fact that we all carry around bias and prejudice (often times without any malice or cognizance of its' existence) we can start really getting at the issue of racism and institutionalized racism.

All that being said, I think Mike is just a white guy who doesn't like to be called racist even if some of the things he's said are offensive to people of color and considered racist by them. He's a whiner to me and I've never liked his attitude, I was done with him when he went after Warren Buffet for saying rich people should pay taxes using tech crunch as his platform. He thinks he's above any and all rules (journalistic integrity [even though he's not a journalist], being racial sensitive, etc) and it is disturbing that he continues to be so insensitive and offensive despite being told by several people to be quiet.

I agree. I'd also add that I don't think that experience is the same as African-Americans. People do distinguish between middle-eastern/Mediterranean and African-American. At least in my experience.

I've met many programmers that feel differently (as well as engineers in others disciplines ME, ChemE etc) but it is nice that you are another person who has been able to experience zero racism in the work place.

"Racism is just not a thing in the high-tech industry." I beg to differ. Saying racism is "just not a thing" in any sense isn't really realistic. Are there people using the n-word all the time? No. Are there people with bias they might not even understand or be aware of? Yes. . Also there is a huge difference between the world of strictly programming (doing it for other people's businesses) and the world of tech entrepreneuring. Those are two different worlds,they overlap a great deal but they are still different worlds. You encounter different issues and different sets of people you must interact with in different ways.

That said I don't think NewMe is necessary and agree Black start ups should apply to traditional programs. I think some sort of formalized mentoring network would be useful but aside from that I don't really see the point...it's also not an accelerator that invests money in it's startups from what I understand, so I don't really get the point. I still applaud Benton and the others involved for trying to do something.

You are the exception and not the rule. It's great when things work out as they did for you but it's not the norm. Just because this has been your experience as a black programmer doesn't mean it is that of all others.

I also don't think its true that "This entire issue is being exploited to get attention for Angela Benton and her new accelerator." This issue would exist regardless of whether the NewMe accelerator existed, Benton is just bringing some press to the subject.

I never used the word unique. Also re: bureau v. Dept-- Im not ashamed to admit I can't spell to save my life so I used dept instead of bureau because I was on my way out of the office and was too rushed to google when my spelling was so far off the browser's spell check didn't even know what I was trying to spell. It actually has two official names, I forget the other but it may very well be dept, or office. at least it did 2004-06 when I was working with them.

@protomyth I worked with the Dept. of Indian Affairs so I really don't need a lecture or directions on what to look up from you. The situation of Native Americans is heartbreaking. It was most certainly genocide and disgusting. Again, it is not about who had it worse it is just that there are distinct differences. The number of Native Americans in the valley is inherently going to be smaller because of the genocide that took place and the fact that unlike African slaves they didn't have anywhere to go to get more once they worked them to death. But native americans were not enslaved in the same way that Africans were--if that was the case there would be no reservations and no trail of tears.

Are you seriously saying that Native Americans were the go-to slaves? Have you heard of a little country called Brazil? Do you know about the trans-Atlantic slave trade? It doesn't seem you do.

Yes and they often try to distance themselves from African Americans. But what are the actual numbers of African Immigrants in the US compared to Asian/Indian? Even second and third generation. There are larger numbers in Europe I'm sure.

Edit: I'll answer my own question, in 2008 alone African immigrants only accounted for 3% Asian immigrants (which includes India) accounted for 53%. I'm sure that's not a recent trend.

I don't think this is a game of who was oppressed more/worse. The plane and simple fact is that no ethic group endured 400 years of hardcore slavery in the US other than African-Americans. Slavery which was also followed by hardcore and legal discrimination.

"In other words, when is the last time a white person has crossed the street to avoid a Chinese/Indian person walking towards them. Ask a black guy when the last time that happened." What does this have to do with the model minority point? Also I'd say that asians and indians are the majority in tech, at least in my experience. My husband is a Mechanical Engineer from Cal and the vast majority of his classmates were Asian and Indian, very few whites and people of other ethnicity.

Deregulating law is a joke. There is so much to learn to effectively and properly advocate for a client in this legal system. Also it's worth noting that two states (NC and VT) allow you to become a lawyer without going to law school but both require you to pass the bar.

Last point: I think you'd be hard pressed to find firms outside of the top 5 that can still charge over 1,000 for a partner's time. Def not an associate no matter their seniority. Most big firms have cut their rates to keep their clients. Some big corps are wising up and refuse to pay a 1st year attorney 500 an hour.

I've worked in IP Law and for the Senate and I've never really experienced overt sexism so I kind of thought it was on the decline in the work place. Imagine my surprise when I started joining tech/start-up communities (like this one) and witnessed unparalleled sexism and ignorance. I mean attitudes that make you think you're in the 1800s (once had somebody on HN tell me that women are genetically less likely to want to do tech![!!!!!!!]).

I'm still pretty shocked by it and also curious as to why this industry is so antiquated with regard to its' attitudes about women. There are a lot of women who want to distance themselves from the argument. At a SXSW session there were women extremely opposed to even acknowledging the discrimination for fear they'd be labeled a complainer and be seen differently than their male counter-parts (which unless you're an idiot you can see the difference between a man and a woman). I didn't consider myself a feminist before but the tech industry has made me up my feminism...

Exactly, I agree 100%. People are out there because they are not sure what to do but know that something very, very wrong.

I think it would be helpful if they had a leader, somebody who could articulate the thoughts of people who are there for the right reasons (to show their distaste of the current state of things).

It is really frustrating to hear the beneficiaries of this corruption try to dismiss the protesters as "lazy" when I think it takes more to get your butt outside and stay there than it does to go to work and do some busy paper pushing.

Side note on the corruption of this country, look at the bay bridge as an example. It's been over 20 years since the 89 earthquake and the bridge is still not completed. How can countries like China and France and Switzerland manage to finish much larger and more complicated bridges in under a year. Corruption at it's finest.

I know this is an unpopular opinion but, having worked for the government and as an attorney I think it is always sad when families are deported but it is not outrageous. The laws are the laws and they apply equally to (almost) everybody. When people over stay their visas they have broken the law, there is no getting around that and no amount of hard work, tax paying or community involvement can change that. People are arrested and jailed everyday under inequitable laws (crack/cocaine sentencing discrepancy comes to mind) but the way to fix it isn't to get caught up under that law and complain about it.

It's unfortunate that this man will have to relocate but I feel more sympathy for his son than him.

How funny! I love golocal in Austin! You guys rock, really great company and concept. I like to use mine at Quacks.

If you don't mind me asking, who do you work for and what makes the deal site sustainable for local businesses?

DC is seeing an explosion and it's great! I know of 3 co-working spaces that popped up recently. Also if you're in DC come to the meetups advertised via Startup Digest DC. There was also a group for DC Hacker News readers altho there hasn't been much movement in that there are lots of cool things going. One thing I'd love to see is an incubator program in DC proper. I know there is one that is run as a partnership with UMC CP but I've looked (and looked) and cannot find anything in DC. If anybody knows of one I'd love to check it out.

Wow. That is hilarious. Are you involved in that site?