Privilege
by Miki Saxon
Three years ago Jason Ford, an entrepreneur and investor in Austin, TX, wrote a post on Medium titled The real reason my startup was successful: privilege.
It is far more honest and accurate than the typical stuff from founders talking (bragging) about how they did it on their own.
This is especially true of younger founders.
Like Rick yesterday, they have no recognition of the privilege that eased their lives and underlies their success.
The post was thoughtful, intelligent, calmly stated, no insulting, or trolling.
But a lot of people scanned it, their focus caught on a couple of words, so the misinterpreted what Ford had written, in many cases angrily.
A couple of months later he followed up with White privilege is real to respond to comments from the first post.
Ford says it better, but privilege, whether White or based on gender, zip code, alumni, or any of a myriad of other things is very real.
Ford says it much better than I do; read his posts and spread the word.
No problem, large or small, was ever solved by ignoring it.
Image credit: Stephen Dann