the year of perfect vision + no time for gray
for a year all about perfect vision, 2020 has been more defined by its sounds
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE, SAN FRANCISCO —
for a year all about perfect vision, 2020 has been more defined by its sounds. the noise of the news. the ring of yet another zoom hang out. the opening credits of avatar. the bird-turned-coworker that lives outside my apartment-turned-office.
the 8 p.m. cheer.
in the past week we’ve been taught how much louder we should’ve been all along. the sirens. the screams. the cries. the truth being yelled on the streets and on the steps of city hall: black lives matter.
more later, but first my words + reads:
my words: me and the smart jonathan shieber wrote a story about the vc rush to support more black founders after protests erupt across the world in response to racial violence.
etc: black entrepreneurs and investors are questioning the motivations of these firms, given the weight of evidence that shows inaction in the face of historic inequality in the technology and venture capital industry.
learning lesson: this may be obvious to most people, but on the record interview > on background interview > comment via e-mail > blog post > no comment. if you are actively working on diversity, you should be able to speak on the record to your efforts and leave absolutely no room for gray interpretation.
unorganized tab time:
the bon appetit test kitchen has a race problem
we need black journalists covering this moment
a16z launches a new donor-advised $2.2M+ fund
saeed jones’ latest is gutting
anyways,
i’ve been thinking about my favorite subject in grade school — history, because i hated english — and how chapters glossed over the black panthers and malcolm x as if they were footnotes. or captions. or recommended reading, but not required. i think about how the books turned the civil rights movement into black and white photos to make it seem like it was centuries ago. i think about how, in class, we never seemed to really connect the fact that current events and racial violence can be drawn back to the truth that slavery still impacts society.
unfortunately, we cannot go and relearn history the way it should have been taught from the get go. but the key here, and what is giving me hope for the future, is that we can unlearn the things we thought we knew. and the only way to do that is becoming comfortable with changing your mind. it is okay to realize you are wrong, and be better once you get new information. active work is the only way to progress, and the ego hit is worth the change.
a lot of these realizations within the past week have been startling and exhausting and humbling. the screwed up reality of our world continues to surprise me. but most of all, i am realizing what a privilege it is to feel shocked about a system others have had no choice but to live within: systemic racism.
i guess this year might be about perfect vision after all. or at least, getting to a place where we can see what we were taught so long to ignore.
take care,
n
