@nmsanchez's Threads
I like training managers. I like making sure that people aren't suffering at the hands of shitty ones. Until we hit escape velocity from capitalism, it feels like a worthy endeavor to me
I think about it *a lot.* I think about my mom working in a stockroom of a discount dept store, a giant box falling on her head, and her manager shrugging. She had a concussion and lost her eyesight for a while. Shitty manager.
I think about how my dad got so tired of being yelled at inside the restaurant where he worked that he eventually figured out how to buy it so he could be his own boss
Successful diversity efforts often happen *in spite of* the company. Talented people deep inside the org hold it down, do the hard work of recruiting and retaining folks from underrepresented backgrounds, and move the culture forward
So many diversity efforts are hanging on by an underfunded thread, supplemented by individuals in much the same way that teachers fill the gaps in budget
Hey friends! This is a thread for NBPOC (Non-Black People of Color) like myself. I'd like to use the occasion of #BlackHistoryMonth to make a few points that we need to discuss within our NBPOC communities.
We have to do better. We have to do better at showing up for our Black friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, etc. Too many of us have settled into a privileged space of white adjacency.
When shit goes down, we can see some NBPOC make like chameleons into our lightest shades and hope to God no one remembers we're there. This is *not* where we belong.
I have been following the #GoogleWalkout closely, as I believe this is a watershed moment for those of us who have been working to improve the culture of tech. Following is my advice, 5 Things Google Execs Need to Do Today
1. Come to terms with the reality of the situation. Sundar Pichai’s email to the company states (he’s quoting Larry Page) “if even one person experiences Google the way the New York Times article described, we are not the company we aspire to be.”
1 (cont) Take the time to consider this statement as an executive team. Hundreds of current + former Googlers have described their experiences to you. Today, there are thousands who are walking out who don't want to work at a company where assault and harassment are tolerated
I have had the good fortune to meet these thoughtful organizers. We need to follow this story closely, after the media coverage has passed
Tech companies (and other sectors, no doubt) have a way of finding organizers “unfit” for their jobs, or part of a “necessary” round of layoffs once no one is watching
I sincerely hope that Google leadership understands how much better off their company will be if these demands are met, and I hope other companies take these demands to heart proactively rather than waiting for a crisis
While #SaveRoe is trending, I'd like to tell you the story of my grandmother. She is 92, grew up in East LA, raised two daughters on her own, worked in a factory for over 40 years, is Mexican and Catholic. She is staunchly pro-choice. When I was a teenager, I asked her why
"Because I've seen the alternative," she told me. I learned that her mother was one of the people women in the neighborhood would turn to out of desperation. My grandmother would assist. "That needs to happen in a clinic, without fear of being arrested, w the right equipment"
"I will never forget what it looks and feels like when an abortion goes badly and there are no alternatives. I'm good with God on this one," she said. So yeah, #SaveRoe
Working on a new genre of poetry: brooding parents of brooding teenagers
First Installment. Did I mention it’s *bad* poetry?
The bagel
was wrong
I get it, man
You cry
It was something personal
“It’s not about the bagel,” you said
It’s never about the bagel, kid
The bagel
was wrong
I get it, man
You cry
It was something personal
“It’s not about the bagel,” you said
It’s never about the bagel, kid
Second installment (I’m serious about this project). Also bad.
In a hotel I thought
I’d only ever admire
The smell of the ocean
The snore of a 15 year old
In a hotel I thought
I’d only ever admire
The smell of the ocean
The snore of a 15 year old
Let's discuss it, again. Racism in the newsroom. Companies can keep acting like it's not a priority to fix and will keep finding themselves right here. This is disgusting @KTVU
Say her name #NiaWilson
Man, where is Dennis Richmond when we need him
I wonder what it must be like to work on the thing you are most passionate about with no race, class, or gender-based friction. I wonder how many times we've thrown away a cure, an answer, an innovation because that friction became impossible to overcome
I know I state the obvious, but there are some days when I close my eyes and try to imagine these companies and governments and film studios and art galleries and labs populated by the actual *best*
I believe, in the deepest recesses of my mind, and with all of my heart, that the world would be a more creative, colorful and peaceful place. I believe children wouldn't be in any kind of cage, be it the juvenile hall in my hometown or on the border
When I was in college, I took a great Poli Sci course taught by a guy that most wrote off as a leftist kook. His fundamental assertion was that capitalism and democracy are fundamentally opposed to one another and one would "win" while the other would be decimated
Where he really got folks in a frenzy was by demonstrating that the winner would not be democracy
He had already been teaching this class for a long time by the time I took it, which was 27 years ago. He was so infamous at the school that just taking his class made people look at you sideways
We’re marching in SF! Winning sign so far #FamiliesBelongsTogether 
If only we had some visual reminder of the legacy of colonization on the march route
Been appreciating @prisonculture ‘s riffs on “civility” today. Got me thinking about “civil disobedience”
The majority approves of the civil disobedience in theory because the minority disobeys, but *at least it’s civil*
That’s obviously not what it means, but the love that white liberals have for the women’s march suddenly turns murky when some in their community are (gasp) shouted out of a restaurant
Why my mom is the greatest, reason 672,891
My mom would would kill on Twitter
You'll all be pleased to know that my mom got pinche bitmoji. She sent this earlier:
I will continue to beat this drum: The software that our industry created enables mobilization at this speed, at this scale
When tech investors assert that code is “unbiased,” and that only the “best and brightest” are building it, and you have not diversified, you have NO ONE asking “What’s the worst thing this could be used for?”
I have been told my entire life that my fear of racism is imagined and irrational. It is not. I grew up as one of the only brown kids in a white, working class neighborhood. I know exactly what I’m talking about
In the past few years, I've been in the position to lead inside companies while major events, all with racism at their core, have unfolded in the news
From the unrelenting videos of police violence against our Black neighbors, to the presence of actual Nazis in our midst, to the Muslim travel ban, to the images of Latinx children in detention camps, leading "business as usual" is not an option
The reality inside most companies is that the people in the lead are not the ones most deeply affected. I cannot explain the feeling of walking into an office in the midst of these events and being asked with a smile "How was your weekend?"
Hello #tech folks--who is organizing our community around family separations and other immigration atrocities? Please RT so we can find each other. Thanks
Here is a thread we should all be following:
Companies, asking for advice: "How can we tell if our diversity and inclusion programs are working?"
Me, an expert: "Find out how Black women are experiencing your company."
Company: "Oh so survey women of color?"
1/?
Me, an expert: "Find out how Black women are experiencing your company."
Company: "Oh so survey women of color?"
1/?
Me: "No, ask the most senior Black woman on your staff to have honest conversations with other Black women. Listen to what she reports."
Company: "How senior does she have to be...?"
Me: 👀
Company: "Because we don't really have any senior Black women on staff."
2/?
Company: "How senior does she have to be...?"
Me: 👀
Company: "Because we don't really have any senior Black women on staff."
2/?
Me: "Well then I guess we know how your diversity and inclusion programs are going."
Company: 😳
3/?
Company: 😳
3/?
