#causeascene

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“I’m thinking of all the other people that think that my presence in this community and this space in this organization is a stamp on this is also safe for you.”Shanise Barona is a web developer and community builder with a passion for where tech and social justice intersect.

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How White Women Use Strategic Tears to Silence Women of ColourEpisode's Transcript

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Shanise Barona

Become a #causeascene Podcast sponsor because disruption and innovation are products of individuals who take bold steps in order to shift the collective and challenge the status quo.Learn more >Transcript0:30K: Hello everyone, and welcome to today’s episode of the #causeascene podcast. I have someone who I met a year ago and we’ve spent some time together so I’ve been able to get to know her better. I’m very happy to have Shanise on. Shanise, please introduce yourself to the audience.Shanise Barona: Hi everyone, my name is Shanise Barona. Happy to be on your podcast!0:55Kim Crayton: Shanise, tell me why is it important to cause a scene and how are you causing a scene?Shanise Barona: I think of the quote by Zora Neale Hurston that says, “If you're silent [about your pain], they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” Kim Crayton: Okay, that’s fucking deep. Okay. Go ahead.Shanise Barona: That’s why it’s important to cause a scene. And how am I causing a scene? Many ways… Primarily, just existing. 1:31Kim Crayton: There’s a specific reason that you’re here, but we’ll get to that. Tell me why — fuck it, we’re just gonna get into it. I’m just not even gonna beat around the bush. Many of you know that I’ve had some issues with some of the “women’s groups” in tech, particularly the groups that are run by white women. Because, like many “feminist”/”feminism” organizations, it’s about white feminism. And these organizations are focusing on white women’s issues in tech. As many of you know (and if you don’t know, I’m gonna say it again), white women are NOT “diversity.” Although they are underrepresented in tech, no, WOMEN are underrepresented in tech… White women — very few, if they don’t come from other marginalized groups, as in, having a disability, LGBTQ, all these other things that makes a group of people marginalized, particularly in tech — don’t belong to that group. White women, they are underrepresented, but most are not marginalized. And so, they cause harm to most marginalized individuals who they recruit. They have this “we’re open to everyone” “we’re safe spaces for all” when in actuality I’ve had far too many people in my DMs who are part of these organizations who can attest that these are not true stories. These organizations are focusing on white women’s issues and it’s causing harm. Like I said, I’m just gonna fuckin jump into this. This conversation is about Girl Develop It. I tweeted about them and I also tweeted about Women Who Code. If anyone wants to come on the show to give me some specific examples of Women Who Code, I have my own, but I’m gonna leave that alone. Women Who Code is a problematic organization because I’ve been DMs from people from there as well. But we’re going to focus on Girl Develop It. Shanise, this is going to be about you telling your story. I just really… I’m gonna tell you: you are a godsend. And I haven’t said this before. Because these “leaders” of these organizations are causing such harm. Really marginalized groups, particularly black women, are being shut down, silenced, all these others things. I’m just at a place where I’m just tired of us being harmed and not being able to say anything. Tell us about your relationship with Girl Develop It. It’s your time to tell your story.4:28Shanise Barona: Sure. I worked at Girl Develop It. I held two positions there over the last couple months. Actually, let me backup. I started there as a student.

“When you are used to being dominant, equality looks like a loss.” Mel Stanfill is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in Texts and Technology and Games and Interactive Media at the University of Central Florida. Stanfill holds a PhD in Communications and Media from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Stanfill’s research interrogates how […]

Podcast Description

“When you are used to being dominant, equality looks like a loss.”Mel Stanfill is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in Texts and Technology and Games and Interactive Media at the University of Central Florida. Stanfill holds a PhD in Communications and Media from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Stanfill’s research interrogates how the relationship between media industries and their audiences in the Internet era is shaped by labor, intellectual property law, consumption, heteronormativity, and whiteness, and has appeared in venues such as New Media and Society, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and Cinema Journal.

Additional Resources

On the Invention of whiteness:Roediger, David R. 1991. The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class. London, UK: Verso. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wages-Whiteness-Making-American-Working/dp/1844671453 Full text PDF: https://caringlabor.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/roediger-the-wages-of-whiteness-race-and-the-making-of-the-american-working-class.pdfBlack Internet Studies:Brock, André. 2012. “From the Blackhand Side: Twitter as a Cultural Conversation.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 56 (4): 529–49. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838151.2012.732147.Steele, Catherine Knight. 2016. “The Digital Barbershop: Blogs and Online Oral Culture Within the African American Community.” Social Media + Society 2 (4): 2056305116683205. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116683205.Gray, Kishonna L. 2012. “Intersecting Oppressions and Online Communities.” Information, Communication & Society 15 (3): 411–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2011.642401.Intersectionality:Cohen, Cathy J. 1997. “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 3 (4): 437–65.https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article/3/4/437/9940/Punks-Bulldaggers-and-Welfare-Queens-The-Radicalhttps://archiveofourown.org/Safiya Umoja NobleNoble, Safiya Umoja. 2018. Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism. New York: NYU Press. https://nyupress.org/books/9781479837243/Introduction is free to read.Some of Safiya’s talks: https://safiyaunoble.com/talks/

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Mel Stanfill

Become a #causeascene Podcast sponsor because disruption and innovation are products of individuals who take bold steps in order to shift the collective and challenge the status quo.Learn more >All music for the #causeascene podcast is composed and produced by Chaos, Chao Pack, and Listen on SoundCloud.

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“I took an electronics class and there was a particular class of problems where they said: this is not the right formula to use, but we use it because it’s easy to understand. It’s like searching where the light’s good. So, we know specific things about diversity and inclusion that make sense and we keep […]

Podcast Description

“I took an electronics class and there was a particular class of problems where they said: this is not the right formula to use, but we use it because it’s easy to understand. It’s like searching where the light’s good. So, we know specific things about diversity and inclusion that make sense and we keep going back to those things. But those aren’t necessarily the things that are going to solve the bigger problem. If we keep searching where the light is good, if we keep searching where we feel comfortable, then we’re never gonna find the right answer.”Sage Sharp is the founder of Otter Tech, which provides diversity and inclusion consulting. They provide training and advice around Code of Conduct enforcement. They are also a co-coordinator for Outreachy. Outreachy is a paid, remote internship program that pairs open source mentors with people from under-represented groups in tech. Sage has over 10 years experience in open source, and is the author of the Linux kernel USB 3.0 driver.

Additional Resources

OutreachyOtter Tech Diversity and Inclusion Consulting

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Sage Sharp

Become a #causeascene Podcast sponsor because disruption and innovation are products of individuals who take bold steps in order to shift the collective and challenge the status quo.Learn more >All music for the #causeascene podcast is composed and produced by Chaos, Chao Pack, and Listen on SoundCloud.

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“It happens In a lot of 3rd world developing countries that we’re doing the same work as an American engineer or a Canadian engineer and we get paid way less…For example, a lot of my friends work for US clients…the companies who build this product are paying US dollars to build this product and then […]

Podcast Description

“It happens In a lot of 3rd world developing countries that we’re doing the same work as an American engineer or a Canadian engineer and we get paid way less…For example, a lot of my friends work for US clients…the companies who build this product are paying US dollars to build this product and then we get paid a fraction of it.”Juliana is a Colombian-Canadian software engineer living in Colombia. She’s currently focusing on JavaScript, accessibility and community building. One of the leaders of Pioneras Developers, Medellin’s largest community for womxn in tech, and an organizer of JSConf Colombia, Juliana believes that the key to happiness is that feeling of belonging that you get from getting involved. As an advocate for web accessibility, Juliana believes the web has incredible potential to be the great equalizer - she dreams of a web where everyone can contribute and participate.

Additional Resources

Website Pioneras DevelopersJSConf ColombiaThe Butterfly.js EffectPoorly Drawn Lines 

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Juliana Gomez

Become a #causeascene Podcast sponsor because disruption and innovation are products of individuals who take bold steps in order to shift the collective and challenge the status quo.Learn more >All music for the #causeascene podcast is composed and produced by Chaos, Chao Pack, and Listen on SoundCloud.

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“You need to emphasize [for white people] to listen to people of color and black women and brown women. You are not the expert, you are amplifying the expert.” Amanda Johnson is a fairly average suburban white woman. She works in education tech, is a single mom to an “ausome” seven-year-old, and has only been […]

Podcast Description

“You need to emphasize [for white people] to listen to people of color and black women and brown women. You are not the expert, you are amplifying the expert.”Amanda Johnson is a fairly average suburban white woman. She works in education tech, is a single mom to an “ausome” seven-year-old, and has only been learning (like, REALLY learning) about racism and white supremacy since November 2016. Though she suffers from both hero worship and foot-in-mouth syndrome, Amanda also possesses a genuine desire to do better and a sort of snarky charm that help many people find her just north of tolerable.      

Additional Resources

The Truth About My Election Reaction by: Shannon BarberWhen You Walk Into the Valley: On Allies Asking to be Taught About Race by: John MettaWhite People, Stop Asking Us to Educate You About Racism: Signed Every POC You've Burdened with This Question by: Real Talk: WOC & AlliesThe Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by: Isabel WilkersonThese are other links that I share with people (and regularly reread myself)The Case for Reparations by: Ta-Nehisi CoatesWhy It's Not Racist When People of Color Point Out White Supremacy in White People's Actions by: Andrew HernándezWhite Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by: Peggy McIntoshWhen We Are Serious About Racism, People Won't Die Like This: Because Racism is Deadly by: Sam McKenzie, Jr.White Fragility: Why It's So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism by: Robin DiAngelo (the essay that eventually turned into the book)No We Won't Calm Down -- Tone Policing Is Just Another Way to Protect Privilege by: Robot HugsWhite People: Yes, It Is Difficult for You to Talk About Race--That's Part of Racism's Design by: Eric Anthony GrollmanOww, Ouch!: How to Apologize by: Killing Georgina

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Amanda Johnson

Become a #causeascene Podcast sponsor because disruption and innovation are products of individuals who take bold steps in order to shift the collective and challenge the status quo.Learn more >All music for the #causeascene podcast is composed and produced by Chaos, Chao Pack, and Listen on SoundCloud.

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“And that’s why black women are like ‘Peace. Out. I’m Done!’ The fastest growing entrepreneurial group in America they’re like ’Y’all are crazy, like who want’s to deal with this?!?” Karen Fleshman Esq. is an attorney, activist, and a nationally recognized expert on racism, feminism, workplace fair practices, police brutality, and politics. Working in nonprofits […]