Early in his career, when he was working as a programming manager at a financial services firm, Earl A. Pace Jr. went to a computer conference in Arizona where there were 200 attendees — 199 white people and him. Well aware of the opportunities in the exploding industry, he decided that ratio needed to change. That decision led to the founding, in 1975, of Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), a national organization that now has more than 50 chapters and aims to provide what it calls “a pathway from the classroom to the boardroom.”
Is racism in the IT workplace becoming less of a problem? It is not less of a problem. It is, perhaps, more subtle or sophisticated.
Dossier
Name: Earl A. Pace Jr.
Title: Co-founder
Organization: Black Data Processing Associates
Location: Largo, Md.
Favorite nonwork pastime: Reading
Role model: Booker T. Washington
Favorite vices: Cheesecake and margaritas
Ask him to do anything but: “Lie.”
In high school he was: “To quote my yearbook, ‘brains and brawn.'”
Something people don’t know about him: “I’m shy.”
Pet peeve: “Disrespectful people.”
Favorite book: Anything by Robert Ludlum
Fantasy dinner guests: Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Barack Obama
There are some promotions that have occurred. There are probably more African-Americans and other minorities that have been promoted to senior-level positions than existed when BDPA was formed. But the impact of those people at higher levels is marginal with respect to bringing other African-Americans up the pipeline to replace or to supplement them.
To some degree, that’s the result of insecurity in the position. In my early years, I was vice president of a financial services firm, responsible for hiring technical people, and I hired based upon ability. As it turned out, I probably hired an equal number of African-Americans and whites. I was at a meeting, and one of the board members of that company actually said to me, “Are you attempting to make the technical staff at our company the United Nations?” I could have been intimidated by that. My response was, “I hire based upon need and capability, not on what I see.” And that director walked away.
That wasn’t subtle at all. But there are more subtle ways in which people who have moved to a higher position can [be made to] feel less secure. Not everyone in that position has a desire to push back. If they’re going to be criticized for it, they’re less likely to do so.
What is your response to a white person who says he doesn’t want to think of you as a black IT leader, he just wants to think of you as an IT leader — that he wants to be colorblind? My response to him would be that is a very altruistic look at the racial situation here, but it is not a practical look; we are not there. It is a goal that we all want to achieve, but if he just looks at me as an IT leader, then his expectation of what I am able to do is unrealized.
The reality is that as I function in the same industry that the majority [white] IT leaders function in, my access, my exposure, my opportunities are greatly limited simply because I am an African-American.
I have had business opportunities where I have spoken with a prospect by telephone, and we have in essence agreed that this is the solution that would be best for that person’s company, and all we had to do was sign the agreement. And when I showed up to get the agreement signed, the person has changed his mind about wanting to do the project. What other reason could there be? And it’s happened to me several times.
Does it still happen? Oh, yeah. It still happens. So there are still some things that need to be done.
What is your response to black IT professionals who say they just want to be thought of as IT professionals, not as black IT professionals? That they are operating under a delusion.
On the one hand, you’re saying that racism is as much of a problem as it ever was, and on the other, you’ve said that your son has fewer scars because of the more multicultural environment. How do you explain that apparent inconsistency? My son grew up and lives in an environment that is different from that of quite a few, and maybe even the majority, of African-American youth his age. My son grew up in Howard County, Md., a stone’s throw from [the affluent community of] Columbia. He went to a high school that was a mixture of everybody. So his interaction with other students was not based upon separation and segregation. His friends are white, Hawaiian, African, African-American — everything. Perhaps if he went to school in the District of Columbia, his experience might be very different.
What does the election of Barack Obama say about the state of race relations in the U.S., and what would you say to someone who maintains that the election demonstrates that we can finally move past the race discussion? The election of Barack Obama tells me that we have overcome a significant impediment in the United States, that there was enough openness or need on behalf of the voters that they could look past skin color to what the potential was of the candidate. I hope that he is not being looked at as a Moses who is going to save everybody, so that people become complacent and figure that we’ve overcome these problems and now the racial divide has been crossed.
He is an agent of change who can inspire people. But unless we now double or triple our efforts to effect those changes, we will be deluding ourselves.
What has to happen for there to no longer be a need for an association of black IT professionals? Parity. During the ’60s and ’70s, in the civil rights era, [it was said that] along with your civil rights, you have to achieve your “silver” rights. Economic benefit gives you the power and ability to effect change. My contention — and maybe it’s why I’m in business — is that if there is a foundation of businesspeople and business entities that African-Americans and other minorities can use as the basis for building their economic power, then these other impediments will drop by the wayside.
What I would like to emphasize, though, probably more than anything else, is that professional organizations are very, very necessary, particularly for African-Americans and other minorities. The necessity doubles when you get into economic circumstances like what we’re in now. A professional organization gives you an opportunity to develop skills that you’ll need in your workplace, but it does that in an environment that is supportive, as opposed to combative.
Now, with things economically going south, the network you develop will help you survive these downturns better than if you were out there doing it by yourself.
This installment of “The Grill” originally appeared in Computerworld’s print edition. It’s an abridged version of a comprehensive Q&A with Earl A. Pace Jr. that originally ran on Computerworld.com.
