> But the relative abundance of Asian (Indo/Pakistani and/or Oriental) members in IT and FOSS software suggest that there's not an obvious or passive "White Power" conspiracy going on there.
This is a common argument but I think it's kind of irrelevant. It's not untrue, but it doesn't suggest that there is no bias against other groups (women, blacks, hispanics, etc.). I think it's fair to say Americans by and large are extremely comfortable around Asian people and not so comfortable around blacks or Mexicans. Programmers are no different.
So you're saying there is a passive or subtle bias against blacks or Hispanics in the OSS world in a way that is not also applied to Asian members of that community?
I don't know anything about the OSS world. I'm just pointing out why that argument doesn't mean anything to me. Someone claiming no negativity toward Asians as a group tells me little about how they think of other races, especially since I expect much less negativity toward Asians than other ethnicities in the US in general anyway.
I certainly think it's possible that blacks and Asians face distinct challenges and biases in this community; one would have to be very naive or ignorant of minority treatment in the US to not consider that a possibility.
This is a common argument but I think it's kind of irrelevant. It's not untrue, but it doesn't suggest that there is no bias against other groups (women, blacks, hispanics, etc.). I think it's fair to say Americans by and large are extremely comfortable around Asian people and not so comfortable around blacks or Mexicans. Programmers are no different.