Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

The difference between what you are saying and what Samuel is saying is that one is a valid statement, the other is no different than racist remark.

When you say "people with no experience with other groups have to rely on stereotypes" I can't argue, that's completely true. When he makes broad sweeping generalizations about entire geographic regions I have to object because it's no better than making sweeping generalizations about entire creeds, colors, genders, or sexual orientations.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Do not tell me I have not experienced racism firsthand because I'm of European descent. I've been beaten up and denied scholarships, among many lesser offenses, for no reason other than that I'm white. If you believe that violence and discrimination against someone on the basis of race is not racism because the victim is of the majority race, you need to look at the world more honestly. I will say that I have never directly witnessed racism within FIRST, against myself or another of any race.

Edit: My advice in the future is not to attempt to create an exclusive conversation on a public forum. I'm going to add this thread to my ignore list now.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

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Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

This thread is getting ridiculous.

Anyways, Shrub, I would like to know if people on your team treated you any differently when they found out you were not white, or if you or your brother felt any difference in the way those who knew you were Hispanic and those who thought you were white treated you.

Thank you!

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

What the flip, people. Sorry OP, it's lost. If you're interested in feedback from some students that have experiences which are relevant, send me a pm, I will put them in touch with you. This thread is now depressing and crap, I'm out.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I promised myself I wouldn't post here, but I'm making an exception solely because I think too many of the wrong voices are being heard in this thread. This isn't to say that the many voices being heard here don't have valid things to say and experiences to share, just that this is not the place for them. I feel like Eric was pretty clear about which voices this was intended to be a venue for, and so, if you don't fit what Shrub intended this thread for, but would still like to talk, please join me in this thread.

Hopefully this thread can return to its intent.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Hi! Thanks for asking. I was actually starting to write this up so I might as well post it now.

It's kind of obvious I'm not white. People enjoy, or have enjoyed, making a guessing game of my ethnicity. I actually keep tabs of what they ask, and if anyone cares, people usually guess I'm Mexican-American last. Either way, they often follow up with something like "well I'm surprised/glad you're here" i.e. at a robotics event. Of course, they have no ill intent, but that doesn't mean that it is not a microagression.

I felt a difference between my brother and I, because he was also build captain and on our drive team both years he was on the team. This caused people to take what he said a lot more seriously, because he was making stuff happen for lack of better words. My senior year I volunteered at the regionals our team went to. This was a nice change because I was taken a lot more seriously, (seeing as before this I was a scout sometimes and that's about it at events) but it was kind of surprising to realize I was one of few PoC volunteering. It's one of those things that you don't notice until you look back though, because it's so rare to be surrounded by PoC (at least for me) unless they're friends or family.

I really like making it known that I'm there for others. I usually have some kind of sticker or button on at FRC events that says I speak Spanish and French. My grandparents, who don't understand English, loved coming to FRC events during Aerial Assist season because it was so easy to explain and become invested in. I was glad for once I could show them what I was doing in actions and not words.

I have a few friends who may want to share there thoughts through me and I will be posting those as they talk to me about them.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I have never seen the traditional, overbearing racism in FIRST. However, I come from the unique stance of growing up in a 75% asian 20% white 4% hispanic 1% black community.
On my team at least, there is a lot of "subconscious" racism. It manifests in the way we group ourselves into racial groups or gender groups; it's hard to find an example of a perfectly integrated hangout group, although I don't feel like anybody purposefully tries to bring others down or up. How it has affected me or others, it's hard to tell.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

How is this post acceptable?

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

It's a reasonable request in the same way that creating threads for women to share their experiences is.

I am flabbergasted (but not remotely surprised) that people cannot manage to honor that request.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

When you're talking about a public forum for people to discuss; when you see ignorance, it's usually in good nature to correct ignorance.

The second sentence is probably the most idiotic. Racism is experienced in many ways by all ethnic groups. Including white people.

I've seen it both ways; towards myself, and from my race towards white people. This is why I would see how Dave's post is legitimate.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Irrespective of whether you believe racism affects white people (I don't) -- the original poster asked for people of color to share their experiences. If you're not a person of color, they're not interested in your experience. How hard is it to understand that and keep to yourself? Seems to be pretty straightforward.

Forget systemic racism, forget prejudice, forget whether this forum is public or not -- the original poster asked for a certain type of discussion and y'all can't seem to find it in yourselves to respect that.



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A: "I am interested in hearing about teams' experiences with mecanum drives."

B: "We had a great season with our 6WD!"

A: "..."

I simply stated that outside of cities in those areas it is more prominent. Inside of cities or areas that are more cultured it is much better.

I feel like you are trying to start a fight as you clearly could figure out my intent.

This thread is basically gone but imo that whole thread in itself was bad.

If we want to make first more diverse we can't create a thread and then tell people that this thread should only have POC speak in it; it's straight up segregation. If that wasn't the original intent of this thread forget what I'm saying but it feels like it was.

Having POC in first is great and I want more but, the real goal of first is to inspire ALL students not just poc.

This thread has gotten me enough red dots so I'm going to stop.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I don't see this as bad as a lot of you do now. Yes the generalized statements are and will always be wrong and maybe this thread was only supposed to be for POC but at least I get to see what you're thinking. Forget about the definition of racism or prejudice or discrimination or how they differ. That's just a side thing. What matters, and what I like about the thread is, I get to better understand each individual persons side.

The primary problem with just about everything is two or more sides not seeing each others points. Instead of correcting someone, trade the long reply with just the word "elaborate" (and don't red dot them). I'd rather let you flesh out your thought and know your full thinking first, especially when I don't agree.