DrupalCon Seattle 2019: Shout for the Silent: Putting our Privilege to Work for Inclusivity
It was a series of encounters and occurrences while at BADCamp. I arrived on Wednesday, excited to see teammates and community members, eager to learn and grow. What I took away from 4 days of summits, sessions, and socializing went far beyond Drupal and lit a fire in me.
A casual conversation over breakfast Friday morning about mental health and burnout that led to a deeper discussion about depression, personal growth, and racial reconciliation... A Twitter shout-out during a presentation from a wonderful human being, a minority in many ways... A chat over dinner about privilege... A Saturday morning hate crime across the country, followed by a tweet from the individual I met the day prior, expressing that they couldn't feel embraced and comforted at BADCamp the way they could after another hate crime years earlier... A Saturday night encounter on BART, terrified a crazed white man was about to pull a gun and start shooting... All leading to me coming to grips with the guilt over my own privilege, thinking of all the people who live with that terror every day.
It all hit me like a ton of bricks on the plane home. I messaged the teammate I had so many great conversations with over the weekend and pitched an idea that became this abstract. As white, cishet Drupal community members, we need to be using our privilege to amplify the underrepresented voices of our minority community members. We need to continually work toward making the community more inclusive—to not just welcome diversity, but to embrace it. To encourage it. To seek out individuals who feel they can't live out loud and actively bring them into our fold.
It's not enough for minority members to push for diversity and inclusion. Those of us with more systemic privilege have to stand up for them and stop putting the weight on their shoulders.
In this session, we'll cover:
What privilege looks like in the world
What privilege looks like in Drupal
Characteristics which distinguish minority groups
Mindfulness and recognizing our own privilege
Addressing privilege in others, gently
How we can bring about real change
A casual conversation over breakfast Friday morning about mental health and burnout that led to a deeper discussion about depression, personal growth, and racial reconciliation... A Twitter shout-out during a presentation from a wonderful human being, a minority in many ways... A chat over dinner about privilege... A Saturday morning hate crime across the country, followed by a tweet from the individual I met the day prior, expressing that they couldn't feel embraced and comforted at BADCamp the way they could after another hate crime years earlier... A Saturday night encounter on BART, terrified a crazed white man was about to pull a gun and start shooting... All leading to me coming to grips with the guilt over my own privilege, thinking of all the people who live with that terror every day.
It all hit me like a ton of bricks on the plane home. I messaged the teammate I had so many great conversations with over the weekend and pitched an idea that became this abstract. As white, cishet Drupal community members, we need to be using our privilege to amplify the underrepresented voices of our minority community members. We need to continually work toward making the community more inclusive—to not just welcome diversity, but to embrace it. To encourage it. To seek out individuals who feel they can't live out loud and actively bring them into our fold.
It's not enough for minority members to push for diversity and inclusion. Those of us with more systemic privilege have to stand up for them and stop putting the weight on their shoulders.
In this session, we'll cover:
What privilege looks like in the world
What privilege looks like in Drupal
Characteristics which distinguish minority groups
Mindfulness and recognizing our own privilege
Addressing privilege in others, gently
How we can bring about real change