My wife is of romanian origin, is a developer, <i>very</i> good at her job and her record contains surpassing and outcompeting principal engineers at her organization. I wouldn't even feel the need to explain this, as it is natural. She is among the highest ranked engineers in a company in which most other employees in the engineering division are white, male, privileged and probably - pro forma - better educated. Nobody gives a shit though, since she's doing her job exceptionally well.<p>Also, I didn't <i>ever</i> feel the need to defend herself against any accusations. Why? Because there was no reason to. Sure, there is the usual office gossip, but this until then has been non-directional, "brownian motion". This is simply the truth as experienced by both of us.<p>This changed in the last 3-4 years, though. Powered by the latest victim reporting, suddenly women and minorities have to feel victimized again (in order to not betray the spirit of equality), at least that's what the changed climate feels to us (maybe she differs in nuances, this is my perception as a white privileged male).<p>I simply don't get why we cannot accept as a civilization that females, blacks or whatever minority group (as our perception, guided by media, tells us) <i>are</i> still human with all the ups and downs, maybe accompanied by cultural differences which over time align with ours from both sides. If we altogether stopped discriminating against <i>and for</i> minorities, all would feel better. The thing is, this must be a majority consensus.<p>Maybe this will be misunderstood as me positioning against minority support, I hope it doesn't since it's meant as the absolute opposite: in my limited experience, the best support is to altogether eradicate the thought of having to support minorities - they are not helpless, they can stand for themselves, and they will succeed. Nobody, from no majority or minority must try to stigmatize and hamper them.