I'm going to challenge a few things in this email. Before I do I want to make a very clear statement. I am 100% in support of the need to address our diversity and inclusion activities. I have been for a very long time. You can find posts from me on this topic going back a long way. Noirin tried to educate me. I didn't learn fast enough, however, she did convince me that I need to learn and act more quickly.
In 2015 I broke from tradition for the State of the Feather talk at ApacheCon. Rather than a self-congratulatory romp through statistics I challenged the foundation to think about diversity. You can see the talk here (I've linked to where I start on Diversity for your convenience). https://youtu.be/1UkQBOvVhfw?t=1010 My point isn't to claim this was particularly important, more to observe that I was *VERY* uncomfortable doing this talk. It was not a topic I was familiar with, but people had convinced me it was important. I was sticking my neck out. I knew there were plenty of people in the audience who would take offense. However, I knew it was important and I had a platform. I hoped that I could inspire one or two people to take action. Fast forward 4 years we've made very significant progress. Our diversity numbers are up significantly. We have two women on the board - despite Isabel (who could have been a third) stepping down from her director role and re-nomination, we have a code of conduct and we are much more aware of the problems that exist. Everything is going in the right direction because of the hard work of a significant number of people. Naomi, you are showing great tenacity and patience here. I fully support your goals, but I do worry that demanding the foundation "police" these things by forcing people to behave in a way you find acceptable is counter-productive. That's just not what the foundation is. We need to work within the structure of the foundation. We need to take action as individuals such that it becomes the norm and this debate simply goes away. I do understand that accepting this is much easier for me, as a white male who speaks English as a first language. I do understand that the slow progress we are making is not good enough for those who do not fit into this category. I do want to accelerate the change. However, I don't want to force people to move faster than they are ready to move. It takes time for people to get out of their comfort zones. I forced myself to tackle it head on, despite my discomfort. I did that with the moral support of a few people around me. I would not have done it if any one of those advisors had said "yeah, it's good but it's not enough. You have to insist on this behavior, or that behavior". Those wise people recognized that this was a step in the right direction and fully supported me without interfering with the tiny steps I was willing to take. In my opinion it is counter productive to tell people, even indirectly, who are working diligently to improve things that the foundation is doing nothing. Look at the evidence. How can it be true that we are not recognizing minority groups for their contribution when we have gone from 0 to 1 to 2 women on the board in just a few years? How can it be true that we are not recognizing minority groups for their contribution when we are increasing the diversity across the board? How can it be that we are not encouraging new people to join us from minority groups when we've had TAC for years and this year it is administering an additional fund for a specific minority group? Again, I'm absolutely not suggesting that you temper your opinions. Your debate style is excellent. You raise important questions. All that I ask is that you also take the time to positively reward the good work some people are doing. Let it be seen that it is valuable, in its own small way, to addressing the bigger problem. If we can have 100 people consciously addressing these issues we will be moving faster to the end goal. With 200 it will be faster still at 350 (half the membership) we will be unstoppable. Getting to 100 will be easier than getting the first 5. On the other side of the coin A few people on this thread have gone so far as to challenge whether there is even a problem at all. When presented with data they dispute the validity of the data itself. I say those people can live in their version of the world, but they are not welcome in mine. As far as I am concerned denying the hard data and the qualitative evidence we have is damaging to our communities and I will not stand for it. What is to be done about it? There is little point in arguing with these people. They have an opinion and they will not be swayed through argument. We should treat these people as trolls. We should focus on productive debate (including with those who question whether the data is shining a light on the right problem). I welcome constructive debate that leads to actionable items. I will thank anyone who helps me refine my understating of the problem. Once again, I believe the way we accelerate the change is not by forcing it, but by acting, educating and rewarding. Think global, act local. Ross ________________________________________ From: Naomi Slater <n...@tumbolia.org> Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2019 11:01 AM To: dev@community.apache.org Cc: Sam Ruby Subject: Re: on "meritocracy" On Thu 28. Mar 2019 at 18:46, Ross Gardler <r...@gardler.me> wrote: > Well said... indeed > > "Where we, the ASF, are and continue to be is abnormal. The difference > from industry norms is statistically significant. And durable." > > The only way for this to change is for each of us to "be the change". I disagree with this analysis. I think it shirks our collective responsibility (as ComDev contributors and Apache members) to our community what is the purpose of being in an "organization" if we lack the capability of organizing ourselves as a group my experience at Apache has taught me that real change, community-wide change, often only comes about when a few select people put in a lot of work to make it happen Congrats Myrle and Joan. We have more geographic diversity in the board too. wow! I missed this! congrats! --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@community.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@community.apache.org
