FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Hi CD,

Almost a month ago a post was made about Legion of Black FRC Participants (link) and (link) on CD, which I think is a great idea. Since then, I have been thinking about my experiences in FRC as a person of color and how they may differentiate between my white friends, as well as my friends who are also PoC. I wanted to create a thread for POC who have or are participating in FIRST to share their experiences and how these identities (and others they hold) intersect, and any other relevant comments they may have. I apologize if this thread sounds exclusionary to any.

Some links for relevant reading (Feel free to link some more!):
Inclusion in FIRST: (link)
This article (link) from Gender Equality: A Work in Progress: (link)
Women of color in STEM and bias: (link)
Editorial from Huffington Post: (link)

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

One thing is for sure, not a lot of people look like us at competitions or events. Only people that apparently do look like us are, music producers and retired basketball players...

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

FIRST hired for a new position in Sept. Inclusion and Diversity Manager. PM me if you want the contact.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I got a PM about this terminology and I wanted to clarify what I mean. I didn't mean to offend in any way with this terminology and it has been brought to my attention that this has been used in a derogatory and offensive sense, and that was not my intention in using these terms. Feel free to use any other terms as you see fit and comfortable.

When I say non-white-passing, I mean someone who is not perceived by others who do not know someone's ethnicity as white. On the flip-side, a white-passing person is perceived by others as white but is a PoC. I brought this up mainly because my brother and I are both Hispanic and at one point were both in FRC, but many people thought he was white until he clarified that we were both Hispanic (or he spoke in Spanish). I do not bring this up to address any type of privileges held by any other group, simply experiences, and have amended my original post.

Again, I used this term because it is a common one for me and did not know of its derogatory past until it was brought up to me, which I am very glad it was.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

This was brought up by our RD last year. Having non-white judges and other officials as an example to non-white students is a priority and, I agree, could still use some work. I know there is effort being made in NC.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I think the diversity is much better in naturally diverse places. In lower NY we are naturally very diverse and the teams are by result.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

This is true to an extent. FIRST has an up-and-down history with issues surrounding race, gender, ethnicity, and similar. Our team's first year (2004) was almost our last due to the way FRC organizers in our state attempted to "highlight" persons of color on our team, essentially treating our school and it's kids as a zoo with exhibits. It was insulting at best. We re-entered FRC two years later, when our concerns were addressed. The state leadership for the last five years (at least) is part of our community and are very much engaged in making FRC accessible and welcoming, and I have nothing but respect for them and their work.

I'm glad this thread is up, this is an important topic.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

This is a very interesting discussion

In Brazil we do not differentiate people, we just have Brazilians in Brazil

I remember answering the FIRST questionnaire about the percentage each ethnicity within the team and not actually knowing what to do...

I ended up spending a long time thinking what to answer and at the end I just ticked "other” and put "people" in the box, I also requested that FIRST did not ask me that again.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

A possible analog for you could be foreign students vs. local students. I think you would agree that it would feel very different to go to a competition in Brazil and have every judge, MC, and volunteer be a white American. Or if you came to America for a competition and those same people only spoke Portuguese and came from South America.
Diversity is important everywhere, though it is certainly more of an issue in some places than others. The reason I care about it is that I don't want minorities (whether that's females or other racial minorities) to see the STEM world as only inclusive of majorities or men.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Not that many people make a big deal of his ethnicity, but Lonnie Johnson (inventor of the super soaker) is a supporter of First. I not sure if he is a judge, but he gave substantial speeches at the Peachtree & Georgia Southern Classic regionals. (past tense because we are going to districts next year.) He also hosts one of Georgia's DE fields at his research facility.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I'm not sure if my experiences as an Asian in FIRST are relevant here, but I have noticed that at least in the Pacific Northwest East and South Asian are fairly well represented. However, our robotics team has barely any Hispanic and African American team members, which comes as no surprise as our state, Oregon, is one of the whitest. However, despite the fact that Asians are so well represented, micro-aggressions still absolutely take place on the part of white FRC team members which is something I hope will soon change.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I always wanted someone to start a thread about this but never felt it was my place to start one, so kudos to you for starting this. I too have noticed a lack of representation of PoC in first, both as participants and as guests/judges. It gets more bleak when you look for people who tick off multiple "diversity" boxes such as females of color.

It's definitely not any PoC's responsibility to educate white folk, but if anyone is willing, what are some ways we (non PoC) can be allies? What type of things would you like to see at events? Should volunteer coordinators try to focus on making a more diverse judging pane/volunteer crewl? Should we (the collective FIRST community) try to get more distinguished guests/speakers that are PoC at events?

I think the Legion of Black FRC Participants is a good thing. I hope it becomes a strong community much like FIRST Ladies has.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

The number one thing anyone can do in regards to race is to not worry about it. Most Problems occur when some assumption about someone is made based on race. Think of skin color like pit scouting robots. What good elim pick list is based solely off pit scouting data?

As far as the current level of diversity in FIRST? More external factors seem to be at play than internal. From my perspective (African American) FIRST and the general community aren't doing anything particularly wrong and my experience has been generally positive. #1 reason you will or won't see someone of color on a FIRST team is where it is located. Who goes to the school. #2 is media. How many African American engineers or female engineers have you heard of? More importantly how often are they mentioned? If you never see it you won't think of it as an option. Then you're flooded with examples of every profession but engineering to seal the deal (mostly sports & entertainment).

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

We are always striving to more aggressively recruit minorities who are less likely to show up for the team based on "generic" recruiting. Looking at our Facebook photo, which is our Bayou Blue Banner team photo, I see that no fewer than 5 of the 36 students and receent alumni in the photo would self-describe as non-white, and several others for whom I really don't know. Slidell is listed as 73% white, 16% black, 8% hispanic, and 3% others categories, and northern Slidell (SHS' district) is more predominately white than southern Slidell, so we're pretty close to representative. Only eleven were female, but they included a team co-captain, the drive coach, the human player, and a candidate for the most impressive freshman ever on the team. I believe that our smaller 2016 team has a higher percentage of minorities, both in gender and race. It has even become a bit of a team joke that whenever someone expresses that he or she is a member of a gender, racial, or other minority that the response is one of surprise (oh, you're black? and even on a few occasions oh, you're a girl?) but not concern. Honestly, most of our students don't care what race someone is, and several of the mentors are hustling to keeping up.

This year, we have started having "build" and "business" functions at different time, to make it clear that every team member should have a function on both sides. This was an intentional move to limit the "natural" migration of girls to "business only" functions, and inhibition of boys in serving in business functions. One of the truths that many of the mentors did not learn until after we were out of college is that a scientist, engineer, or mathematician needs to also be a bit of a salesman to prosper. The good news is that you can succeed without having to sell garbage - but it is essential that you can sell the ideas you believe in. OBTW, this same salesmanship in something you believe in helps our students become STEM ambassadors in the world, and you can't cut it much finer than this: being STEM ambassadors is what FIRST is really all about.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Hey! I just wanted to chime in. I think a great way to begin allyship is becoming aware of, and developing language to combat microagressions, which were previously mentioned. In my experience, microagressions add another layer of stress to FIRST functions and events as I happen to check so many "diversity boxes". They're also hard to deal with when one is a token student with no idea how to explain why something makes them upset. Having an environment that challenges stereotypes and microagressions also becomes more inviting to students who may have been wary of the environment beforehand.

A second thing is to learn about "nerd culture," which can be elitist and exclusionary to those who are not constantly surrounded by it. It's also extremely common in FIRST due to the overlap of students into general nerdery - especially video games - and also robots. I'm not saying one has to dismantle nerd culture signlehandeldly, but becoming aware of how one may be exclusionary to others (and then learning how they can personally change that) is always good. NPR Latino recently posted a podcast about nerd culture that may be worth a listen (link, scroll down to Diversity in Geekdom). I don't have many links on the issue sadly. :(

Forcing or deliberately highlighting student diversity is often harmful to students, as is shown in mrnoble 's post. It's kind of like when college brochures try to include every minority in a photograph. This can backfire on team dynamics and the students who are being highlighted due to the "diversity boxes" they check.

[I'd also love to see more diverse judging and volunteer crews, but that's heavily based on the demographics of the area. Seeing speakers and guests that are also PoC is also really awesome whenever it happens. Even little things like the naming of Championship fields can go a long way-this isn't to say that only little things can work. These are all things that can only happen (or usually only happen) as collective communities, and I really wanted to focus on what individuals can do for allyship. I do not speak for all PoC, obviously.]

Thank you all for the positive messages so far as well!

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

The only "naturally" diverse place in "lower NY" as you put it would be, New York City (Correct me if I am wrong). That being said, the reason why it is so diverse is because the event hosts "inner city" and international kids. Many of the student participants are minorities, i.e African America, Hispanic/Latino, Asian etc. many of whom are mentored by minorities as well. In my opinion, the problem comes when you see the staff working the events and competitions. It even surfaces among the invited speakers or guest. Many states may vary and have minorities represented but i have yet to see it on a larger scale or with consistency.




I am glad to see that racism and prejudice does not exist in Brazil, maybe U.S should take some notes. But as humans, we try to avoid conversation that we are not comfortable with. In society, we demonized such issues so much that people avoid having meaningful conversation about it.


It's great to hear about things like this. It should be spread on a national/international level. Any participant of FIRST should be able to look at a flyers or listen to guest speak and say, "I want to be like her/him" or "He/She looks like me" creating possibility for that student to aspire.




I saw a TED talk a while back where the speaker said, “Scholars have created this term "color blindness" to describe a learned behavior where we pretend that we don't notice race. If you happen to be surrounded by a bunch of people who look like you, that's purely accidental. Now, color blindness, in my view, doesn't mean that there's no racial discrimination, and there's fairness. It doesn't mean that at all. It doesn't ensure it. In my view, color blindness is very dangerous because it means we're ignoring the problem.” Mellody Hobson TED 2014. According to the “FIRST Program Evaluation” done by the Center for Youth and Communities, at Brandeis University, only 27% of participants in FRC are non-white. Out of 60 people in “leadership” positions at FIRST only 6 would be considered non-white based on research done on the FIRST website. Information also gathered from the FIRST website also shows that only 7 State Senior Mentors would be considered non-white. A lot of times we pretend these issue don’t exist in our homes, our schools, at our job, in our grocery stores, even within FIRST. We need to bring more awareness to these problems, so that we can as NYC FIRST says, “Discover the genius in every kid”

When I refer to lower ny I am referring to New York City, and Long Island.

On my team it is pretty much an even split between indian, white, and Asian people. Even though my school is pretty much all white people. I wouldn't call any of those races poc but it is worth mentioning.

I will also mention NY is very segregated area and school wise because of the public school system. If you didn't known in NYC you actually have to apply to High School and you fight against other top kids in the city to get in the top school. If your not a top kid you end up at a bad school for the most part unless you are lucky and are zoned for a decent school.

Teams like Stuypulse, and the Steel Hawks come from specialized high schools that are very difficult to get into unless your top of the class.

Because of this in Ny you see entire Poc Teams and entire white teams. Same thing goes for long island.

I must also say that many of the people who work the events are poc. One of the refs on long island that goes to every event is a poc and in NYC there's just as many Poc working the events as competing in them.

But, regardless racism in Ny, and Long Island isn't as prominent in the South, and the west. I've noticed from traveling people out of cities who haven't experienced different cultures are extremely racist.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

This statement... there is just...

I've LIVED in the south and most of the folks I met down there were not only more accepting but far kinder than anyone I've met in the Northeast. So, do me a favor and stop it with the stereotyping of anyone outside a city as some sort of redneck yokel.

And, on the topic of more volunteers as PoC, allow me to show you an example of what we see in VMS...

So, you tell me, PoC or not?


For more fun, what gender is this person?

The point is, if that's all you know about the person it's pretty hard to guess. Not saying that judges and refs should all be older white men, but definitely saying, cut the VC's some slack, they are working with who volunteers. If you want to see more PoC or other underrepresented group in the volunteer pool, help us by asking them to volunteer.

There are exceptions to the rule obviously but I disagree. Tennessee imo has some of the most racism I have ever seen. What I've seen in the south hasn't always been direct racism but I have seen a lot of condescending attitudes towards poc which is worse imo.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

+1
As someone who was born in Selma AL, and raised in the suburbs of New Orleans, I see more racism when I travel to the northeast than I ever do at home. In old southern cities especially, you will find thoroughly mixed neighborhoods, people of African and Italian and Irish and Jewish and Vietnamese and Middle Eastern descent all living on the same block, and mansions a block down from shotgun doubles. The suburbs and small towns are more sorted, though by income rather than race. In most cities from DC northward, there seems to be a line in town (often a set of railroad tracks) which marks the territory between races, and other lines that mark territory between national origins. When I go into a restaurant or store and for some reason decide to look around for it, I rarely find in the south that there are only white people, or that I'm the only one. It seems to happen far more regularly in the Northeast. I haven't spent enough time on the west coast to comment.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

As a person of Asian descent I'm not sure I really feel the same types of discrimination, per se, that other PoC might, but I definitely feel stereotyped. People feel free to assume by my looks that I'm an engineer, computer nerd, etc. OK, so it's true, but... :D

Living all my life in one of Ontario's major cities with a healthy multicultural population, I never really give it much thought, though occasionally I do get reminded that stereotyping exists. I was interviewing real estate agents recently and one (white) guy made a comment about how much different "the Oriental people" are now -- "used to be you couldn't work with them, they only wanted to deal with other Oriental people". I wasn't really sure whether to be offended by that remark, but it did factor a bit in my decision not to hire him.

Then there was the time, not that long ago, I was an adult leader for a youth retreat at a camp in rural Ontario, and I met a couple of teenage boys who had apparently never met an Asian person before. They were visibly apprehensive at first, but relaxed and we became friends after they realized I wasn't going to be "weird". I found this out after the fact in chatting with one of their parents. If only I had known, I could have really messed with their heads... So yes, those people do still exist, though I think it's more simply not knowing than it is outright stereotyping or blatant racism.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

And I see a lot of condescending attitudes from you towards people from a different region. Are you seeing my point yet?

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I'll speak up for the west coast,at least my area.

I can't say for sure that I've seen much racism--admittedly, I'm not a PoC, so I probably am not as attuned to it as many PoCs are. Are there some "wrong side of the tracks" areas? Yep. There most certainly are. Do people tend to stick together by race? Sure, to a point. But by and large, I can't say I see as much as some folks might assume.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I sure hope this doesn't devolve into a regional argument, or a bunch of us saying "I haven't experienced racism". A thousand people here can speak for this: I've been south, north, east, and west, within the United States, and I have seen racism manifested in the rural and urban areas of each region, sometimes in different ways, sometimes more or less subtly, but it's there. Racism exists in our culture. Okay. But we're not going to solve the problems of American society here; we are talking specifically about the culture of FIRST, and how it is experienced by persons of color, per the OP. I realize I'm setting myself up as an arbiter here, and I promise I'm stepping right down, but I'm pleading that we not go where it seems we are going. Please.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I'm not sure what some of you are responding to, but it doesn't seem to be relevant to what Samuel said about isolation contributing to racism. He notes that people from places without a lot of diversity tend to show racist attitudes, and the objections to his comment seem to say "I have experience with muticultural neighborhoods all over the place and the people there are not racist." That's not a contradiction. If anything, it lends support to his observation.

I see the same thing he does. The most strongly racist people I know grew up in a highly homogenous environment, where everyone looked like they did and came from where they came from and went to the same church they went to. A lifetime of experience with a "they aren't like us" mindset is not easy to overcome.

I myself struggle with prejudice against people who speak using a variety of English that I can't easily understand. Although equating intelligibility with intelligence might not be appropriate, it's something I find myself ready to do if I'm not careful. But I'm pretty confident that my upbringing hasn't given me a tendency to look differently at people based on their skin color, or eye color, or hair color, or body shape, or any such superficial quality.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

If you are white, please do not comment on how little racism there is in your region. There's no way for you to have experienced it first hand. This thread was made for PoC to talk about their experiences in FIRST as PoC.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

You should be very careful about assuming a "white" has no experience with racism.

I can guarantee that racism is alive and well in this country.

In high school (Booker T. Washington/HSEP in Houston - Go Leopards!) I met some of the most wonderful people on this planet and received a first rate education. I was also was nearly killed by a group of three people who beat me to an inch of my life while yelling racial slurs at me. This did not drive me from the school or make me drop my friends (and girlfriend) because of the actions of a few idiots who superficially looked like them.

If you want open and healthy discussions about race then you must invite all people to participate.

The team I am running is over 90% Latino/Hispanic, ~5% white, and 100% the same race. We need to start with our similarities and minimize our differences.

So I look forward to hearing from those who wish to speak up. I am always wanting to have my horizons expanded.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I'm not responding directly to you tab1a.

But can we stop with the discussions about whether or not certain things or people are racist and get back to discussing minority POC experience within FIRST?
Maybe some suggestions about how to beter represent the diversity in our home areas? Or if we think a concerted effort to increase the amount of POC judges/volunteers at an event will have a positive impact on minority perception of what we do?

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

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Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Alright, just in case I'm putting my foot in mouth, I'm assuming you are white. If you aren't, then I'm making a complete arse of myself- a risk I guess I'm willing to take.

What you experienced was awful and I'm not trying to minimize the pain and suffering you went through. But it's not racism. Racism is the systematic oppression of PoC by white people through a social structure where white people have power and privilege over non-whites. Racism is not just someone making a racial slur, but the problem where applicants with "black" sounding names are less likely to get hired than John Smith with the exact same resume, or a whole host of similar situations (black people being followed inside stores by staff more frequently than whites, etc).

Did you experience bigotry/prejudice/hate based off your skin color? Yes. That's wrong. I'm not saying it isn't. I'm sorry you had that experience and I understand that you won't be happy with me saying that's not racism. I am saying it was still wrong, I want to make that clear.


I just... This is white-washing your students. They aren't 100% the same race. Their racial identity has -in both negative and positive ways- shaped their life experience. To say that they're all the same is to deny them their experiences. I know what you're trying to get at, that you're one team and race doesn't affect how you view your students: that's great! But that wording feels off.


White people want to walk about racism, but we really have little to add to the conversation especially when PoC are a part of the conversation (which they should always be). In these conversations we should focus on listening because we don't experience systematic racism.

(I realize I'm writing a bunch while also saying we -myself included- need to be listening more)

Reading: explaining white privlidge to a broke white person
8 things white people should know about race (I'm not particularly pleased with the click-bait title, but the article brings up a lot of good points and links to further reading. It's also easier to read/digest than a more scholarly article)

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.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Wow - The people I grew up with, "outside of cities", will be disappointed to learn that they are being lumped in with those who aren't "more cultured".

Seriously? Don't both clauses of that sentence need a rewrite?

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I think this is a fair short-term solution, but I would propose one that may be better for everyone in the long run. What if instead of allowing students to search for role models (judges, officials, etc) who look like them, we teach them how closely they relate to people who do not look like them? I want every student to come out of a FIRST event feeling inspired to achieve personal greatness, which I think both of these approaches can do. Given the choice though, I would rather they learn to find similarities in seemingly dissimilar people rather than focus on the differences.

Then comes the tough part. How do you teach this lesson? I admittedly have not had to teach this on an individual level, let alone a grand scale like all of FIRST. However, I know there are a lot of smart and experienced people who may read this. Do any of you have success stories you can share?

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I think this is a great idea for a thread but it simply went off track with people throwing around generalizations about racism and regional biases.

The point of this thread, as I understand it, is for people of color to share their experiences in FIRST and then compare those experiences.

So far though there hasn't been a lot of sharing of actual experiences. As a white person from the south (am I allowed to post??) I am very curious as to what experiences people have had. This isn't a conversation that happens in real life but I do believe there are important lessons that can be learned.

So to put it back on topic - if you are a mentor/coach/student of color, how has your FIRST experience been? Negative and positive stories included.

SN: Perhaps a poll would be helpful? People may feel more comfortable providing anonymous responses since many of us associate our accounts with our teams.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

Hey! Adding onto this, if anyone does not want to publicly post, they are free to PM and I can post it anonymously. I just really hope this thread can get back on track and remember that this thread is a thing now.

There is a very deliberate way I worded my introductory post in this thread. It is to hear experiences of POC because they are often not given a chance or platform to openly share there without people calling us too sensitive or preachy, or even worse things - just for sharing how we feel. I did not make this for people to discuss what they think racism is, or how they think racism manifests itself - especially when it is not in their position to do so. That's all.

Also, I don't think a poll would work @ this point but I could make a quick survey on my ride back to school tomorrow.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I suggested a poll because I would be interested in seeing how prevalent this issue is in FIRST. Is this a case by case thing with sparse incidents or more widespread than we realize? A survey or a poll would allow people to report their general experiences in a safe, anonymous way. Perhaps that will then generate a more rounded discussion of what the issues are and how we as a community as a whole can improve the experience.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

One of the things I am most proud of with my team is it's diversity. We have had many people from many walks of life and from other countries. It helps give you a real perspective on life.
I have gone to many FIRST events around the country. Some event there is a high level of diversity (Ontario Canada events come to mind) and at other events I'm usually the only person of color there. I still feel very welcome. I have never encountered a racial issue at a FIRST event. FIRST is full of truly kind, generous and professional people to engage in such foolishness when there is work to be done.

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

That's an unreasonably narrow formulation of the problem. For example, to the extent that Han Chinese populations systematically discriminate against Chinese people of Uyghur or Mongol descent by virtue of the distribution of power and privilege in Chinese society, it is racism by any reasonable standard. In other words, racism is not just something white people do. (Your definition probably has traction because a lot of the discourse on racism originates from academic circles in the U.S.—where that formulation is a convenient approximation of the most commonly observed issues. But it cannot withstand scrutiny as a general proposition.)

Re: FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color
 

I've given this thread a lot of thought and time, I feel that now is a reasonable time for me to share my story.

I'm a mixed person, my father is is white and my mother is African American. By first glance most people automatically assume that I am 100% African American which I am not. Most of the time I tend to fall into the stereotypical categories that fit an African American Male (my point is that I'm seen as an African American).

I happen to live in St. Louis!...well St. Louis county (my team is the second closest to the dome where champs is held). I have family throughout the area and I frequently attend events in downtown St.Louis.

I attend a public school which is almost completely African American. Out of about 700 students our school probably has about 5 or 6 Asian students, 4 or 5 Hispanic students, 1 middle eastern student and 20 White students, that's an approximate ratio of about 670-30. Most of the African American students in my school tend to be judge mental when its comes to things like robotics. I've been made fun of and or been considered an outcast on multiple occasions just because of being on the school robotics team. "you do robotics?!", "why you do that lame stuff", "That's for white people" are just some of the ignorant and annoying comments that I receive regularly in school. I know that these comments come from lack of education and ignorance in the community and I'm working to get other students out of the hole.

How did I get involved with FIRST? It's pretty interesting honestly. I changed elementary schools after 4th grade. I'm a soccer player I'm the varsity goalie for my high school team now (didn't see that coming did you? :rolleyes: ). My elementary school did not have a soccer team so I played for another local school, once I reached 5th grade the team had disbanded. My 5th grade year I attended a school that did or didn't have soccer teams depending on how many people signed up per year, my 5th grade year almost no one signed up for soccer. My mother liked to keep me busy with activities so she decided to sign me up for the FLL team which at the time only had 4 members. I didn't know much about FIRST at the time but I enjoyed the atmosphere. Since our district has 6th 7th and 8th grade in the same school I went straight to the middle school team. I enjoyed my years of FLL. My middle school FLL coach was actually an African American teacher (just wanted to put that out there). I hadn't ever honestly experienced any racism in FLL.

My 8th grade year I just made the cutoff date for FRC (I never had the opportunity to participate in FTC) My 8th grade year I participated in an ultimate ascent offseason event. It was my first FRC event (I even got to be on the drive team)! I also enjoyed the 2014 season. As of 2014 I became the teams human player, and in 2015 along with that I was nominated the team's junior captain.

My team has dealt with indirect racism at one event in which I will not publicly name (if you would like to know which event this was and what exactly occurred, feel free to pm me and i'll be happy to talk about it). I felt like my team was not only put down but we were targeted and watched extra closely. My team is very diverse though, we have more African American students than white students on the team.

If you do not know, I am the founder of The Legion of Black FIRST Participants. I was inspired to create the LBFP because I felt like it would be beneficial to have a link between the few African Americans that participate in FIRST. I am NSBE member (National Society of Black Engineers), another member of my FRC team and I were pictured in the 2014 NSBE bridge magazine next to our 2014 salad bowl robot Ulysses.

I am proud to be a PoC in FIRST and I love to promote FIRST throughout my community. I receive a lot of support through FIRST mentors and friends. I plan to put in a dean's list submission this year as i'm a sophomore and I am too involved with my team :] . I would have loved to say more in this post but i'l leave it to this, if anyone else would like to talk further please don't hesitate to pm me!

Thanks -Clayton