@bkuhn @Ember @richardfontana the word also has a current-day meaning in AAVE which is extremely offensive in a very different way. i am not actually familiar with a more offensive term in this regard; it is very very deeply insulting to what i might term as the "honor" of the target of the insult. it's kind of a fascinating topic which is not mine to share.

i mention this because it is yet another reason that having Black USians in the room when these documents are made--who are empowered to contribute and whose specific experience is valued--would have helped to produce a more vibrant and robust free software movement than we have today.

i personally consider the black panthers to have articulated a more coherent vision for software autonomy than the four freedoms https://circumstances.run/@hipsterelectron/112580040970106392 as i generally view "freedom" in the US to be a term too overloaded to use correctly, particularly due to its relationship with slavery (domenico losurdo's liberalism: a counter-history makes this point very powerfully).

i don't expect the FSF will be changing its name anytime soon, but i do think the word "freedom" itself is something that has a very different meaning to white people than Black USians. i think that's worth considering for future iterations of the movement.