diversehighfantasy:

That’s a great question – one I’ve asked myself. The response, even from other Black people, has been that it’s not realistic.

Why? Part of it has to do with simple math. Wilmington has a shortage of tech talent (seriously, if you’re a software developer, you’re guaranteed to get a good high paying job here). There are multiple programs devoted to teaching coding to young Black and/or underresourced youth, but it will be about a decade before those students are at the senior developer level. So we need to draw new people to the city to fill the jobs, and while it would be great if those senior positions could be filled with nonwhite talent right now, there is currently also a huge shortage of developers of color. So, while the goal is to get local Black kids into these jobs, right now with the city’s shortage of senior developers and the general shortage of Black senior developers, nonblack talent has to be courted. The face of tech can and likely will change in Wilmington over the next 10-20 years, but filling the current jobs means courting everyone – and white developers often aren’t receptive to moving to a predominantly Black city (that’s not to say that we don’t have white devs here who are proud to work here, but they’re already here and know how great our city is).. So that’s a conundrum. Unfortunately, courting ONLY Black talent isn’t viable at this point. (ETA to clarify – forefronting the city’s blackness, even minimally, is often perceived by white people as only courting Black people).

Sometimes, it’s not just a realistic numbers game, but basic racism. Downtown Wilmington has an art school. It’s been struggling to get enough students in the past few years – the dorms are only half full. Art schools are notoriously mostly white (I know, I went to art school at Temple – a highly integrated Philadelphia college with a relatively integrated art school that is still mostly white). 

I mentioned to a Black friend who had done business with the school that it has the opportunity to market itself as a school within a Black community (as it stands, the community is considered as a bug, not a feature). There are NO predominantly Black art schools in the US. Why not use the demographics of the area to draw more artists of color to the school? Marketing it as a diverse art school, from my point of view, could be its saving grace. We’re located between Baltimore and Philadelphia, and DC and NYC just beyond. It seems like a no-brainer to me.

My friend laughed out loud when I suggested it. The school’s administration is almost all white, except for the Director of Events, who was hired within the last year.

Their recruitment basically says that it’s a good school despite being located in a Black area. I mean, they don’t say that. But my friend has seen the tours and how they assure white parents that it’s “safe” (i.e, it’s not connected to its Black surroundings). She said, and I believe her, that the school would sooner shut down than become a “majority minority” school.

Ah, so they’re looking for a very specific form of talent I see. Yeah, I see the problem. Of course there is tech talent that is neither Black nor white, but Asians are scarcely less racist against Black people than white people are.

Man, if I were an art student I would SO want to go there. Shutting down rather than become a majority minority school is pretty much the history of education in the United States huh 😂