Slashdot Mirror
Named Innovators/Developers of Color?
i_c_andrade asks: "Apple and other tech companies were in the past called to task for the lack of Hispanics and African-American's on their Board of Directors, so after doing some research I came to the conclusion that I just did not know a lot of named IT/OSS/Web/CS innovators/developers that were not white (or American) specifically Hispanic or African-American. The first (and only) name that I could think of was Miguel de Icaza, and well I can only blame my own ignorance for not knowing any more, or are there? I know there is a big BSD movement in Brazil (they created the The FreeBSD LiveCD Project; but where else are there developers 'of color' and what are they working on?"
I have sort of a pinkish tan hue.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Does it really matter who (in the sense of ethnic diversity) writes the OSS code or makes a important innovation? The only thing that should matter (at least thats my opinion) is what they did (ie the result of their work). I wouldn't even care if the creator of my next email application is white/black/yellow/blue, I only care about the quality of their work. And I think if they do a good job they should be proud of themselves, because they did a good job and not because they did a good job and they were [enter whatever color you want].
Everyone on here looks like black text on a white background to me.
When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
In an online world like development, especially open source, color is a question thats outdated. I have no idea what color someone I read on a miling list, IRC, email, or slashdot is. I don't particularly care. He has good ideas, I'll listen to his advice in the future.
Same at work- I know my teammates, but for other groups unless their names are a giveaway I don't know if he's white, black, purple, polka-dot, or the flying spaghetti monster. I don't really care either- I'm paid to deal with them, thats all I need to know.
The better question is- more than a century after the end of slavery, 50 years after segregation ended, why do people still ask this? Who cares what color your hero is? He's your hero, thats enough. It seems to me that the biggeswt problem in race relations these days isn't the white man looking gown on the black, its the minorities who keep seeing themselves as different, with questions like this.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Do you really care if they're "of color", gay, jewish, albino, are incontinent, fear showers, or smell like alabama truckstop?
I want software that works. Licensing is secondary; color of the developers isn't even a factor.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
I haven't seen anyone "of color" in the entire computer science program at any of the three colleges that I've been at...
Don't go holding your breath:
And I had worked so hard to earn all that good Karma.Sigh...
I resent that. I didn't have anything handed to me on a silver platter and I'm as white as it gets. I've had to work my arse off to get where I am and I'm not even that far. It's going to take over a year of working in a test department at a software company just to get enough money to go finish my associates degree.
It's not about color, it's about social class. Sure, maybe there's more latinos in the low end, but there's plenty of us crackers there too. Hell, I went to apply for a grant and the only thing that kept me from getting it was that I wasn't latino or female. So I'm going to have to earn my education.
DONT PANIC
Basically because I get tired of seeing in Hispanic Business or other minority based trade magazines a total lack of innovators, they focus on COO's or some VP of finance. I tried to think of oh I dont know good role models for non-white kids to have when it comes to the tech world. My CS department and college graduate the 2nd highest number of hispanics in the US, and its just hard to think of people (due to well just know knowing of any) that I can point out to people and say "see they are a great [developer/innovator/developer] that you can use for a role model". Females have Admiral Hopper and Lady Babbige; who can minorities look to?
This is the most racist comment I have seen in this story so far. Please elaborate on the "less good home life", I have no idea what you mean by this... are you saying that their homes are less expensive? or in poor neighborhoods?
And perhaps, the quality of schools in the poorer sections of the US is not as good as in the more affluent sections, but you can't say that there are no white people going to these schools too.
The less wealth comment might be valid across a portion of the population, but you can't say that there aren't a lot of blacks and hispanics making a good living
The comment that you make that I have to disagree with most is the "less college education". Going to college myself I found that I was hard pressed to find ways to pay for school. A large portion of grants and scholarships are racially biased. As a black person I would've had my entire education paid for, but as a white person I had to take out large student loans. As a black person I would've even been able to get into college with lower test scores and a lower GPA.
Despite what you may think, as a white person I am discriminated against by the laws and policies in the US. If I do not have the privilege of coming from a rich family I am basically left out in the cold when it comes to paying for, and being accepted to a good college.
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
This "ask slashdot" story is racist on itself.
I don't see that at all. He spoke of his own personal experience, saying that he could think of only one notable non-white OSS developer, and asking for more. Racism isn't about noticing the very existence of race, it's about irrational bias based on it.
Making a compleatly unfounded statistic remark about racial participation in "IT/OSS/Web/CS" projects is calling for more uninformed bable and flames.
Go back and read the post again. He made no such remark. Was this some cleverly ironic demonstration of uninformed babble?
Reading this thread is interesting. Most minorities posters are seemingly frustrated for no reason about this topic. This is specifically to you who come across this. I'm an African-American male and I also experience racism and discrimination everyday. Just recently I was stopped over the Brooklyn Bridge for no other reason than my skin color. In Dec of 94 I started using free software exclusively. Currently, I work for a server company, most of my time is spent screwing around the kernel/selinux and distribution related crap.
I learned all I needed to learn the day I realized I could make anything that I wanted to with the tools provided to me. That day, sometime in Dec of 94 (my age 13-14 or so) I realized that worrying about discrimination and racism was unimportant in this arena. I had the tools necessary to do whatever I wanted while also be compensated for it. Also realize that the world is much bigger than the USA which is largely the most racist. (I've also traveled a bit) You'll find racism and discrimination elsewhere but your software has no color and will be warmly accepted by the people who need it; once it fits their needs.
The racist and discriminatory persons should be of no matter or recourse to you. Ignore them for the most part when it comes to matters like this. Concentrating your efforts on your work are more important and will produce better results. I'm sure some racist and discriminatory people benefit from some of my opensource work everyday. What are you going to do? I see it as a win; win all around. People are entitled to their views and opinions. I'm not racist and discriminatory and I'll fight it where it makes sense. Here's not one of the places it makes sense.
My views for everyone else are that there are less minorities in computing because the initial cost of computers were prohibitive for most. That combined with social stigmas, general disdain towards said groups and lack to equipment made it extremely difficult. I'm only lucky in the aspect that at the time my parents are what one would deem upper middle class and could afford to purchase me a Fountain PC 80286 with 5 1/4 floppy. As of current, its primarily an education problem but with free distributions and word of mouth I expect to see more minorities entering the arena in the next decade. Especially in their own countries.
As much as i'd love to regulate this argument to being primarily a class issue (which would at least be better than what it actually is). That isn't fair. The class issue is part and parcel because of the race issue. A majority of poor which is considered "class" are also black/hispanic. They are poor because a majority of the wealthy are white who then predicate discriminatory and racist behavior.
Free software changes all of this though. Minorities or people who feel oppressed economically now have all the tools needed in modern day to change that. No longer does one need to feel dependent on anything other than their capabilities and imagination to survive.
So you can complain, or you can get a copy of binutils, glibc and gcc and get to work. It's not easy and nothing ever is. There will be days you wish gdb actually fucking worked and good days. Whatever the case; use your mind and creative talents to change the world.
You'll find that the people who are really good at what they do don't care what your skin color is and if they do. You're better.
As for naming inventors. Lewis Latimer was a black scientist that created the electric lightbulb and the first air conditioner. Worked with Edison. The house he did all of his work in was recently moved to Queens. Interesting fellow and i'm lucky enough to have met the person involved for a majority of this. I even got to see his original patents. GE donated to the restoration and we held the opening ceremony last year. All in all it was a fun ceremony and it inspired me even further.