Diversity And Equity: The Perspective Of Mixed Race Communities With James Foy

Social equity and equality are a purpose and mission that we still work for. With the number of people of mixed-race communities growing, perspectives are also changing. In this episode, Stephen Jaye sits down for an insightful talk with entrepreneur and founder of Hispanics and Technology, James Foy, about diversity and community. James talks about his experiences as an American of mixed race and learning to see through the eyes of others. We also hear about James and his work in promoting diversity in the tech community. Tune in and get more insights and hear what action you can take to change the world. --- Listen to the podcast here: Diversity And Equity: The Perspective Of Mixed Race Communities With James Foy We've had some previous episodes and discussions about issues of some divisions and inequities amongst different groups of people within the US. These apply to other places. The common phrase used is diversity, equity and inclusion. However, as we've learned from some of our previous guests some people prefer to leave off the word diversity. Others prefer to add a word belonging or something of a similar context. Either way, it's on a lot of people's minds. People want to genuinely feel they belong and have the opportunity to go for the passions that they have. I don't know all the answers to the questions but two things are apparent from the conversations I've had, as well as the observations I see is that one, the way we've been approaching the subject for the past several years has not been working. We are still grappling with a lot of the same issues we had at the beginning of these pursuits and a lot of people are grumpier about it now. Two, it seems apparent to me that one of the answers to these issues is that we need to talk, listen, communicate and get to know one another. It's hard to hate a group of people when you have several quality contacts, good relationships and good friends among them. It's a good idea to get as many perspectives as we possibly can. Here to provide another perspective on the issue, my guest James Foy is the Hispanics and Tech Founder as well as an advocate for the Hispanic entrepreneurial community. James, welcome to the show. Thank you. It's fantastic to be here. Let's begin with a little background information for those that may not be aware of it. First of all, within Colorado, as well as within the US as a whole, what percentage of the population is Hispanic? Colorado is fairly close to being a mirror, Colorado statewide I saw was 22% but there's always because of our immigrant community that's under-reported. The country also mirrors that. Let me also bring up a point, here in Denver, where we met, were 30%. Anywhere from 40% to 60% needed to get the DPS school children. People of mixed are experiencing the highest rate of change.Share on X The younger generation is pretty much half Hispanic. There have been more people of mixed race as intermarriage has happened a lot more frequently. Does that include a lot of these mixed-race communities as well? The biggest soon will be Hispanic. Statewide, the nearest group is Asians. I know African-Americans are about 4% statewide. Asians are right around but nobody else comes close to Hispanics. If you're looking at the rate of change, the fastest-growing by percentage are people like me, who are mixed and one or more. We can go into the anecdotal stories. I could go back 100 years from one of my grandmothers who moved from New Mexico to here. One place, she was White, here she was Hispanic too. The term is nebulous. It also comes from the ‘70s and ‘80s when Hispanics were being reported. To your point is people have mixed, they're experiencing the highest rate of change. Chances are 5 to 10 years from now, you're more likely to run into a Joe Smith that might be White and Hispanic or White and Asian or White and Black. You'll never know it at times. This increase in the mixed-race population, do you feel this is going to be a positive for some of the issues that we began discussing with some of the divisions and some of the inequities that people observe between different communities? Yes and no. Short-term versus long-term. Genetic diversity on any level of genetics is always good because it's good to have a bigger assortment, long-term 110%. Short-term, it's going to be hard. Theme mixed is a unique perspective. First of all, I need to give my parents credit. I am a little bit older. My parents met and married in Colorado Springs in 1965. My dad had an Irish mix, married a light Latina in the height of the civil rights movements. What we're seeing now is nothing compared to them. I got to give my parents credit. I lost my father a long time ago. I never got a chance to learn my father's perspective of what it was like to step outside the boxes. I respect my father more than I can say for that. Going back to where we're at right now, everybody I talked to mixed, there's one consistency. This is not reported in the news. If you're being true to both sides, you can't claim one without the other. I can't claim Irish without claiming I’m Mexican. Am I dishonoring my father's name or am I dishonoring the family I knew growing up? It's a delicate dance. Like in my case, I'm never dark enough but I'm never White enough for both sides. International leaders do us no favors on this. For the short-term, it's going to be beyond hard. It's challenging. For people to change, it's bloody. I hate using that term but figuratively. Hopefully not literally. I've had this conversation and everybody looks at each other, says, “It's tough.” I probably had 1,000-plus of these conversations in my life. I kid you not. I go down and we test it but there is also a unity that happens. When it's long-term, when it's more shared, even though it was like Asian, Black and Hispanic are different but when you're mixed, there are also different ties that bind. As society becomes more mixed, it will be a more common narrative but it will be a lot of growing pains before then. Mixed Race Communities: If you're being true to both sides, you can't claim one side without the other. We've had a lot of discussions around issues of race, especially starting last summer of 2021 with some of the racial-related protests. One thing I'm wondering is as we're trying to hear other perspectives, do you feel that the mixed-race perspective, the voice is being heard is getting out there, people of mixed race are getting their perspective heard by the general population in this general discussion that we're having? No, because each culture approaches things differently. Some of the narratives you hear, my culture agrees with and I guarantee you some of them don't. A little bit about my background, I'm close to law enforcement. I will not deny it. I grew up in a rural redneck town, 40 miles of Kansas, 80 miles from Oklahoma. My family experienced red-lining. It happen where there was a line demarcation. One side was White and the other side was the unwanted minority. At times it was Irish and sometimes it was Polish. Probably the teens and 20s of the previous century and later on, it was mainly people of color. Hispanics, Blacks, Asians. For context at Denver, Five Points was where some of the red-lining happened. The North Side is where it happened. Each culture deals with it differently. When it comes down to mixed, they're not here because since we know what both sides. I'm close to law enforcement. My first cousin once removed as chief of police in my hometown. This is the early ‘80s, very redneck, racist town. His father worked the fields. His great grandfather came up from Chihuahua, Mexico. His grandmother was dark or him to be a police officer in that town, you see the hell. Ben was respected. He worked for 50 years in law enforcement. I was brought up differently when it comes down to law enforcement. You talk to them with respect, you know your rights and you make sure they don't do anything but you also don't put yourself in a stupid situation. At least for my Hispanic humanity, maybe not in Generation Z but I still see in Generation Y and forward, that's a common thing. It's not being heard. Also, there are a lot of things that aren't necessarily in the mainstream media that people don't get to hear. One thing I wonder is whether or not people are having trouble understanding it because a lot of people in their head compartmentalize like, “This community here. This community is there.” When you start getting people with mixed races, especially as you get a few generations later, it's harder for people to wrap their heads around. I'm not trying to discount people's ability to understand things but there are some people out there that want everything to be simple, these 3 and 4 clusters. My first overseas trip was in India for three weeks. Being Catholic, I knew the Missionaries of Charity here. I got to meet Mother Superior and I got told to learn the Indian way. Where I'm going with this is, I always could see both sides. When I learned from a completely different culture to see a different context, it opened up my mind. Most people in the United States are not forced to do that. We are so insulated and bubblized. There was a statistic in the Denver Post from several years ago about what groups had the most mixed. African-Americans were the least. Whites were middle. Hispanics were the most. That shows up how pervasive my people are. I remember looking at it, I was like, “I know how diversity and changes of ideas are something close to my heart.” You're right. They hear a narrative and it is then if they don't get their ideas challenged at the same time, going back to what you're saying about mixed-race, when you're mixed, you're always being challenged and you're dancing, always. Let me give you another story. I was in a coffee shop, it's a small boutique....