Issue 21

the Week of May 18, 2015
Mental robot/android form imposed over the backdrop of a city.

In this issue, we explore surveillance and mental illness, and the dehumanizing effects of meritocracy. We expose the structure of beauty politics and building online resistance. Plus, radical curation as activism, race on early-stage social media platforms, and how to build widely accessible tech events. Finally, a look at how to get started in tech’s growing social justice movement. Photo CC-BY Nico Paix, cropped and filtered.

 

Small cartoon of a little bird.

Getting Started In Tech’s Social Justice Movement

Social justice activism is one of the most empowering ways to create change in our industry.

A Super post by the author reading "The worst is when white gun enthusiasts talk to me about police murdering blacks." The text is superimposed over the names and photos of black people murdered by police.

Race and Empathy in The Age of Phone Apps

While today Twitter is one of the biggest platforms for social justice organization online, it’s important that these movements can spread on emerging platforms as well.

International access symbol on a brick wall.

Organizing More Accessible Tech Events

Wide accessibility must become a part of everything we do in the tech industry, and our events are a critical part of that mission.

A group of young girls, all wearing lacy, floaty dance dresses with flowers in their hair. The camera is focused on the only young black girl in the group, her hands clasped together and looking off-camera. Image via Tumblr account blackgirlsarefromthefuture via wocinsolidarity.

Radical Curation: Taking Care of Black Women’s Narratives

Radical curation has meant the validation and celebration of our existence.

Interior of a chronograph.

The Dehumanizing Myth of the Meritocracy

Is it enough to be measured by the quality of our code alone?

Multiple surveillance feeds displayed across many screens.

Being Seen/Being Watched: Surveillance, Technology, and Madness

How is an article about surveillance by a woman who admits her madness to be taken seriously at all?

Image of shattered glass.

Beauty as Safety: Why #FeministsAreUgly is More Than Meets the Eye

Beauty is a litmus test for white supremacy: the closer your ability to pass as white, the better your chance of being deemed beautiful, and the further your chances from being killed.

This issue is made possible in part by some of our generous readers: Matt Adereth, Kasra Rahjerdi, O’Hara Jiménez, Cathy Zhang, Brian Kung, and Dan Peebles.Â