ERIC JAROCH,
Canby, OR
My wife is Puerto Rican and a former Director of Software Engineering. I’ve watched her struggle her whole career in a profession dominated by white men. I’m a recently retired government manager who tried to be involved in multiple diversity actions/events over the years. However, as a white male my opinion/voice was either trivialized or ignored. I was treated as the cause of all discrimination and told I should have no say in how to overcome our current challenges. I’ve listened to my wife’s experiences and watched my mother in law tell my wife for decades she needs to straighten her naturally curly hair to be more beautiful. I believe racism and other types of discrimination occur in all ethnic groups, but the message I consistently hear is that it’s only white men who are the problem.
