Today I have read this article from two days ago, I am aware that this is a complicated topic, and that it is usually better not to touch it, specially if you are not going with most of the people.
I recognize that there is a lot of racism in the world, here in my country it is a problema, and there are laws to minize the impact, Racism is like any other manifestation of superiority, it is a sign of an inferiority complex.
Of course I am against any form of racism, and against any form of inequality of opportunity.
That beinng said, I really do not think that those changes should be made, it does not help if you you stop calling white list and black list in email, and at the same time do not give the same job opportunity to people because of their skin colour. Even worst, what is wrong with calling master the main Git branch?, white list/black list have a direct relationship to the fact that white is good and black is bad, but master?
Slavery was accepted in the past, there were slaves in Roman Empire, Moses and his people were slaves in Egypt, and that had nothing to do with their skin. These days a lot of things are not accepted anymore, and a lot more should not be accepted in the future, for example, kill people, while using war as an excuse to kill them, I hope in the future that is not going to be accepted by the society.
On the topic again, how changing branch’s name from master to main helps in in any way against racism?. The very moment we change something in order to make a group of people kind of special we are not helping them, we are showing them as helpless. One example of this, when we remember Marie Curie because she was the first woman getting the Nobel Prize, we are not helping women, we are showing them as helpless, we are showing like they need their special category, and that is not true in almost any aspect (except sports).
There should be no special considerations to any group of people, all people should be treated equal, making changes to help them is as bad as not giving them the same opportunities in this world.
Finally, wast the master branch named that way because of white masters while the other branches were black slaves?. The answer is no, so there is no need to change them.
I do not live in the U.S. and I may be completely wrong, forgive if it is that way, but I am trying to give my opinion into a complicated topic.