Los Angeles Daily News

County deletes 'master-slave' PC term

Tuesday, November 25, 2003 - Los Angeles County officials have gone PC (politically correct) on PCs (personal computers) -- banning as potentially "offensive or defamatory" the words master and slave from computer hard drives and video equipment where they are used to describe primary and secondary circuits.

Under orders from the affirmative action office, county departments have surveyed about 1,000 pieces of equipment and taped over "master/slave" and put "primary/secondary" on the equipment, officials said.

Joe Sandoval, division manager of purchasing and contract services in the Internal Services Department, started the flap with a memo to electronic equipment vendors saying the county wants master and slave labeling removed from computer equipment it buys.

"The County of Los Angeles actively promotes and is committed to ensure a work environment that is free from any discriminatory influence be it actual or perceived," he wrote in the Nov. 18 memo.

"One such recent example included the manufacturer's labeling of equipment where the words 'Master/Slave' appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label."

County spokeswoman Judy Hammond said she has received e-mails from around the world by people outraged that the county would take such an action.

"I got e-mails from Switzerland," Hammond said. "People evidently saw it on the Web and have been sending e-mails expressing their outrage that we would do such a thing."

In one e-mail from "Ashamed to be a Native Californian," the writer said, "This has Beavis and Butthead written all over it. Please, Mr. Sandoval, do us all the favor of endeavoring to get a life."

Sandoval said a Probation Department employee complained to the Office of Affirmative Action Compliance that video equipment had the terms "master/slave" written on it.

As a result of the investigation, the affirmative action office said he should see whether the county could stop buying electronics with those labels on them.

"What we are doing is soliciting vendors who regularly do business with the county to look at their equipment and help us where they can," Sandoval said. "It's not a policy decision or mandate, but that's what folks took it as."

Dennis A. Tafoya, director of the affirmative action office, said an African-American employee who filed the complaint felt it was employment discrimination because the employee was working on video equipment with the label written on it. The office investigated and determined that the complaint did not involve employment discrimination, but the official recognized that the term could be perceived as offensive.

"The issue was the employee had to operate this equipment and look at the term 'slave and master,' and given their background as an African-American person, I imagine they had different feelings about it," Tafoya said.

"We found the terms were antiquated and offensive to individuals and that a more reasonable term could be used. I think that's what we should do. If it means culture change, then we have to begin someplace.

"This has got some people's hair up on the back of their neck. They believe it's a question of being politically correct. It's not that at all. It's an issue of valuing diversity, respect and dignity for the individual who comes to work here every day. The issue that resonates in different people's minds is a very negative connotation."

Herman L. DeBose, a sociology professor and expert on racial and ethnic diversity at California State University, Northridge, said he thought the controversy was funny.

"I wouldn't say it's political correctness run amok. It may hurt somebody's feelings," DeBose said. "Maybe it's just me, but I think it's something the county may need to address and then let go of."