Recent events have broken our team's trust in @girldevelopit leadership. For these reasons, we are putting the Oakland chapter on hiatus for the foreseeable future.
These events are as follows (thread):
These events are as follows (thread):
Former GDI Program Director @shanisebarona spoke to @KimCrayton1 on the podcast #causeascene about discrimination and microaggressions that she experienced from members of the HQ team.
The podcast references a case of discrimination that occurred in Minneapolis, in which a black chapter leader was mistreated and discriminated against by her white co-chapter leaders. Thread of @GDImpls chapter leadership call-out by @LaniceSims:
Additional callout of racism within @GDImpls leadership:
This week, current and former chapter leaders (including us) signed an open letter to the @girldevelopit Board of Directors calling for urgent, sustainable changes to be made an-open-letter-to-gdi-board.com
Throughout these events, the HQ team & Board of Directors have failed to address the underlying cause - racist & white supremacist attitudes among GDI leaders who, frankly, have no business running an org that refers to itself as inclusive.
For these reasons, we cannot continue to participate in or advocate for this organization under such a leadership team.
In order for us to resume operations, we must see specific, top-level changes within GDI - including the replacement of problematic leaders, public apologies to the community, sustainable policies and efforts towards DEI, and complete transparency going forward.
We hope that our local events have been positive experiences which have empowered you to learn about and pursue opportunities in tech. We are all available to talk about what’s happening with GDI and to provide guidance and resources for continued learning (info @ end of thread)
We still firmly believe in the mission of inclusion, and we are so grateful to you, our community, for supporting us. Please do not let this stop your pursuit of learning. Everybody has a place at the table. Everybody is welcome. Everybody should have the opportunity.
Please let us know how we can support you. You can DM any of our leaders, join the discussion in the GDIOak Slack space, or reach out via email.
In solidarity,
Vanessa @zoombear
Renée @voiceofrae
Tracie
womacktracie@gmail.com
In solidarity,
Vanessa @zoombear
Renée @voiceofrae
Tracie
womacktracie@gmail.com
Updating this thread with more links:
Recent article by @TechnicallyPHL about multiple GDI chapters going dark as we wait for a response from the board + HQ technical.ly/philly/2018/12…
Recent article by @TechnicallyPHL about multiple GDI chapters going dark as we wait for a response from the board + HQ technical.ly/philly/2018/12…
Interview with @soandsos from October on stepping down from leadership and how GDI reacted to public callouts of racism technical.ly/delaware/2018/…
Twitter moment created by @messypixels documenting public calls for accountability by current and former GDI community members: twitter.com/i/moments/1071…
