Comment by parennoob

As an Asian person who undergoes a ton of implicit and occasionally explicit racial discrimination (I have often been called out repeatedly for belonging to a specific nationality, and been the butt of numerous jokes regarding it), it is somewhat disheartening to see people who are higher than you on the social totem pole (e.g. highly-educated white females) often being the beneficiaries of programs such as these on the basis of their gender. It is absolutely true that they too probably have been discriminated against in the technology field, but in the overall social arena, they are in a much better position than, say, Asian men.

As a result, in an average tech workplace (which is a combination of technical and social factors), I think Asian people are at just as much, if not more at a disadvantage than women.

I don't want to feel animosity, or even ambivalence towards such programs, but given the reason above, it is a bit difficult for me not to. Any thoughts/solutions that the HN crowd might have about this? By nature, I'm not particularly inclined towards $SOCIETAL_GROUP-specific programs, but if that is the solution people think is useful, I'd be willing to advocate for it in the future, and focus towards soliciting donations, etc. for that instead.

[edit: Downvoters, I'm asking for opinions or solutions. Why not offer one in addition to your downvote?]