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[Jane Weideman]

On Wed, 2005-10-12 at 10:31 -0400, Kevin Cole wrote:
> jelkner at divmod.com wrote:
> > Why is it that "fun, young and vibrant" means white?  Mark said he
> > didn't want to get dragged into a discussion of race, but in the country
> > in which I live (the U.S.) such a discussion can not be avoided.  My
> > country has a long and sordid history of racism, and a look at what
> > played out in New Orleans recently makes clear that racism in my country
> > is still *very* much with us.
> 
> At first, I wasn't sure what all the fuss was about, being a middle-classed,
> white guy, and oblivious to some interpretations of what often seems harmless.
> However, I think Jeff makes an excellent point, and looking at it from a
> somewhat different angle:  On this side of the pond, it's my impression that
> there are more choices for "donated" software than there are in some places
> that Ubuntu is being promoted.  

Thanks for all the feedback which has been noted. However we are now in
a scenario of 'what's done is done and can't be undone'. This is what we
have for this release, and we have conceded that it will be changed (the
artwork and the selection process) for the next release. We did have a
very limited selection to chose from, and a greater number of
contributions could have yielded a different result.

Note that as Oliver pointed out we did have multiple discussions and I
did ask people to submit wall paper options, as well as vote on them.

In the mean time if it bothers you that much change it after the
install...

It might be relevant to point out that the community member who created
and contributed this work is from the Philippines and is now living in
Taiwan, so I doubt his work is particularly 'white' focused.

I for one am rather baffled that this is seen as a big issue. I live in
South Africa where race has historically been a BIG issue, and I can
honestly say that in my experience we have pretty much achieved a good
and amicable mix on the whole. This kind of thing has already become a
non-issue here...

Regards,
-- 
JaneW
_____________
Jane Weideman
mobile: +27 83 779 7800
Canonical Ltd.