ljharb
commented
3 years ago For future reference, it’s very patronizing to supply this rationale as if I’m unaware of it. I maintain over 300 repos, and i haven’t had the time to systematically change them all - only about 250 or so. I’d suggest just making the simple request and not elaborating unless pressed.
Please change the name of the main branch. 'Master' is unacceptable because of the connection to slavery.
Many developers have switched to naming the branch "main". This project should do the same. Gloria Washington, who teaches Computer Science at Howard University, who has been subjected to much racism in her career, advocates for stopping the use of 'master' and other harmful terms in technology. She also rightfully points out that these language changes, while important, are not enough on their own, and need to happen alongside promotion of Black people to leadership positions, and investing money in the Black community. As she says, "They can, I guess, make little donations and little tokens of change, like changing a name or whatever. But at the end of the day, it doesn't translate to real money being invested in the Black community, and until that happens, that is when real change will happen.”
Gloria Washington is quoted in this article by Elizabeth Landau:
https://www.wired.com/story/tech-confronts-use-labels-master-slave/