There’s a particular ache familiar to many Black residents in San Jose and across Silicon Valley: the uneasy realization that when you enter a room, you will likely be the only one who looks like you, while your story fades into the background as others take center stage.

For decades, as new communities have thrived in the world’s tech capital, the deep roots, culture and resilience of Black life in the South Bay too often go unseen. With few Black voices in our political chambers, boards and commissions, and among county leadership, it is not just a missed opportunity — it’s a visible marker of deliberate and historic disenfranchisement.

We’re told to “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps,” but few appreciate how tattered our boots have become and that we have worn the souls of them off

See Full Page