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Comment #1 posted on 2021-02-02 19:12:50 by norist

Storyteller

Thank you, swift110 , for the episode. You have a gift for storytelling, and I hope you continue. This is an important issue. I don't know how to help except to promote stories like this. I look forward to hearing from swift110 again.

Comment #2 posted on 2021-02-04 04:08:55 by Bill n1vux

well said

I agree with norist, swift110 is quite the story-teller.

I could tell you were a man of taste when i saw the ThinkPad on your prior eps listing. T420 is a great Linux platform! (Especially sweet if bought refurb. :-D )

(FWIW, Wikipedia says Langston Terraces were second federally funded projects in the nation.)

You're asking good questions.

One of the newest housing projects in Boston has a Technology Center within the campus, co-sponsored by MIT. southendtechcenter.org
When Ubuntu LoCo teams were dis-established, some of the core volunteers here moved there.

Comment #3 posted on 2021-02-04 23:49:10 by Kevin O'Brien

Further discussion

I thought this show was very timely, and I would welcome further discussion. Freed software and open technology create possibilities, but they aren't guaranteed if people don't take the necessary actions.

Comment #4 posted on 2021-02-15 21:51:15 by blizzack

Systematically kept out - part 1

I enjoy hearing stories about (African) American experiences like this. There was...as you mentioned a 'Great Black Migration' that happened in the States. It sounds as though you've done quite well for yourself and you have a strong community around that cares about you getting ahead in life. That's awesome and we all need something like this in our lives.

Thanks for sharing your back story about you and your family. I do appreciate someone talking about something else other their newest laptop, or the latest distro of their favorite operating system.

This is a podcast and like most podcasts there's lots of rambling and lots of pundits.

I think you are making some broad generalizations about People Of Color (POC) in America -- even though you are a member of that community. I know you stated - this is from your experience.

For instance, you state you feel the reason that POC are not vocal in the Floss community is because they're somehow afraid. I don't believe this at all.

I think many POC are unaware of many FLOSS technological tools...but so are lots of other people who are not black, brown, or women. Being ignorant or unaware of something does NOT make you afraid !

I'm sure your family was apprehensive of being part of that Great Migration; but they did it! So did millions of other African Americans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_%28African_American%29

POC consume a lot of technical information just like any other folks in America. They use computers, cell phones tablets...etc. Additionally, they spend lots of money on tech related items.
Tech companies want POC communities (all communities for that matter) to consume their products. They have no interest in these communities participating in its implementation.

For instance, Are we to believe that Apple couldn't hire a POC as part of their QA team for their watches ??
https://thegrio.com/2015/05/01/apple-watch-dark-skin/

Comment #5 posted on 2021-02-15 21:55:13 by blizzack

Systematically kept out - part 2

I think the main reason you don't see People of Color (POC) in the floss community is the same reason you don't see lots of black folks in lots of other industries. POC have been purposefully kept out of tech jobs in America! It's the same reason you don't see women in many of these places as well.
I would postulate that 'many' of the people who contribute to Floss also work in tech in some way or another. (Notice the word 'many'...not 'all' or 'most')

Just so you know... I'm black man, US citizen who lives in New York
City. I work as a software engineer and I'm also interested in Floss.

blizzack.com

Comment #6 posted on 2021-03-08 13:55:44 by bjhend

Get rid of bad terms in IT

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and feelings about bad terms in IT. I've better understood now, what they may cause, so you got me to finally rename the default branches of all Git repositories in my organization I'm responsible for.

I've written an internal blog post about that, linking to this HPR episode. Hope that others will follow my example.

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