After being on the new Python diversity mailing list for a bit, I've just unsubscribed. While there was an unpleasant personal incident that catalyzed my decision, I also don't think I'm a good fit for the style of discussion taking place. (YMMV ;)

That having been said, I want to give my own little diversity statement:

I'm interested in improving the openness and accessibility of the Python community, and making new people as welcome as possible.

I will not tolerate intolerance.

I would like to better understand why minorities are underrepresented in computer science and programming in general, and even more so in open source communities; most specifically I'm interested in understanding what the barriers are and how we might lower them, and also how we might encourage more people to "test the waters", so to speak.

A willingness to work hard and a desire to participate should be all that's necessary to join and participate in the Python community.

I have been trying to introduce more women to open source, but I'm already dealing with a pretty significant underrepresentation in my undergrad classes: about 10% of my 3rd-year class was female. (Almost all of the rest were white males -- I teach in the midwest!) The diversity list crystallized the already present notion in my mind that we have to "look" younger; I'm not sure how to do that. I helped teach an 8th grade science & math computer lab that was much more even, but they may have been hand-selected to be even. It's an interesting challenge and, nicely enough, education is even part (tho a tangential part) of my job description.

--titus

p.s. Comments are off, sorry. Drop me a note if you write a blog post and want me to reference it.