Most young Kings get their heads cut off...

 If you can't respect that your whole perspective is whack. Maybe you'll love me when I fade to black.

- Jay Z "December 4th"

I know prophesying RIM's doom is what is in season now but with the announcement today of Mike Lazaridis' stepping down from the CEO position at RIM, I think its worth adulating what is indeed one of the most inspiring stories of enterpreneurship I have ever heard in my life. Indeed, it is this story of enterpreneurship that gives me the pride and confidence to call myself a Waterloo Warrior.

It was 1984, before there was Velocity, or the Communitech Hub or free office space and venture funding, before we developed this amazing eco system we have here. A 23 year old immigrant kid, with an idea and a $15,000 shoe string budget hustled a $600,000 contract from General Motors to develop a network computer control display system. 

He did this with no venture capitalist over his shoulder or a frenzy to pitch every moving thing (not that much of Canada was moving anyway).

Then he built a transformational technology business, innovation by  innovation until in 1999, it culminated into the unveiling of the Blackberry, which despite its current marketing woes, remains in my opinion, one of the most important boosts to productivity in business communication since Henry Ford's assembly lines, used by everyone, from the dollar a day poor of Nigeria to the most powerful man on the planet.

That's my kind of enterpreneur.

Once again, thank you for the inspiration Mike. Can't wait to see what you do next. 

So yesterday, I saw this really interesting article by a nice white middle class man role-playing a poor black kid. According to him, technology has given poor black kids more opportunity than they would ordinarily get and if they just work hard, they would succeed*. I somewhat agree. Infact, I think this is admirable and most of the responses claiming racism are pretty silly in my opinion.

You see, the trouble with his analysis isn't so much that its racist, or presumptous or even wrong. It is just that it is impossible.

Why?

Let's review the "free education" he imagines technology has delivered us. 

First impossible recommendation. If I was a poor black kid, I would buy a computer.

I know a few school teachers and they tell me that many inner city parents usually have or can afford cheap computers and internet service nowadays.  That because (and sadly) it’s oftentimes a necessary thing to keep their kids safe at home then on the streets.  And libraries and schools have computers available too.  Computers can be purchased cheaply at outlets like TigerDirect and Dell’s Outlet.  Professional organizations like accountants and architects often offer used computers from their members, sometimes at no cost at all.

He doesn't link to any of the free programs he suggests so I am going disregard that. Libraries have limited resources which are getting cut so disregard that. Cheapest computer in the two sites he recommends is $200 + tax.

Second recommendation, if I were a poor black kid, I'ld use free technology (on the paid internet)

If I was a poor black kid I’d use the free technology available to help me study.  I’d become expert at Google Scholar.   I’d visit study sites like SparkNotes andCliffsNotes to help me understand books.  I’d watch relevant teachings onAcademic Earth, TED and the Khan Academy.  (I say relevant because some of these lectures may not be related to my work or too advanced for my age. But there are plenty of videos on these sites that are suitable to my studies and would help me stand out.)  I would also, when possible, get my books for free at Project Gutenberg and learn how to do research at the CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia to help me with my studies.

Internet with reliable enough internet to watch videos and download books would be about $30 a month. So that totals $360 for the year.

I would use homework tools like Backpack, and Diigo to help me store and share my work with other classmates.  I would use Skype to study with other students who also want to do well in my school.  I would take advantage of study websites like Evernote, Study Rails, Flashcard Machine, Quizlet, and free online calculators.

Now here is for the "free" tools for homework! :)

Backpack : $24 a month -> $288 a year!

Studyrails : $5 a month -> $60 a year

Diigo : $40 a year

Altogether : $388 a year

Let's go back to the beginning :

$200 (+tax) + $360 + $388 = $948

For all purposes, let's just call that $1,000 a year, that this poor black kid has to churn up every year. About $3 a day.

According to the census bureau, average income of a family of four in the inner city is $22,350. Divide that by four = $5,587. That breaks down into $15 they must live on a day.

So this is what actor white boy is saying.

If I were a poor black kid, I would pay a 20% tax to have a chance at life.**

Just to recap:

"Cheap" Laptop computer : $200 (+tax), Internet : $360, Homework tools : $388, Privilege : Priceless.

*I still can't shake the feeling that this is another clueless geek who thinks technology can solve everything. I agree with Jobs when he says, "what is wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology".

**Interestingly enough, the tax rate for America's (white) middle class is 28%. 

In something like a couple months, I haven't really been on OMGUW. As one can expect it is usually largely a waste of time, trolls and all. 

However, I hadn't seen such a blatant display of racism until today when I saw this OMGUW post and the comments underneath and honestly speaking for the first time it shocked the life out of me.

I mean like jolted me out of my system.

A few choice picks from that selection:

"Your territory is the cotton fields. When did they get the internet there?"

"Don't kid yourself. You're in a class where everyone is Chinese from either mainland China or HK & they're all speaking Chinese language All. The. Fuckin. Time. It's fucking annoying. You can go to clubs & all that. But you would never be able to hang out with your classmate & you'll never enjoy your classes as much as they do. You'll HAVE to leave the study space & go hang out with a different group of people, but you'll never enjoy the daylong experience as much as they do. It's their territory"

"Sup gang. Studies have shown that the average black person's IQ is about 25 points less than the average white person's IQ. Sooo yeah.."

Why am I shocked?

You see, as a lot of my friends from different parts of the world will tell you (and there are many), I am not a firebrand black panther. I mean subtle racism gnaws at me but it doesn't really piss me off. I understand racism is an institutional thing and you can't blame people for making assumptions. Heck! I once thought the idea of poor white people was a fallacy out of Oliver Twist (it made watching the movie in Pry 5 a very painful interrogatory experience for my teacher).

And since I came to University of Waterloo, (which is truly one of a kind in its class), I haven't really experienced any major incidences of overt racism. Yes. You have the frequent questioning, "where are you really from?", rules restricting foreign students from ascending to the Board of Governors of the University (and hypothetically the President of the Student Union) and the ridiculous panning of Asians but nothing as overt as what I just experienced in that thread on OMGUW.

Maybe its just that I haven't been there in a while. Pardon me.

As you can now come to expect of me, I push the issue in this OMGUW post. And I get a response that I believe contains some insight into the thought process here.

Anonymous says :

Someone will always point to racism, as soon as any difference is focused on! [...] Difference is not racism ... pointing it out, is not either! Making implications on such differences CAN become racism! There ARE differences, if you like them or not, deal with it!

Frankly, he clearly had a more benign idea of racism than I had experienced but I think this is how it starts. Afterall, that I think "they" speak Mandarin and "we" speak English is a "difference".

And I am finding more and more the issue is where we start drawing the line.

So here are my thoughts about difference, some of which I shared impromptu on the thread.

Difference is a loaded word. It can be a strengthening point for unity and co-operation (i.e balancing out differences), or a focal point for establishing division in a community. The unfortunate thing is that in this world, with difference come preference and soon enough. his junior brother, prejudice creeps in.

Soon enough, "difference" moves from, "that black guy" to "Studies have shown that the average black person's IQ is about 25 points less than the average white person's IQ" when the conversaion should really be "Michael is this brilliant Ghanian guy in my ECON 320 class. He actually runs a business back home in Ghana that employs five people".

The difference is that one narrative of "difference" focuses on the person and his effort to make his mark in this world (which is all that should matter) while the other narrative of difference focuses on making broad unproven generalizations about people based on things they don't even have control over. 

So yes anonymous, pointing out differences is not racism, but what kind of difference are you pointing out?

So this is what I propose.

How about we all decide to make a difference today and stop caring about the differences we don't make?

This is a kickstarter project I very much support. It would be cool to see people who are passionate about Nigeria donate to it. 

Here is a widget page I created on my blog here.