Photographer Theresa Bear expressed a similar sentiment on the PetaPixel photo site, writing that it's time to "make way for our black community" by banishing the use of "master" and "slave" to refer to how flashes are controlled. "Can you imagine being on set with a black human and the photographer yells to the assistant, 'Hey, can you put it on slave mode?'" Bear asked.
Other terms proposed for sunsetting include "white hat" and "black hat," with "ethical" and "unethical" suggested as replacements.
No one thinks changing the language of technology will bring racial equality to the US, which is still convulsing from protests prompted by the death of
George Floyd, the unarmed black man who was killed two weeks ago when a
police officer pinned a knee to the back of his neck for nearly nine minutes. But the effort to alter how technology is discussed acknowledges how pervasive racism is and how eager many people are to address it in areas where they might have some direct influence.
www.cnet.com
