May 29, 2021
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts—The Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences recently welcomed Dr. Ebony O. McGee, author of Black, Brown, Bruised: How Racialized STEM Education Stifles Innovation, in late April of this year.
During this lecture, Dr. McGee explored the “individualistic, ultracompetitive, lily-White (and some tokenized Asians), mostly heterosexual, militaristically grounded, middle-to-upper-class, nationalist, able-bodied, biased STEM culture.”
“This is the very STEM culture that has not invented (mass produced) flying cars and has delayed or halted other seemingly out-of-this-world innovations. Why? Because underrepresented people of color have been largely been left out or marginalized in the STEM ecosystem, and those that make it through harbor the bruises.”
Dr. McGee blames the exclusion of African-Americans in the American high-tech and automobile industry as the main culprit for the world’s current “lack” of innovation and inability to mass-produce flying cars. Something that could have easily been accomplished if “Black people were given the lead in its development and take control of these companies.”
In her sad attempt to explain the lack of diversity in STEM, Dr. McGee failed to realize Asians have their own high-tech and automobile companies and they have been giving diverse American companies a run for their money.
Within two generations the Japanese automobile industry has completely knocked the Big 3 (Ford, GM, Chrysler) out of place. These American companies were far more diverse than their Japanese counterparts and proved ineffective in their ability to compete with Toyota and Honda. Toyota is currently the 2nd largest automobile manufacturer in the world and Germany’s Volkswagen enjoys the #1 spot. Both companies are homogenous.
Ford has fallen to 4th place, right after Germany’s Daimler, and GM has fallen to 6th place, right below Honda. Italian-owned Fiat-Chrysler was taken over by France’s Stellantis. This recent purchase now makes Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep the “wh*re” of the automobile industry. Changing hands and declaring bankruptcy multiple times in the last 50 years.
American and Asian companies are locked in a continuous battle for supremacy and innovation has been a benefit for the consumer. In fact, the more “diverse” an American company has become, the more they are unable to compete against their Asian counterparts (Asian diversity in American companies does not count, since Asians are “white adjacent” in their eyes).
Taiwan’s TSMC enjoys a monopoly on 5nm microchips and is currently having a difficult time keeping with demand. GM and Ford are forecasted to lose $10 to $15 billion this year because they are unable to manufacture automobiles without TSMC chips.
The fact of the matter is, all major high-tech companies in the world are either Asian or Caucasian owned and that won’t be changing for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands. You buy a BMW or a Mercedes because it is German, not because it is “diverse.” You buy a Ferrari because it was Italian made, not because it was made by Nigerians. You buy a Lexus because you want Japanese reliability and luxury because that’s what the Japanese worked so hard to accomplish.
Pride and innovation, unfortunately, go hand-to-hand and there is nothing wrong or toxic with that. Would the NBA or NFL be considered toxic and racist because so many of its best players are African-American? Is it wrong for African-Americans to be proud they dominate the leagues?
Feature Image via MIT Technology Review