We know that #diversity, #equity and #inclusion are key to innovation. We’re proud to sign the Increasing Diversity in Innovation Pledge to support and discover underrepresented inventors. Learn more: https://t.co/amboNL0vc7 #IncreasingDII pic.twitter.com/sgriES5iEc
— BlackRock (@BlackRock) July 29, 2021
Because American white men, such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Robert Noyce, have a staggering historical track record of great inventions, that just proves that we should focus less on fostering innovation among white males — After all, what have white men ever invented for us (other than, more or less, everything)? — and more on those those who have repeatedly over the generations shown little evidence of technical creativity, such as black women:
Findings by the US Patent Office and leading researchers [i.e., Raj Chetty] show that women, people of color and veterans are significantly underrepresented as US patent inventors. All of the data suggest that the U.S. has missed out on the valuable innovation from millions of these Under-Represented Inventors (URIs).
We know these Under-Represented Inventors have to be out there somewhere, inventing away. They just have to. It’s a law of nature. After all, “we know that #diversity, #equity and #inclusion are key to innovation.”
Obviously, black women must have dreamed up countless genius innovations since 1619, but they’ve been too marginalized for us to notice.
So, to find out what great ideas are on black women’s minds, I’ve been reading black women writers’ op-eds in the NYT.
And it turns out that what they really want to tell us about is their hair.
