FIRST Experiences as a Person of Color

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

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.
...

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?

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

Originally Posted by Monochron

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.

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?

[robochick1319]

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.

[Shrub]

Originally Posted by robochick1319

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.

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.

[robochick1319]

Originally Posted by Shrub

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.

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.

[Koko Ed]

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.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

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.

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.)

[I_AM_Clayton]

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? ). 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