How Do We Heal? (Velocity Conf 2019)

(Given at Velocity Conf on June 13, 2019)

We have been working to foster a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable tech industry for years. We have poured billions of dollars into data collection, new hiring practices, unconscious bias trainings, and educational opportunities for people from underrepresented backgrounds. But we have yet to see meaningful and lasting change.

In the age of “tech as a solution to everything” and its severe implications on humanity, the issue of our industry and society’s homogenous and harmful culture is more critical than ever.

A true shift in consciousness, in how we see each other and our relationships is needed to radically transform ourselves and our communities. One where we move from asking “How do we train and hire more people from X background?” and “How do we take the bad people down?” to “How do we be whole and free together?” and “How do we heal?”

How do we heal our communities and our industry?
How do we heal our internalized racism, sexism, transphobia, and all our other harmful beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors?
How do we heal the harms that were done to us and the harms we have done to others?

Drawing inspiration from restorative justice practices, the work of the Code Cooperative, and my own journey of healing, I offer a hopeful vision for how we can come together and co-create the world we yearn for.

Transcript

21. liberation
22. “I am not free while any woman 
 is unfree, even when her shackles 
 are very different from my own.” 
 - Audre Lorde “No one is free until we are all free” 
 - Martin Luther King, Jr.
29. founder
30. founder director
31. founder director public speaker
32. founder director public speaker social justice warrior
33. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS
34. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic
35. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic party girl
36. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic party girl coding icon
41. trauma
43. burnout
45. divorce
47. rage
49. fear
52. suicidal
53. “I drove him, drove them all, 
 to be first, be bold, be perfect—be the greatest. 
 What I did not do was drive them 
 to be whole, to be free. ” 
 Casey Gerald
57. *
66. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic party girl coding icon
67. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic party girl
68. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS workaholic
69. founder director public speaker social justice warrior BADASS
70. founder director public speaker social justice warrior
71. founder director public speaker
72. founder director
73. founder
76. accountable
91. the future is in the margins
92. How do I make my organization more 
 diverse?
93. how do we heal?
95. @alexqin . #vdathens19 .
96. @alexqin . #vdathens19 .
100. fear
102. rage
104. powerless
106. social justice warrior
107. social justice warrior f*ck the imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy
108. “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
110. trauma
117. tech is not a meritocracy
 
 excellence in code can come from anyone we all deserve to 
 be here, be safe, and thrive 
 no matter what body we were born in
129. what if
130. what if
133. what if
134. what if
135. what if
136. “We heal ourselves, 
 and we heal in relationship, 
 and from that place, simultaneously, 
 we create more space for healed communities, healed movements, 
 healed worlds.” 
 adrienne maree brown
140. “At this point, we have all of the information we need to create a change; it isn’t a matter of facts. It’s a matter of longing, having the will to imagine and implement something else.” 
 adrienne maree brown
141. “Transform yourself to transform the world”
 
 Grace Lee Boggs
143. my liberation cannot come at the cost of harming others
145. “Wage Love” 
 Charity Mahouna Hicks
146. @alexqin @codecooperative