[malvim]

Ok, cool. Everyone has their ideas, they all make sense (we're all reasonably rational people here) and, in an ideal world, I agree that we should not need or have these groups. Except... the under-representation is already there, so we have to deal with it. And I think BGC is a damn fine way to deal with part of it.

Is there anyone here who is NOT a white male and would care to comment?

[tikhonj]

While agree with your comment, I think your last comment is unwarranted.

Just because somebody is a white male does not devalue their point. Moreover, you should really never judge an argument based on the person making it.

[wpietri]

Hi! White male here.

I am absolutely less qualified to comment on racism. Because I very rarely experience it, and often don't notice it when it happens.

Similarly, I also believe that one should be suspicious of non-technical managers who have opinions on how to code.

Experience matters.

[king_jester]

> Just because somebody is a white male does not devalue their point.

The people least affected by racism, both personally and systemically, absolutely have almost no value to their comments. How can they? In the US, white-ness is the norm. If you aren't white, you get treated differently automatically and people don't hesitate to call you racist when you try to do something to help people just like yourself.

> Moreover, you should really never judge an argument based on the person making it.

This is true, but when someone claims to have knowledge about a thing they cannot by definition experience, they should absolutely be called out on it. Also, talking over actual people of color to give a white opinion is erasing and serves to make those people, already hard to find in tech circles, even more invisible.

[malvim]

I agree wholeheartedly with your point, and as I said before most of the ideas presented here, either for or against this initiative, make sense! It's a difficult subject and one that should be discussed.

It just seems to me that we all have lots of ideas about stuff most of us have never been through, and it might be nice to hear from people who've actually been through them.