SXSW canceled due to corona virus

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Getting White People to Speak Out Against Racism
MAR 14, 2020

Policies, practices, and rhetoric that aim to oppress racial minorities are front-and-center in the U.S. As racial injustice worsens in the post-Obama era, race and racism remain the elephant in the room among white communities that identify as “colorblind.” Navigating the world quietly through a “colorblind” lens is ineffective. The time for conversation is ripe. There’s a pivotal decision to make: to stay deafeningly silent and allow racism to spread, or to act.
Together we’ll address the role that white communities can play in combating both subtle and overt racial injustices. We’ll talk about strategies and encourage dialogue that promotes racial equity. Our discussion will serve as a catalyst for future conversations to help participants take a stand and speak out against racism.

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Can a Reparations Model Break Barriers to Tech?
MAR 16, 2020

Although nobody currently living is responsible for America’s history of slavery [whew!!!] societal inequities established under this race-based system persist today. Enslaved people who were the labor source behind the early U.S. cotton economy received no legal rights as humans and were denied access to education and economic opportunities. The sins of slavery have caused and perpetuated structural barriers that continue to affect descendants of the enslaved. As society is driven by a tech economy that struggles with structural barriers to diversity, is now the time to study and propose reparation models? We will discuss how reparations models grounded in education and entrepreneurship may address barriers to tech and wealth-building opportunities that are out of reach to many African Americans.

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#Wakanda Actualized: National Black Tech Ecosystem
MAR 19, 2020

The Black community is now a significant driver in the tech economy, representing nearly $1.2 trillion in total annual buying power. Yet, when it comes to developing a science identity in school, working in the tech field, or founding black tech startups, black people lack consistent representation. Given these challenges, the panel will outline the opportunities of establishing a nationally unified black tech ecosystem to address such challenges. Specifically, national black tech organizations Black Tech Mecca, Black Tech Week, Digital Equity Network, and Civic Hacker will cast a beautiful vision of their work and how it intersects with this notion of building an "actualized #Wakanda" both locally with city governments and nationally.

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This is getting silly. In the middle of the SARS outbreak when Toronto got hit harder than anyplace in North America, they had SARSStock. The fest drew 450,000 fans and had bands like The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Rush, and Justin Timberlake.

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