commit: 454652e613696a130bac9734ec0860a5186f007b
parent 8de30a05e835ec12e2dbda8fa26531d11912cd26
Author: Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2023 08:46:02 +0200
Who leads us?
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diff --git a/content/blog/2023-04-24-Who-leads-us.md b/content/blog/2023-04-24-Who-leads-us.md
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+---
+title: Who should lead us?
+date: 2023-04-24
+---
+
+Consider these two people, each captured in the midst of delivering a technical
+talk.
+
+<div class="images">
+ <img src="https://l.sr.ht/AB9J.jpg" alt="A picture of a young trans woman in a red dress" />
+ <img src="https://l.sr.ht/uI9v.jpg" alt="A picture of a middle-aged white man in a red shirt" />
+</div>
+<style>.images { display: flex; }</style>
+
+Based on appearances alone, what do you think of them?
+
+The person on the left is a woman. She's also pretty young, one might infer
+something about her level of experience accordingly. I imagine that she has led
+a much different life than I have, and may have a much different perspective,
+worldview, identity, and politics than I. Does she complain about sexism and
+discrimination in her work? Is she a feminist? Does she lean left or right on
+the political spectrum?
+
+The person on the right looks like most of the hackers I've met. You've met
+someone who looks like this a thousand times. He is a man, white and middle-aged
+-- that suggests a fair bit of experience. He probably doesn't experience or
+concern himself with race or gender discrimination in the course of his work. He
+just focuses on the software. His life experiences probably map relatively well
+onto my own, and we may share a similar worldview and identity.
+
+Making these assumptions is a part of human nature -- it's a useful shortcut in
+many situations. But they are assumptions based only on appearances. What are
+the facts?
+
+The person on the right is Scott Guthrie, Vice President of Cloud and AI at
+Microsoft, giving a talk about Azure's cloud services. He lives in an $11M house
+in Hunts Point, Washington. On the left is Alyssa Rosenzweig, main developer for
+the free software Panfrost GPU drivers and a trans woman, talking about how she
+reverse engineers proprietary graphics hardware. As recently as February, her
+Wikipedia page was vandalized by someone who edited "she" and "her" to "he" and
+"him".
+
+You and I have a lot more in common with Alyssa than with Scott. The phone I
+have in my pocket right now would not work without her drivers. Alyssa humbles
+me with her exceptional talent and dedication, and the free software community
+is indebted to her. If you use ARM devices with free software, you owe something
+to Alyssa.
+
+Appearances should not especially matter when considering the merit of someone
+considered for a leadership role in our community, be it as a maintainer,
+thought leader, member of our foundations' boards, etc. I am myself a white man,
+and I think I perform well in my leadership roles throughout the free software
+ecosystem. But it's not my appearance that causes any controversy: someone with
+the approximate demographic shape of myself or Guthrie would cause no
+susurration when taking the stage.
+
+It's those like Alyssa, who aside from anything else is eminently qualified and
+well-deserving of her leadership role, who are often the target of ire and
+discrimination in the community. This is an experience shared by many people
+whose gender expression, skin color, or other traits differ from the "norm".
+They've been telling us so for years.
+
+Is it any wonder that our community is predominantly made up of white
+cisgendered men when anyone else is ostracized? It's not because we're
+predisposed to be better at this kind of work. It's patently absurd to suppose
+that hackers whose identities and life experience differ from yours or mine
+cannot be good participants in and leaders of in our movement. In actual fact,
+diverse teams produce better results. While the labor pool is disproportionately
+filled with white men, we can find many talented hackers who cannot be described
+as such. If we choose to be inspired by them, and led by them, we will discover
+new perspectives on our software, and on our movement and its broader place in
+the world. They can help us create a safe and inviting space for other talented
+hackers who identify with them. We will be more effective at our mission of
+bringing free software to everyone with their help.
+
+Moreover, there are a lot of damned good hackers who don't look like me, and I
+would be happy to follow their lead regardless of any other considerations.
+
+The free software ecosystem (and the world at large) is not under threat from
+some woke agenda -- a conspiracy theory which has been fabricated out of whole
+cloth. The people you fear are just people, much like you and I, and they only
+want to be treated as such. Asking them to shut up and get in line, to suppress
+their identity, experiences, and politics, to avoid confronting you with
+uncomfortable questions about your biases and privileges by way of their
+existence alone -- it's not right.
+
+Forget the politics and focus on the software? It's simply not possible. Free
+software *is* politics. Treating other people with respect, maturity, and
+professionalism, and valuing their contributions at any level, including
+leadership, regardless of their appearance or identity -- that's just part of
+being a good person. *That* is apolitical.
+
+---
+
+*Alyssa gave her blessing regarding the use of her image and her example in this
+post. Thanks!*
