Paying homage to Maya Angelou's Still I Rise poem, Kelsey Hightower delivered a powerful opening talk at GopherCon. I was not there to see it, but I smiled and teared up when it showed up in my Twitter feed. Kelsey used poetry to talk about race, programming, and togetherness. I felt compelled to share this speech alongside some of Kelsey's other public thoughts leading up to the event.
.@kelseyhightower's opening talk from #gophercon. pic.twitter.com/PpjqjEN3Ei
— Jaana Burcu Dogan (@rakyll) July 11, 2016
Kelsey on July 9th:
It's almost time for GopherCon! Unfortunately I'm not as excited as one could be. In many ways I feel like I'm heading to the wrong event.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) July 9, 2016
In the real world, the one I can't hide from, there are more important things taking place at the moment.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) July 9, 2016
Its always been hard being a person of color, a black man, and needing to following the rules -- you have to be twice as good to fit in.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) July 9, 2016
But what's the point of fitting in when people are being killed for being black. Outside the conference venue I'm just another black person.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) July 9, 2016
A black person hoping that his status in the tech community will somehow protect him from mistaken identity or a traffic stop gone bad.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) July 9, 2016
My apologies if I'm not my "normal" self during next week's festivities. While I want to join the celebration I can't ignore the protest.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) July 9, 2016
Kelsey on March 12th:
Time to reflect on an important conversation I had at Kubecon today. It was not about tech per-se, it was about diversity.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
I don’t normally engage in diversity conversations, but this time I could not avoid it. This time I did not want to.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
A person came up to me that I’ve seen at other conferences and I braced myself for an engaging technical discussion.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
This person and I shared something in common. We were both black males at a tech conference. This rarely happens.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
I was not ready for his question. I thought it would be about Kubernetes, those are easy, but the question was…
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Person: Can I ask you something about diversity? Then he gave me that look you give someone after asking a tough question.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
A few moments passed by…
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Then I was like "Sure. Fire away".
Truth is I was not ready. I was in a public place and I knew my response would be heard by everyone around me. This is a touchy subject.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Person: I go to several technical events and I’m the only black person there. I go to work and it’s the same thing. How do you deal with it?
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
I gave my view. In short I focus on being present. Even if I’m only being invited because I’m black. I accept and go hard. Rinse and repeat.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
It’s the way I deal with it. Sometimes I do feel out of place, but I’m lucky. Some people recognize me and make me feel more than welcome.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Then it got really emotional. I almost cried in front of everyone, but I was not embarrassed.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Person: I remember watching one of your videos on YouTube. Not only was I impressed, but inspired. So now I’m here.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Person: I never felt like I needed that. I never felt like I needed to be inspired. But after watching the video I was touched.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
This is the point where I cried inside. It was clear I was emotional. See this is a real conversation. This is what it's like to be human.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
I felt like all those late nights, long flights, and side projects had finally paid off. This was my greatest career achievement.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
I will never get promoted because of this, and I won't have a trophy to show off, but this is winning. This is what you want.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
The day before this person brought his son with him to the conference. I saw them outside together so I introduced myself to the little guy.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Then after he told me about the Youtube video, he told me why he brought is son to Kubecon.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Person: I brought my son here so I could show him that we can do this. That he could do this.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Person: I brought my son here so he could see others here that look like him. Not just attending, but giving the talks, and leading.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
It's ok to cry right?
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
At this point I'll thinking this person brought his son to see me. Was I a role model? Not sure, but I'm glad I took the time to say hello.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Thank you all for listening. You inspire me. You are the reason this moment was possible.
— Kelsey Hightower (@kelseyhightower) March 12, 2016
Thank you for your beautiful words.
To find out all about Kelsey's work, check out his appearance on Software Engineering Daily: Kubernetes, Docker, and the Distributed Operating System with Kelsey Hightower.
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