Prince Quietly Helped Launch a Coding Program For Inner City Youth (qz.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Though many would say Prince changed the world through his music, the artist also took a hands-on approach to changing the world beyond music. The global superstar was the inspiration behind YesWeCode, an Oakland nonprofit, which works to help young people from minority backgrounds enter the tech world. The idea for the program came from a conversation between Prince and his friend Van Jones, who heads Rebuild the Dream charity, following the 2012 shooting of teenager Travoyn Martin. "Prince said, 'A black kid wearing a hoodie might be seen as a thug. A white kid wearing a hoodie might be seen as a Silicon Valley genius. Let's teach the black kids how to be like Mark Zuckerberg.'" Jones told CNN. The program is aiming to teach 100,000 low-income non-white teenagers how to write code, and was launched at the 20th Anniversary Essence Festival in New Orleans in 2014.

Comments

Teach kids to be like Mark Z

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the tech industry doesn't have enough self-absorbed dousche bags as it is.

next needed: "from poor backgrounds"

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> young people from minority backgrounds enter the tech world

The whole "special access due to skin color/gender" bit is getting a bit old, when what's really probably needed is "special access to people from impoverished backgrounds." When you've never seen anyone in your family working in a corporate office, it's a little hard to see understand what a career in IT/legal/other-cushy-white-collar-job could be, and there are plenty of "non-minority" kids stuck in that world too.

Re:next needed: "from poor backgrounds"

[hey!]

I agree we should focus more on economic class, but black people do still face a variety of discrimination. Insofar as this holds them back economically then class oriented programs will benefit them disproportionately, but this doesn't mean a program which targets blacks is necessarily bad.

When minorities begin to raise their status, they set their sights on the kinds of high status, high paying jobs you see in the media; doctors, lawyers, and so on. This means they remain under-represented longer in professions like engineering that aren't very exciting to the kind of people who are TV showrunners or movie producers. That's not to say there haven't been outstanding minority engineers all along, but as a white anglo you're much more likely to have an engineer in your family who is a role model, maybe helped you with a school or scouting project.

So trying to bring more minorities into professions like engineering (or, I suppose, accounting) where they're under-represented has value in building a world where everyone is more likely to find some kind of employment that really suits him. Sure, if you had to choose only one factor to address, you'd choose socioeconomic class. But you don't have to choose just one.

Re:next needed: "from poor backgrounds"

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> as a white anglo you're much more likely to have an (white collar professional) in your family who is a role model

That's exactly the assumption I'm challenging. I think this association cleaves closer to economic lines than racial ones. In the boonies you're likely to find a lot of "white anglo" family groups without a single college education. If you ignore them long enough, you end up with Trump voters, or worse. :)

Re:How the F***

[__aaclcg7560]

But if it's only for non-white teens, that is the definition of racism.

You're absolutely right. White minority students in California (a minority-majority state) wouldn't qualify for this program.

I like Prince but.

[LWATCDR]

1. A white kid walking around at night in a hoodie looks like a thug also. He does not look like a tech billionaire.
2. All low income kids need help regardless of race.
3. Sure programing and tech can be a good way to make a living but studies have shown that people that go to vocational schools leave school with jobs and little debt.

Re:I like Prince but.

[unimacs]

1. Prejudice based on skin color and clothing is a real thing. Pretending it's not doesn't make the problem go away.

2.There is a significant wage gap between white and black people. A larger percentage of black people live in poverty. That is not something in dispute. African-American culture is a subset or even a distinct American culture on its own. What may very well prove successful with one group of low income people may not work as well with another. Trying to help one group of people doesn't stop anyone from helping another group.

3. Teaching valuable skills is a good thing whether it's in a vocational or college setting.

Re:Strange wording

[kuzb]

Oh, you can be sure it's not a good one. The people perpetrating this garbage don't want to be equal - they want to be superior.

Re:Clearly...

[Anonymous Coward]

A Guide to White Privilege For White People Who Think They’ve Never Had Any
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Re: Let's teach the black kids how to be like Mark

[Locke2005]

The reason the rich send their kids to Harvard and Stanford is not that they receive a better education there, but rather that they make contacts with the kids of other rich families that they have a good chance of getting hired by or starting a company with. So I agree, a lot of being successful is WHO you know, not WHAT you know, and that cannot be taught. On the bright side, I've seen some very talented lawyers and other professionals mentoring poor minority kids, and that assistance may be more valuable than going to an Ivy League school.

Re:Quietly?

[Locke2005]

Quiet as in nobody bragged about Prince's philanthropy before his death, but now that he is being beatified, everybody wants to talk about what a great person he was.

Re:This is stupid

[__aaclcg7560]

How is this program supposed to actually work?

Teaching students how to think logically rather than impulsively is a useful skill in life.

Re:How the F***

[PopeRatzo]

You're absolutely right. White minority students in California (a minority-majority state) wouldn't qualify for this program.

So convince some shit-kicking country superstar to fund a program in low-income white communities. Maybe you can convince Kid Rock if you can wake him.

Re:How the F***

[Anonymous Coward]

But stating that some groups are eligible for something and others are not is not correcting structural racism, it's merely switching the target of it. As long as "correcting" something involves putting somebody else at a disadvantage, there can never be hope of eliminating it.

Re:Clearly...

[kuzb]

...and what is America mostly comprised of? Europeans who colonized America. Don't feel bad though, Canada is pretty much the same in that regard.

But really, colonization and white privilege are not the same thing, so your pseudo-intellectualism falls on its face. "White Privilege" hasn't been an actual problem in Canada or the US for decades but a few special interest groups want to keep it alive because it grants them privileges most of us don't have.

Re:Clearly...

[kuzb]

No, they are not. Try to keep up. Colonialism is when one political power establishes itself in another country that is not its own. This process may include inequality towards one or more indigenous peoples but it doesn't need to, that's just historically the by-product. Colonialism does not specifically imply "white privilege".

In fact you see the same thing happening all over with non-whites. East Indians do it all the time. So do the Chinese. They move to a country in large numbers, congregate in specific areas, and then exert political and cultural influence.

Re: Let's teach the black kids how to be like Mar

[mapkinase]

You need Harvard to help with crawling into upper class, but you do not need tit to become a normal middle class coder.