Turning Back the Clock? Navigating a Changing World

 

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Underrepresented in Tech podcast, where we talk about issues of underrepresentation and have difficult conversations. Underrepresented in Tech is a free database with the goal of helping people find new opportunities in WordPress and tech.

Hello, Samah.

[00:00:20] Speaker B: Hello, Michelle.

[00:00:24] Speaker A: It’s funny because until Thijs really pointed it out, I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that that’s how I say hello. And now I’m like almost a little bit self-conscious of it, but it’s not gonna stop me. So how are you?

[00:00:39] Speaker B: Same year. I found it the cutest thing ever, and also, I didn’t pay attention to it, but while he would start singing it to me in the hallway in the office and then I started like, oh, that’s true love, buddy.

[00:00:53] Speaker A: We love you.

[00:00:54] Speaker B: Yeah, we do. We do.

[00:00:56] Speaker A: So good to us.

Oh, my goodness.

[00:00:59] Speaker B: Okay, today we’re going to talk about. We didn’t plan anything, and we didn’t do research, but we want to talk about a lot of things happening now, especially what’s happening in the United States, and also to talk about how this will affect us, even people who live a little bit outside of the United States or, or how it can affect the world.

Yeah, I think you mentioned earlier that the White House website is built on WordPress. That makes me happy a little bit, you know, that they’re using WordPress. This is the only thing about this website that makes me happy.

[00:01:39] Speaker A: The new website for the White House changed over as the inauguration was happening. So it switched over at noon yesterday, noon Eastern time here in the United States.

When you go to it, the first thing you see now, there’s animation. There’s no animation; there’s video on it. And the entire homepage is all about the new president.

And it’s a little disheartening, honestly. It’s not about the American people. It’s about one person. But I’ve been learning from other people that certain things about it have also changed. So, for example, there is no longer a Spanish version of WhiteHouse.gov, and there used to be, so we can talk about underrepresented people and representation. And I think part of that is making things available in other languages without using translation services.

Spanish is certainly spoken widely in the United States—very, very widely. It’s important to note that Spanish is not the official language of the United States.

So even though most of us are English speaking from birth, well, from childhood, when we learn the language, there is no official Language here in the United States; commerce and business is all done in English as it is through most of the world. Just because we’ve dominated for so long the British system and then the United States on top of that. But as far as commerce goes, it’s even a lot of our tests. For example, I used to work at a massage therapy school. The state test to pass the boards to get licensed for massage here is only given in English. And so it’s unfortunate because you don’t need to know English to use your hands and give a proper massage if you could learn it in another language. So it’s a little disheartening that way. But. But to see that the whole United States government has taken down the Spanish speaking. Maybe it’ll come back because they’re working on it in waves, I don’t know. But if they were going to launch the new website yesterday, they should have launched the whole thing.

And it results in a 404 page. So if you try to go to it, it is their standard 404 page. Because I did, you know, look for another 404 page. Instead of the button saying home, it says go home on it. So when you go to the Spanish version of this, of the site, what used to be the Spanish version, you get a button that says go home, which is even. It just feels like an insult to injury. I heard that reproductiverights.gov was a website that helped women and people understand their reproductive rights. Not just women, men, trans women, you know, everybody understands what their reproductive rights are in the United States. That website is now gone, and it doesn’t exist anymore. You can find it on archive.org Part of me wants to recreate it, give it a better, a different name. I made the mistake yesterday of going to reproductive rights.com by accident, and it redirects automatically to a very right-wing, you know, this is what a baby looks like in the womb kind of thing. So that you don’t. So you make their decision, not your own decision.

Yeah, but it just feels like there’s propaganda everywhere right now. And even the TikTok ban that happened for less than 24 hours or somewhere around there. It just feels. Everything feels political right now. And I know that that’s part of it is just that we’re changing regimes and that the people that I’ve appreciated in office, like Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris and other politicians, are no longer in office as of yesterday. Our entire ambassador program changes with the presidency as well. People get promised jobs and places and things like that.

At best, it’s disheartening. At the worst, it’s terrifying. And, you know, just to be completely honest about how it feels, it’s.

I’m not one of those people who says, “I’m moving.” I’m listing my house for sale tomorrow, and I’m going to find someplace in Canada. I mean, that’s just not realistic. And that’s not realistic for most Americans. Most of us are just going to have to tough it out and hope that in four years, it changes again.

But these next four years look to be very oppressive to anybody who is not a white CIS or straight male. I think I said that something twice in there, but you know what I’m saying. If you are a white man, you’re a white straight man, and you are male from birth because certainly trans men will not have those rights. But if you’re a white CIS heterosexual male, it’s an okay place for you as long as you’re not also a feminist or black. Believe that other people should have rights.

It’s going to feel very, very difficult for the next four years. It was difficult during his last presidency, but now he is much more empowered, and that makes me nervous.

[00:07:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I totally understand because I, I think maybe this is my point of view, but I know a lot of people in the past, we always look that the United States, they always look, you know, they are doing things better than other countries. Of course, there were also dark times in the Old Ages. Like, I’m not talking about 50 or 60 years ago, but I found it crazy that the last 10 years, we start talking about things 100 years ago, people are, we’re talking about like more rights for women for underrepresented people of color, LGBTQ plus group rights. Like, I feel like the last couple of years, it’s so crazy, and people like, now they are, they’re having the power, they’re having the access to the platform. They say things like, I opened my mouth, like how even you thought about this idea. And, of course, there’s people gonna follow. People believe them. One of the articles, because, of course, you know me, I’m nosy. I was checking the White House.

[00:08:15] Speaker A: You’re not nosy; you’re sorrowful.

[00:08:20] Speaker B: Thank you. There was like article defending women from gender ideology.

Extreme. Anyway, I’m pronouncing it right. So I was reading the article with opening mouth about gender. Now it’s like they defining women as women and, and men and like female and male, and that’s it.

[00:08:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that happened yesterday.

[00:08:42] Speaker B: Even.

Yeah, even that’s crazy. You can say whatever you want. The third gender will be there; the transgender will be there. Everyone will be there. If you don’t respect them and acknowledge them, well, the rest of the world, the rest of us will do that. And I found it crazy. And there’s the massive amount of news they give in one day. They work really hard before they start writing, I think a long time ago.

And honestly, from one article to another, start thinking.

We always talk about diversity, underrepresented intake, the digital gap, and women’s rights.

And sometimes, like we, we will continue talking about that, we’ll continue focusing on that. But I feel like we went back to talking about the basic thing that, hey, I am transgender, I exist. You know, rather than to say like to talk about other things or even women’s rights. We talked a couple of times, you and I, about salary equality and the difference and how it’s difficult for women and, with everything and the self-advocacy. And now we’re going back to right, we’re equal. Men and women are equal. I feel that it’s really pushing the. I don’t see the humanity of the people in the United States pushing them back like 100 years ago. And also I’m a little bit worried about the young generation, which is now growing teenagers. They think this is okay to say, and this is okay to do. This is an okay way of thinking. And it’s really also strange because I know the United States is a huge mix. It’s not like the. Of course, the majority we can ask are from a specific race, but, the beauty of, it speaks, and that’s what makes us different and makes us stronger. Because there are a lot of races and different languages. And as you said, the language is not official. I didn’t know that. But that’s good to know, then. And your other spoken language is Spanish. And yes. You simply deleted the whole website and said to go home. I saw it on a video, and I felt it like, why, why, why are you doing that? And I was reading the news, of course, in Mexico. I think there are 53 consoles or 54 consoles in the United States. They start sharing information in Spanish with their own people. And, yeah, it worries me. I think we remember when we made a joke about the hands-made tale. I think it’s coming.

[00:11:19] Speaker A: You know it’s not a joke anymore.

[00:11:21] Speaker B: No, it’s.

[00:11:23] Speaker A: Mexico created an app that went into effect today. I believe it only works in the United States, and so far, it only works on Android phones, so I haven’t seen it in Spanish, but it is an app where you can set up alerts so that if immigration finds you here, if you are not here, what they say legally, right, you didn’t come in through the ways the government wants you to come in. For example, you can push buttons on this alert to alert your family that you’ve been taken by these roundups that they’re doing. And. And supposedly, they’re starting today. It’s called ICE Immigration. I don’t remember what the ICE stands for, but I even saw it. Like I saw yesterday a video that says, listen, white people, if you see immigration coming into a place that, you know, people that don’t look like you, white people, all you have to do is say la migra. La migra, which means immigration. And so people can try to get away as fast as possible to avoid being rounded up and put in basically prisons waiting for deportation.

From where you. You might have even been born here because the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution says that if you are born. On United States soil, you are an American citizen, and he is trying to take away birthright citizenship. If you’re a parent, either one of your parents, but especially your mother was here on a visa or not here legally, then you are not an American citizen, and you are a citizen of wherever your mother is a citizen of, which is just basically what I heard today. And I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Usha Vance, J.D. Vance’s wife, is a birthright citizen. Now, she’s married to somebody who’s from here, but according to what they want to do, they could still take her away even though she was born here and send her back to India, which is. It’s lunacy. It’s just lunacy. I just.

There aren’t words to describe it. I thought I would be crying, but I’m still too shocked to. And I know I will have tears about it because I’m going to start hearing stories that will break my heart.

I want to acknowledge that I still have white US Privilege.

I know that I still am sitting in a position of privilege over people who are in countries that have fewer rights or countries that have fewer, less. They have more poverty and things, you know, developing countries, as we would say.

I know that’s true. And that there will be some people that are saying, oh, suck it up, you know, it’s not gonna be that bad. You can do it for four years. Yeah, I can, and I will. But we shouldn’t have to. That’s the point we shouldn’t be turning back our people’s rights. We shouldn’t be turning back the clock. We shouldn’t be going back to a place where we’re going to have civil unrest because we have a government in place that wants to oppress so many people. And you ask what he would do with that half a billion dollars. He’s already said he wants to take back the Panama Canal, and he wants to take Iceland. And he said he’d do it by force if necessary. Are those blustery words that will never come true? I don’t know. Would he put our armies and our military into a place where they are now trying to be the people that we have in the past helped other countries escape from?

You know, we’ve gone to other places. Right or wrong, I’m not going to argue that part. But right or wrong, we’ve gone to other places to help protect from invaders and those seeking to take over.

And now he wants to put us in the position of being those people instead of helping the people who that happens to.

I don’t know.

[00:15:31] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I always say the immigrants will take your job and stuff like that. I did quick research is like in 2022, 1.6 trillion. The immigrants cause traffic or in the US income. So when you say those people are taking the money. No, these people are adding to your economy. They’re making the countries better. And let’s be hon.

They are building the country. And as you say, of course, instead of talking, hey, let’s talk about how to make equal opportunity for education for all people, whatever your color, whatever your gender, whatever everything. How can we improve, and how can we look at the salary gap? I remember you and I talking about women of color. They are, they have to work, I think, 59 or 56 days extra per year to have the same salary as a white woman. And I think like two months as a white man. I find it more important to focus on taking the community and the people to the next level. And I know people will wonder why we’re talking about this. We’re talking because we’re human beings, we’re living in it, and it will affect us. And also having the power to shut down a platform or an app. They simply don’t like it, or they don’t earn money from it. And that is also the freedom of speech. Or to express yours. Your concern. And all of us a human beings. It worries you. It also worries me as if I were living outside the United States. It also worries me about you, the people, all of them. Because it’s kind of a trend, you know. Because I think if it starts to be okay on the state, it will come to crawl to Europe, and as enough wars, enough taking things is not ours. It’s let’s focus on how we can take humanity to the next level to teach others with more equality welcoming each other to thinking about how to make each life better. Instead of simply thinking, I want to shut down this app. I want all of the immigrants out, and I know all of the time in the United States, if you’re born there, you’re American. And it’s really nice because that gives you a kind of sense of equality with each other. And now he wants to take it. Take it. I don’t know. I wish to know what he’s thinking. I really want to know.

[00:17:59] Speaker A: Or the people around him are telling him, right? Yeah, exactly. I think he just panders to the people with the most money. But it’s. It’s interesting if you think about it, so the government in Germany recently had a changeover.

The government in France recently had unexpected changeovers. And then last week or the week before, Justin Trudeau from Canada also resigned his position.

What is going on in the world right now? It’s a little scary.

[00:18:37] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly like.

Yeah. I don’t know.

I would. I want to say the same. I don’t have a degree in politics. I. I love to read, you know, to whatever about the things. But still, it is really. I don’t know; it’s put heavily in my mind, and I’m pretty sure you’re the same because of this. Affects our life, the way we live, the way we think, even the way. Even the things we fight for, the things we want to make the world better for instead of us, continue the journey. We’ll go back 100 years ago and start fighting for the basics or even talking about the basics. And that’s. I don’t want to say it’s a little bit frustrating. It’s challenging, and it’s. Yeah. I don’t know. I still remember telling you about my dream to open the news and see everyone happy, and there’s like a carnival celebration all around the world with no war. No, this, this, this comment, this great thing is coming out. Everyone is equally paid. Doesn’t matter your color, your gender, whatever that is. Hopefully, one day, we will live to see it. Hopefully.

[00:19:45] Speaker A: Yeah.

The good news this past week is that I did see a ceasefire in Gaza, which is a very good thing. I thought of you right away in your family.

I’m happy to see that. And so, all these other things that feel like they’re working in the wrong direction, at least let’s hope that things stay.

Let’s start moving in the right direction there. There’s been so much destruction and loss.

[00:20:16] Speaker B: Yeah. And the world is enough war, like everywhere there’s a war. I just want to talk about how we can make our lives better. I just don’t want war. I don’t want to want this crazy thing, like really, like what’s wrong with us humans, why do we not accept and respect each other, talk, and just move forward instead of going crazy? It’s everywhere. There’s.

There’s war. I’m really happy with it. This is fire. I’m happy when there is peacetime because, at the same time, this is extra heavy in what we think as normal human beings, what work, and what our personal lives are. And this, I don’t want to say adds a cherry on top. It’s not the cherry on the top, but it makes you think instead of like, hey, I want to make things better. We just want to survive, you know, we just want to. As you said, the four years. We just want to survive this. And as you said, we don’t have to go through it. And I agree. We don’t have to go. To go through all of this. I just. Yeah, we should. You and I should be president of the world. You know, just for one day.

[00:21:24] Speaker A: One day. I was going to say, I don’t think I want that job, but maybe one day, okay, one day me, I.

[00:21:30] Speaker B: Will make myself forever. Forever. You know, this is my first decision.

[00:21:35] Speaker A: I love it.

It’s a scary world we live in, for sure. And like I said, I know the United States doesn’t have it as bad as other places and that every place has its challenges, but this is a fresh horror that we’re dealing with here. And I just hope that it’s not as bad as it feels like it will be.

And I’m not trying to be a doomsday or anything like that, but it just.

It just feels bad. So.

[00:22:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And also, we are, we are, we are human beings. We wanted Us. So that’s something. I’m pretty sure you think about it all day, the last couple of days, and that’s something also. I’m thinking about, like, I cannot think about anything else. I’m just watching the news and some videos, watching the tweets to see, hey, what’s going on? What’s happening in the States? Because, yeah, just this is heavy on us, and I think a lot of people, and of course, some people, will not like what we’re talking about. But, hey, we want to share our opinion. It’s freedom. You can agree or disagree. That’s your position. But we want to share it because also, I. I don’t know. This is. I cannot focus on work. I’m putting the News 24 7. You know, I know what’s happening. What’s the news now?

[00:22:55] Speaker A: Yeah.

At least for now. The First Amendment still stands. I do still have free speech. We’ll see how long that lasts in the United States.

[00:23:03] Speaker B: I was going to say it.

[00:23:07] Speaker A: The FBI knocks on my door because I said I don’t like Trump. I don’t.

But, yeah, let’s. I’m. I’m hoping that we can.

The. The. Those of us who feel that we need to stand up for others. Right. So, as you and I do here, we talk about representation, and I can represent myself, and I can make. I can amplify other voices. I don’t ever seek to represent black people in America. I don’t seek to represent Hispanic people in America or LGBTQ or anything that I’m not.

But what we do here is try to talk about what makes the world a better place for everybody, raise those issues, amplify voices, and hopefully make way for representation to happen. Right. So we do what we can. You know, we’re two voices in. In a vast sea of voices. But I still think that the work we do here matters, and I want to continue doing it. And if you’re listening to this and you want to continue to do it, too, reach out to us if there’s something you need. If there’s something we should be talking about because we’re just two people, but we want to make room for all of the issues that underrepresented people deal with on the daily. And today was about me, I’m not gonna lie. It was about me and the way I see things. It was about what we’re hearing here and being able to share the frustrations and the sadness that happens when you have a change in government like what we are experiencing right now. And I know there are lots of people who just dance and are happy. Have you heard the phrase The lions ate my face or the type? What is it? The. The leopards ate my face.

[00:25:08] Speaker B: No, I didn’t know it. What is it? What it said.

[00:25:10] Speaker A: Yeah, so the leopards ate my face is when, let’s say, that you vote for a particular candidate because he says he’s going to make things so much better, and then he doesn’t. Right? So, we get a month in, and it’s like, well, the price of eggs hasn’t gone down. Groceries are still really expensive. Now I have to pay more, blah, blah, blah. It’s like, well, the leopards ate your face. Like you, you said the leopards would be good to you, but they don’t even face you, and you get too close. So the leopards ate your face because you believed the leopards were not leopards. Right? And so, yeah, we say the leopards ate your face. And we’re starting to see some of that already with, you know, he promised lower grocery prices, and people are like grocery prices? He then said he can’t do anything about the grocery prices. Of course not. He’s one person. He, he’s not a dictator. He can’t just tell people what to charge things, you know.

And now he’s gonna have, as of yesterday, 25 tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China, I think, because he thinks they pay that money when all they’re going to do is raise the price to pay the tariffs. So, the American people will pay higher prices for things because that’s how tariffs work.

And then it’s going to have a bad effect on other countries, too, because we will choose not to buy things that are ridiculously expensive because of the tariffs. And that will affect Canada, Mexico, China, and other places when people aren’t making a wage to accommodate that. So it’s just, that I’m not an economics major. I was a marketing major in my MBA and an E-Commerce major.

But you don’t have to be an economist to see what’s happening. So anyway, yeah, gonna get off my soapbox now and try to have a good rest of the day.

[00:27:06] Speaker B: It was, it was like to let it go. Like it’s in your mind, in my mind, of course, I know. I understand. It’s. It affects you. In a different way, that affects me, but it’s still good to talk about it because I’m pretty sure a lot of people talking about it. And also at the same time, as you said, we’re two voices, and I think it’s also baby steps we are making. Hopefully, you’re making one of the steps in making this world better, highlighting topics, making people look at things indifferently, and changing for the better. And yeah, if someone’s hearing us, if they like to topic we want to talk about or want to be our guest, then yeah, as long as you’re not. Don’t want Trump.

[00:27:51] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. You can; you can just not listen to us if you are part of that crowd.

A long time ago, we could end with this little comment. A long time ago, I was in.

I was in church, and the pastor talked about the fact that on a very clear, still night, you can see the light from a match—just one match lit—for about a mile.

If it’s flat and clear and there’s nothing in between, you can see the light from one match from a mile away. Then you add a candle, and then you add two candles and three candles, and suddenly, you can see that light from much further. And so the same is true with our voices.

We have a voice that is just one voice, and one voice is not very loud, but then you have two voices, two voices are louder, and three voices and four voices, and you have the difference between somebody singing solo and having a whole chorus. And so it may sometimes feel like we are just one match in the night or one voice in the wind. But when we work together, we actually have more power and amplification than we think. So if you feel like I am, know you are not alone. Because those of us who feel and think the same way matter. And when we work together, we can accomplish. Good.

[00:29:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:29:26] Speaker A: And on that, I don’t know what we will talk about next week. We will do a little research, but if you’ve got ideas, send them to us because we’re always open to learning and research. Well, somehow likes to research. And then she tells me what to read and then I go read it.

[00:29:39] Speaker B: Maybe I should research her. You know, I just changed my career to research. I love it.

[00:29:44] Speaker A: You’re good at it too. Anyway, we’ll see everybody next week who is underrepresented in tech. Thanks for hanging out with us. Bye.

[00:29:51] Speaker B: Yeah, bye. Bye.

[00:29:54] Speaker A: If you’re interested in using our database, joining us as a guest for an episode, or just want to say hi, go to underrepresented in tech. Com. See you next week.