Hey Dries. What you do matters.
Hey Dries.
I read your article about hate speech and privacy and making the Web friendly again for your sons.
Drupalcon Austin!
As a member of the Drupal community since Deanspace, I wanted to say thanks, and also: What you do matters.
Also: as you’ve doubtless heard before, code is poetry.
Code is poetry. It’s art. And real artists ship, as Steve Jobs (maybe) said. ie, What you do matters.
Like art, code is subversive. It’s even revolutionary at times. It’s powerful. Like poetry, code has the power to give voice to the voiceless. So how it’s done matters. And who writes the code matters.
Knitting is code too, and it’s poetry and it’s art. And revolutionary. And as Casey knows, real artists ship.
I’m glad you’re speaking out. And also, what you do matters.
Each one of us must ask today: What are you able to do today, because of your identity, to address the problem of discrimination and hate speech?
Because identity matters, as Bryan Stevenson said. And what you do matters.
In my career as a female Web developer and Drupalista, I never had what you want back. I’m not alone.
Drupal was built with the help of non-binary core maintainers, black themers and female module developers who experienced substantial discrimination and hate in their lifetimes and careers. Both tech and the internet have long been unfriendly spaces for many people.
Centralized, decentralized; oppression takes advantage of both. Hate thrives in collegial backrooms and public forums alike. Blockchain can just as easily be used as part of open government initiatives to create tattoos for more efficient oppression.
Words are important. But words have also been telling the oppressed, the marginalized ‘Wait’, for a long time.
So I want to say that what you do matters. Your identity matters. And I want to ask: Make one thing better.
If I might be so bold, here are some actions to consider:
Commit to annual diversity reports to hold your organizations accountable.
Fully fund a diversity and inclusion initiative for five years.
Propose a Drupal Association Diversity and Inclusion at-large board seat.
Ask that Drupal’s next default theme carry on the tradition of Bartik, and be named after someone in the tech space who pushed past discrimination and being marginalized and did amazing, beautiful work.
Beyond Drupal’s borders, help out groups that provide web-development courses to under-represented folks
Meet with Casey at Ravelry (we Drupal crafters would love that), and lend a hand to materially support a PhP-based craft and discussion platform that banned white supremacist advocacy.
I’m sure the DD&I team could help with more.
Emma Jane’s Drupal knitting chart
Open source doesn’t need rock stars. Drupal doesn’t either. The internet doesn’t need rock stars. It needs regulation, and some technology, yes. But more than that it needs diversity. Because who does the coding matters. It needs a movement, made up of diverse groups of people willing to drill holes in sheet metal. It needs people arguing that accessibility is a civil right, and then taking action to ensure that. Making one thing better.
I’m glad you spoke out. I look forward to hearing about what you will do to act on your concern, because Drupal and the open source community are diverse and are watching what you do. I look forward to Drupal’s future and all it can do to give voice to the marginalized and promote friendly exchange online.
