#yes we code

Title: Yes We Code - Github Year: 2019 Location: Portland OWASP 2019 Training Day, Portland, OR Download Archive .TIFF (Scanned @ 600dpi)

.@kwameyaoanku, one-time National Director of Strategic Development for #YesWeCode, talks about Prince’s interest in technology and his quiet activism: 

“I think a lot of it comes from the fact that he himself was an early innovator. When you think about the music of the 80′s, he was inventing algorithms for keyboard sounds like no one had ever heard before. He was on the forefront even in technology for business. You know, everyone forgets Crystal Ball--that album--he came up with crowdfunding before there was crowdfunding. So he was able to get people to order it, use that money to do the production, then he released that and it sold millions of copies.

“He saw technology as something that could enhance music, but he was adamant on the playing of music. He was really frustrated that music had become something where the top artists of today don’t play. It was always really important to him, and that’s why he was always doing free concerts for kids. That’s another part of his philanthropy: he was constantly bringing kids to Paisley Park, and he would play for them in the middle of the day. I’ve seen footage of that and those kids were going crazy watching him play that guitar. He wanted to expose them to that.

“He wanted to see the Black Lives Matter movement ultimately become an economic movement. One of the classic lines that Prince said was ‘If you don’t own your masters, your master owns you.’  So he was always focused on self-reliance. He was always saying ‘What was the action plan to be able to own and create?’ When you have wealth, when you have control, you have power--you have the ability to create the life that you want to create. He was adamant about that. He was always trying to push us to not be just activists--to not just protest--but to organize...to build...to own...to control. Then you’re the master of your own destiny.”

This holiday season I’m highlighting Prince’s activism and philanthropy, including the charities he supported. From 2014: 

Prince, hoodies and #YesWeCode by Van Jones

People always ask me how Prince got involved with #YesWeCode, an initiative I helped to found. #YesWeCode aims to help train 100,000 low-opportunity youth to become high-level computer programmers.

The truth is, it was Prince who sparked the idea.

It was right around the time when the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin verdict came out. Martin was an unarmed, black teenager who was shot and killed in a Florida neighborhood in 2012. My immediate reaction to the verdict was “racism won.”

But Prince had an interesting perspective. He said, “When an African-American kid is wearing a hoodie, people think he’s a thug. But when a white kid is wearing a hoodie, people think he’s the next Mark Zuckerberg.”

Prince said the question we should be asking ourselves is this: why aren’t we producing more African-Americans and Latinos who are excelling in technology and helping to run Silicon Valley? If we focused on changing that number, then we could change that stereotype — and empower a whole generation.

That was the moment that the seed was planted for #YesWeCode.

We want to flip the script and give our hoodie-wearing youth the same tools, training and technology that the kids have who are taking over SiliconValley . . .

So much is possible, if we stop wasting the genius. Youth of color transformed music and sports in the last century. In this new century, that same creative energy must be unleashed to transform the technology sector — creating new work, new wealth and new solutions for communities that desperately need all three.

Out of such an initiative, we could support hundreds or even thousands of Mark Zuckerbergs — with a whole lot of them looking like Trayvon Martin.

MORE from the article.

To learn more about “YesWeCode or to make a donation to help realize Prince’s vision for our youth, go to http://www.yeswecode.org/

Pix of Prince with Roberta Flack at the Artist Empowerment Coalition luncheon at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.

This article is a good tribute to Prince from a perspective that doesn’t get talked about enough. Please read the whole thing but I included below the portion that deals with Prince’s fight for racial justice in the record industry.

Prince’s legacy includes political and artistic stances, black empowerment

By GREG MOORE, Associated Press

In the wake of his death Thursday at 57, radio stations played his biggest hits and fans came together to grieve. But beyond the chart-toppers and dance parties, the legacy of Prince Rogers Nelson grew to include political stances, challenges to record execs and an overarching focus on African-American empowerment. 

It wasn’t the first time Prince connected his music to the fight for racial justice. He told The Associated Press in 2004 that he had chastised music industry bosses over rap and R&B that promoted sex, drugs and violence. “What you won’t show your kids, don’t show ours,” he said at the time.

Music journalist Kelley L. Carter said she thinks Prince saw racial inequality in that dispute and others, including his beef with music streaming services over artist pay that has left fans scrambling to find their favorite Prince songs. She said his defiance wasn’t about enriching himself, but about “trying to pave the way for the next generation.”

Carter, senior entertainment writer for ESPN’s The Undefeated, a website about race, sports and culture, wrote recently about meeting Prince last year at his Paisley Park compound in suburban Minneapolis, where he threw a party for black journalists in town for a convention.

She said the conversation turned to the reported $400 million deal that brought the Beatles catalog to iTunes. Prince said he hadn’t been offered nearly as much, and when someone asked whether he thought he was being lowballed because he was black, Carter wrote, “He shot us all a ‘what-do-you-think?’ kind of look.”

Apple Inc. didn’t return a call seeking comment.

Prince signed on instead with Tidal, the music streaming service backed by Jay Z, telling Rolling Stone last year: “Once we have our own resources, we can provide what we need for ourselves. Jay Z spent $100 million of his own money to build his own service. We have to show support for artists who are trying to own things for themselves.”

He also told Ebony that artists should seek to control distribution, saying, “Where we finally get into a position to run things — we all should help.”

Prince also sent money to the family of Trayvon Martin after the unarmed Florida teen was shot to death by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012, the Rev. Al Sharpton said recently on MSNBC.

Activist Van Jones said that after Martin’s death, Prince was influential in establishing #YesWeCode, an initiative to get more minorities into tech jobs. Jones recently told USA Today that Prince didn’t exclusively blame racism for the way some people view young blacks in hoodies as thugs instead of potential Facebook founders. Jones recalled Prince saying, “Maybe you civil rights guys haven’t created enough Mark Zuckerbergs.”

December 2015 - Yes We Code

A short conversation with the next "Yes We Code" cohort about who I am, what I do in tech, and highlighting challenges I've faced as a young women of color (and entrepreneur) in the tech industry. My reflections on the experience and "Diversity in Tech":

"Diversity In Tech - isn’t just about these ongoing coversations that stress increasing percentages of people of color, various genders, socio-economic status, physical abilities etc. in the tech industry. It is also about equipping those pioneers, who venture into the scene, with cliff notes on how to navigate different (sometimes funky) communication styles, a myriad of micro-aggressions and unspoken rules (or etiquette) that we all inevitably come up against.

This morning, I had the opportunity to share insider knowledge with the new @YesWeCode cohort of 10 black and brown folks who will begin at Dev Bootcamp on December 28th. I shared my experiences, as a non-developer (basically a hacker), Web Producer and entrepreneur. Hopefully, they can skip some of the mistakes and pitfalls I had to learn from when venturing out on my own.

Sunday Loot: Initiatives to Improve the Gaming Industry

Happy Sunday, friends! We hope this post finds you well today. For anyone new around these parts (welcome!), every week we serve up all the super neat projects people are working on in the gaming industry. In particular, we like to boost the initiatives that promote safe spaces, accessible and inclusive content, and anything that challenges the prevailing status quo in games culture. So far, we’ve covered everything from indie games in development, diverse podcasts, and even job opportunities! With your help, we can keep rolling out our Sunday Loot series in our continued effort to make the gaming industry a better place.

Now, if you follow us on social media (links in the sidebar!), you already know we enthusiastically support the work of Black Girls Code, Black Girl Nerds, Girls Make Games, Girls Who Code, and Women Who Code—just to name only a few. But did you know about the following spaces making a difference in smaller corners of the internet? We’ve been keeping our eye on them, and we feel it’s about time to share that loot with you!

As always, if you know of an inclusive gaming space or games project you’d love to see promoted on our Sunday Loot series, drop us a comment below or check out our contact list! We’d love to hear from you, especially about new and exciting spaces where all gamers can hang out. ✌