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Comment by pyre | Hacker News Reader

To all of the start-ups that want to base themselves out of Phoenix:

How do you plan on wooing applicants that may fall victim to racial profiling because they are within 100 miles of the border, or that might end up in one of Sheriff Joe's tent camps just due to being accused of something (or looking at one of his deputies the wrong way).

Do you not think that this limits your talent pool because many people of different ethnicities might not want to take the risk of relocating to such a hostile environment for them?

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I've heard conservatives say similar things about the Bay Area, where they might be assaulted for supporting Trump and would probably be arrested for owning a gun.

And to focus on something that will affect everyone, not partisan fears, in Phoenix mere mortals can actually afford to buy a home.

Your "conservative fears" are not really based in reality though. Border patrol over-reach and Sheriff Joe's corruption are real things.

Also, being wrongly convicted of a crime doesn't "affect everyone" but I would argue that doesn't mean we should ignore it.

Assaults against Trump supporters aren't real things in the Bay Area?

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29976112/trump-...

They're rare, as is being wrongly convicted (which can happen anywhere).

But what really bothers conservatives is the idea that the police allowed it to happen.

> Unless a victim's life was in peril or the violence was "spiraling out of control," he said, officers held back to avoid inciting more violence and having the crowd turn on officers.

Conservative fears are extremely true. People here, even educated people buy into the hysteria and go completely insane if someone has Trump gear on. It is worse much than the overblown situation in Arizona.

You must not have lived in either places to really know...

I can choose to voice my opinion for Trump (really, it's possible). I cannot choose to be brown, or not.

I'd be interested to see the intersection of quality software engineers and Trump supporters. My guess is near zero.

Really, only Hillary voters can be quality engineers? Because at this point it's Hill vs. Don, and I have a feeling a great portion of us will not be voting for Hill in 2016.

Yeah because only Hillary supporters are intelligent, duh. I'm not sure why that comment hasn't been downvoted into oblivion yet for being WAAAAAY off topic.

After Eich, most stay in the closet.

Just like the black support?

This is grossly out of proportion with reality. I've lived in Arizona my entire life with a diverse group of friends and colleagues. Practically no one, except for those that are illegal, worry about this.

Isn't this just a "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" rebuttal?

It sounded like "if you aren't breaking the law, you have nothing to fear".

I'm not saying that's true, or not. I don't know.

How many people have been incorrectly detained or deported by Arpaio?

I'd say that dealing with Arpaio and worrying about treatment as a minority are not necessarily intertwined issues. Arpaio's office isn't the only law enforcement outfit operating in the area. He's just at the county-level. You still have city- and state-level (?)[1] law enforcement plus border patrol.

[1] I'm not specifically sure how AZ works this -- e.g. California has "highway patrol" but Michigan has "state police".

That probably has more to do with location than politics.

I've seen more Border Patrol in San Diego than in Phoenix.

And Phoenix is not within 100 miles of the border, while San Francisco is (the border includes the oceans), so Phoenix may actually have a theoretical advantage there.

https://www.aclu.org/constitution-100-mile-border-zone

Hardly, I lived in AZ for a while and it's a very legitimate fear. Minorities (not just those who are racially profiled as illegal immigrants) routinely are asked by officers to present identification at fucking barnes and nobles of all places. Source, friends, family, and observation.

--Towns aside from phoenix

I'd have to say that that may be your experience, however I have to voice that for the decade I lived there I haven't heard of any crazy harassment stories. Maybe just my luck though.

I lived there for about a decade too, had many friends who weren't white though.

Downtown/Central Phoenix is one of the most diverse cities I have encountered. We have many large refugee communities (I think due to the ease of inclusion, Phoenix being a city of transplants), a very large Hispanic community, and people that move here from literally every part of the country. Central Phoenix, again, is a very unique place compared to the mostly very small towns in the rest of the state. It is similar to how any large urban center is much more diverse than some of the smaller communities a few hours away.

I wouldn't say it's diverse, it's like the Midwest where's there's only black or white, in Phoenix it's just Hispanic or white ethnicities. I think LA and SF are much, much more diverse.

LA is over 13 million, and the second largest metro area in the US. Even SF is a larger metro than Phoenix, and both LA and SF are coastal port cities. It makes sense that they should have more diverse populations, especially LA.

That's almost like comparing any city to NYC.

I still believe culturally Phoenix is more diverse than the Midwest, due to the fact that it is a "new" city - the majority of development happened after 1970. Also, it is a city of very recent transplants. This encourages innovation because our city is so new we are not yet steeped in tradition or run by "old money families".

Off-topic, but in a similar vein of things that might be unexpected to someone from the Bay Area. Quote from the article: "along with some local touches, like a “No Weapons” sign to remind employees that open-carry laws do not extend onto company property."

Phoenix is actually several hours from the border. We host refugee centers all over the city and refugees from many countries settle all over Phoenix. We have a large Middle Eastern population, as well as larger groups from Somalia, Sudan, Bosnia, and Serbia as some examples. We have a large Hispanic and Native American population. There are many people of different ethnicities living in the Central Downtown Phoenix area where startups are locating.

Yes, and CA schools will force our sons to wear dresses and then die of measles from some anti-vaxxer's kids. The media loves to inflate stereotypes, doesn't it?

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