Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #GDIStrike
Most recents (9)
welcome to my TED Talk about how unsurprising the #gdistrike is, and how you can only address racism in tech organizations by addressing racism at tech at large. note: all of my experiences with @girldevelopit took place at @GDISeattle.
so, I stayed in Seattle for a while at the beginning of my programming education, in 2015. I'd attend @GDISeattle sort of "coffee & code" meetups because I was new in town *and* new in tech. I think I attended like one or two, but one situation really stuck out to me.
now, I'm a Midwestern girl. and I'm a girl who's spent my adulthood in a hardscrabble Rust Belt town at that. I'm used to microaggressions asking about our infrastructure, poverty, etc. I'm used to people assuming that tech was *so* *much* *safer* for me than Indiana, because...
Today I have officially ended my involvement with @gdiphilly and @girldevelopit. I can not continue participate in an organization that is taking an "ignore it and eventually it'll go away" strategy to the racism crisis it is in right now. #GDIStrike
You can tell a lot about an organization's leadership by the way it addresses an issue when it happens and then again later when that issue is revealed to the public. GDI leadership failed on both counts.
They have had 2 months to deal with this. Excuses for the weak response was "holidays." These issues came to light in early December. If this happened on my watch I would have paused my life to do everything I could to fix it.
Dear community members, it is with heavy hearts that we announce the resignation of the leadership team and the closure of GDI Oakland. (thread)
In our hiatus announcement, we stated that to resume operations we needed to see top-level changes, including the replacement of problematic leaders, public apologies, sustainable policies & efforts towards DEI, and complete transparency going fwd.
Since then, the following has occurred:
GDI released a public statement on 12/12/18 apologizing for their missteps and announcing institutional policy changes.
GDI released a public statement on 12/12/18 apologizing for their missteps and announcing institutional policy changes.
So many parallels between the @news10nbc meteorologist slur ordeal and #gdistrike. Here, we have Rochesterians rushing to protect the familiar, friendly face while a community calls out in pain. Stop thinking that "good people/causes" can't cause harm!
Both of these tales could have been different if the folks at fault had acknowledged sooner and shown sincerity and understanding for what they did wrong. Neither happened. #gdistrike continues and a meteorologist lost his job. I'm digging this accountability in 2019, though.
I'd love to explain more if any of my pals (actually, especially my pals) are fuzzy about this. I vow to make this more clear to others, as I was helped last year and want to pay it forward. Now let's push this angry guy to sue the station since he has no case š
Aaaaand so ends the 4.5 years I spent at @girldevelopit. Lost access to my GDI email and Slack today (as planned) and I keep vacillating between excitement for the chance to apply myself to better causes and immense heartbreak, as this is not the way envisioned the end. A thread.
I'm super torn because a.) I've been stewing on this day a longggg time b.) I've recognized that my persistence doesn't always help c.) I'd rather pour my energy into positive, productive things instead. But there's unfinished business and I want to keep poking a bit longer.
The #gdistrike lives on in my eyes because it's possible to hold an org accountable from the outside and I'd like to maintain as much transparency as possible on the inner workings and failures. Members (and potentially future members) deserve to know the risks.
Iām not much for airing dirty laundry but this needs to be addressed. I worked as a chapter leader of Girl Develop It. And I am still proud of that. But something has happened that Iām not proud of. #gdistrike. (1/5)
The organization is not intersectional at the highest levels. People are being discriminated against, from chapters to HQ. Details can be found at an-open-letter-to-gdi-board.com (2/5)
I canāt begin to describe how disappointed I am with this. Chapter leaders are speaking out and being shut down. Things are bad. (3/5)
The GDI constituency (not HQ) has been putting their chapters on hiatus as a move to both distance themselves from HQ, and to get HQ to respond with action to repair the damage it has caused. #gdistrike #causeascene 1/
It didn't quite work out as they wanted, given the letter today from Leanne. 2/ #gdistrike
HQ sent another missive, attached to @amlyhamm tweet above, which essentially says "FUCK YOU" to the very vocal constituency, not just chapter leaders, but members, teachers, mentors, and sponsors 3/ #gdistrike
Friends, please follow @KimCrayton1. She helped me see how poor leadership requires risk management and how women like myself need to stop giving too much benefit of doubt. Refusing to step down when unfit to lead poses risks. We're seeing the results right now. (And too late).
I used to think the risks were a disorganized process or org inefficiencies, but now I've seen those issues bubble up into straight-up, anti-mission behavior. Powerful women have been left out of the discussions because "leaders" want control. Too many wrong moves.
These powerful women are speaking out now and additional stories are surfacing. More patterns are becoming clear. Keep poking at it and stay loud. #gdiStrike
After a few days of back and forth, the following chapters are not convinced that @girldevelopit is understanding what we need to see from HQ/Board in order to regain trust. We've already endured the learning curves so spare us the guessing. Our communities are waiting. 
For live data pertaining to the status of the national list of chapters: bit.ly/gdi-strike
Catching up? Our Open Letter to the Board is still collecting signatures: an-open-letter-to-gdi-board.com
