Yes, the request is political. Politics is about how we live and work
together, how we treat each other. Software, particularly open source
software, is not just inanimate objects. It is developed and nurtured
within a community of real people who live in our very real society.
I am going to make a guess that this list is made up predominantly of
older white males, myself included. That guess is based on the historic
under representation of women and minorities in tech in general and the
type of software we are dealing with. This change would have essentially
no effect on us as a group because we have always lived on the favored
side of white/black language. We assume the usage is benign because if
anything we are flattered by it. Do you have empathy? Can you put
yourselves in someone else's shoes to see how this might affect them?
Someone has suggested that we make a small change, a change that Black
people have said would make them feel better, and all we can do is argue
that making that change would be too difficult, unnecessary, ineffective
or etymologically inaccurate. Is that how you respond when a neighbor
asks a favor? Heck, is that how you respond when faced with a technical
challenge? Or do you stop for a minute to think about the problem, how
it might be manifested in different situations or for different people,
and start to try to figure out what you can do to help?
Perhaps if this change is too much to ask, we should put some effort
into thinking about what we *can* do to make this corner of the world
more welcoming to Blacks. I have to say, I think the message of this
thread so far has been quite the opposite.
