hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr3257.txt

Episode: 3257
Title: HPR3257: Lack of diversity in Linux and other open source communities
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr3257/hpr3257.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-24 19:46:29

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This is Haka Public Radio episode 3257 for Tuesday 26 on January 2021.
Today's show is entitled, Luck on Diversity in Linux and other open source communities.
It is hosted by Swift 110 and is about 12 minutes long and currently in a clean flag.
The summary is, I consider some reason, at every Luck on Diversity when it comes to open source communities.
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Hello, this is with 110.
Today I thought I would talk about Linux and the open source community as a whole.
The concern about there being a lack of diversity within the open source slash Linux community.
First, I'll give a little background about myself.
Despite how I may sound, I am black.
I'm black and I'm proud.
Say it again, I won't.
But I thought that'd be funny to kind of start this off with that introduction.
But being black and being a person that is actually love that's in love with Linux
and the open source community in general is a bit of an anomaly.
You don't normally hear about black people on various podcasts.
You don't see us write many articles about Linux and open source in particular.
That can be for several reasons.
One of the reasons is that people are not exposed to open source
or Linux, open the open source community as a whole.
And you might scratch your head and think, well, how is it that something's not accessible to
something when it's free? Doesn't that sound crazy?
Yeah, sounds crazy to me too.
How can something be free, not be made widely available to a particular community?
Bonkers, right? It's bonkers.
But you know, in the course of my life, I've always been the oddball
when it comes to what I like.
Some of the things that I enjoy doing are hiking in the woods.
I love gardening. I love Linux.
Have I ever, have I come across too many other black people that are in those things? No.
In fact, I've been made fun of my entire life for what I like doing.
And so, as one podcaster mentioned, it does take bravery to step outside of what is considered normal,
to step out to bust out of the box that society tries to put us into. Well, you're black.
Why do you like hiking? Like people look at me like a weirdo when I say that I like going in the woods
and hiking. I mean, you would swear that I was saying something bad.
I mean, there are people that would expect me to go somewhere and sell drugs or something.
I'll go play basketball. You know what I mean. But you want to go and learn about nature?
You're a black guy and you're a member of the Maryland Native Plant Society. Are you serious?
And yes, I'm aware that in many of these spaces, I am indeed the token black guy.
I'm aware of it, but I don't care. I don't need people to look like me to feel comfortable.
But maybe just maybe I'm an anomaly where that comes to play.
You know, maybe I'm, maybe I, you know, I'm not crazy. I'm just a little unwell. I promise.
But it doesn't bother me as much to be in environments where people don't look like me. In fact,
I find it very intriguing. And part of the reason I find it intriguing is because people have
expectations of me because of the color of my skin. And I get this great delight from proving them
wrong. Tell you the story. Has nothing to do with Linux and open source by the way. But it does,
you'll see how it connects in just a minute. So I used to work at an arboretum in Baltimore,
Maryland. And here I am. Am I in a middle of a city that's 60% black? But when you look at the
the people that are in charge, those offices are held by people that are white. Ding, ding, ding, see a similarity?
The people that are cutting the grass doing the menu labor, they're black. But the ones in the office,
the office says rather, the ones that are in charge are white. What kind of mess is this?
In a city that's 60% black. And so when they, I'm weeding under the, I forgot what the trees
call. It doesn't really matter. Anyway, I was doing my work and I was told by my boss,
lovely lady by the way, awesome person, I mean. And she was telling me that the Maryland Native
plant society was doing a hike, a nature hike. And she wanted me to, she thought it'd be great for me
to go. Okay, I was happy. And so there I am standing in the mansion. And I'm telling you exactly
what went through my mind. I am the only black person here. And again, in a city that's 60%
black people. You know, so just looking at the numbers, you wouldn't expect it to be,
especially where I am. If you cross the street, there's a major hospital.
And there's plenty of black people over there. All you gotta do is cross the street. And it's
a whole different world. Don't you dare close your eyes. And hey, I don't know how that happened.
Anyway, but this older white lady looked at me and says, well, what are you doing here?
And I was so excited about being on a nature hike because I love being around nature.
I'd rather be in nature than being a hood. With my boys, you know, I'd rather be in nature.
And hear the birds chirping. I'd rather learn about native species that live in the area.
So we started on the walk. How did I respond to her, by the way, before I get off topic with that?
I don't even remember what I said, but I was there for the same reason she was there or so I thought.
You know, and I don't, I'm gonna give her the benefit of a doubt, but she might have meant
something by that. Who knows and who cares? She's not to make my point. She's not the reason I
went on that hike. I didn't go on that hike looking for other people that look like me.
I went on a hike to learn about plants that were that are native to Central Maryland,
to the Eastern Seaboard. I'm not here for you. I'm here for the plants. And I think that's
part of the issue when it comes to the open source environment, is that people sometimes see a
world dominated by white people and they feel uncomfortable. I don't see anybody that looks like me.
Well, if you don't get in the water, so to speak, there will never be people that look like you in
that particular area. There has to be somebody to so-called break that color barrier.
And if it's me, fine. If it's not fine, but I don't care. And that's the point. Other people clearly
feel differently. But even though we're talking about something that's free and I'm back to open
source, it's not presented and it's not made available where the people who could probably use
it the most have access to it. Somebody that has limited computing resources in an area
could really use Linux. You know, when I started using Linux, I was broke as crap.
I was unemployed and I needed something to use on my computer that would, you know, make different
programs available. Linux opens up doors for people that are poor and not to say that all black
people or people of color are poor, but it makes it more available when it's in the places where
people are. And so there's a factor. You know, these are things to think about in this world of open
source. But had I not been different, had I not been a type of person to think outside the box,
I may have never started using Linux. In fact, there's a lot of things that I would have never
started doing if that was my concern. And so what I feel is that this is more than just one issue.
It's not an issue of people not necessarily being welcome. Part of it's an issue of them feeling
welcome. They don't feel comfortable in an environment where there are no people or very few
people that look like there. They don't feel like they have anything in common common with individuals
they see. And that's sad. And so part of it is the responsibility of us in the open source community.
But you know what? Part of that responsibility falls upon the person for not being willing to step
outside their comfort zone. Because what if this person is focused on learning Linux and not on
the people in the Linux community already. And then this person does that and this person does it.
Well, if that happens, it's almost an issue of what came first the chicken or the egg.
Just be that person in that environment. Other people will see you. And more and more people come in.
So that's really what I'm thinking. But when it comes to the open source community podcasting and
all this stuff being inclusive. When it comes to people that are not white males. Hopefully that explains
my position on the matter. And I hope you all have a great night. This is with 110. And you'll be
hearing from me soon. Take care.
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