&gt; the people who would have benefit from these policies ... are long dead and gone<p>I don&#x27;t think the facts support that. Look at political leaders, business leaders in SV and elsewhere, the film industry, and, I expect, the voices on HN, both in the articles and discussions; they are overwhelmingly white males. Those are the stories we hear and the perspectives we unconciously accept.<p>If we don&#x27;t make an effort at diversity, then history shows that this non-meritocratic, race and gender-based system will persist.