Sherrilyn IfillThis morning I posted on Twitter some thoughts about how seriously we should regard the dismantling of that site. I’m re-posting my thoughts here in what I hope will be a thread (if those exist here!).
Twitter played a powerful role in sustaining & strengthening the fight for racial justice. The truth about racist and violent policing in America - a truth that Black people have lived with and known for a century - was exposed to the world on Twitter.
The posting of cell phone videos of brutality and murder by police which challenged “the official story” has forever changed the narrative and created space for reimagining what public safety can and should be. And that is the first step of real transformation.
Remember when people kept saying that w/a Black President & AG we no longer needed civil rights activism & lawyering? First images of #MikeBrown’s body, then videos of #WalterScott, #PhilandoCastile & too many others showed what many of us had been saying. There’s another America beyond the DC optics.
The Ferguson uprising was the first sustained civil rights protest in the U.S. in which Twitter played a central role. Don’t think they didn’t notice.
Twitter was essential to sustaining a cohort of millions of ordinary people, policy leaders, influencers, activists, lawyers, artists, committed to democracy during the Trump years. It was a main conduit of communication, information sharing, education, & encouragement.
Hard to imagine how we would have made it through COVID - with all of the uncertainty and fear, and with the deliberate disinformation churned out daily by the President - without Twitter. We are in an age of pandemics and will need to ensure we can communicate as robustly.
The exposure of everyday racism & the willingness of white pol - often women - to call the police on Black people for walking, barbecuing, birdwatching, watering flowers, entering their own homes, shopping, was exposed to the world on Twitter.
This was significant. Ending the plausible denialibilty of ordinary white ppl who expect the benefits of white supremacy and are prepared to call police when Black ppl do not follow their commands - was a critical contribution to the understanding of how racism works in the U.S.
Don’t think that all of this wasn’t seen & understood. Don’t minimize the significance of the brutal dismantling of this site. It is of a piece w/the overall attack on the health of our democratic institutions by forces that have no use for or interest in democracy.
ItsLisaRice@ifilljustice - Exactly! So much information was exposed on Twitter that was not being discussed on MSM. I learned on Twitter that much of the violence being perpetuated during the BLM protests was conducted by militia and other ultra-conservative groups. The real-time video footage exposing the actions of conservative groups showing up to the protests to commit violence and destruction was important for the movement. But MSM wasn't showing us this truth! I hope Mastodon, or some other site, will be the new platform the public needs so we can all see what is happening in our communities, society, and world.
Techronic9876@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice they’ll need to figure out a better way to do video and streaming video here #mastodon
Dodger
Stephanie she/her@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice My experience in Minneapolis, 2 miles from GFS…After Floyd’s death I wouldn’t have blamed anyone in the Black community for responding with violence but the people who caused the most damage were the white militia men driving w/o license plates & targeting libraries & gas stations & post offices throughout the city. And also the police who repeatedly escalated the violence.
WndlB@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice @jentaub Here in MSP, it got obvious, quickly, that it was PB, ppl looking to bust things, all fueled by copious booze. First arrest and indictment—an arsonist from Galesburg, Illinois
John McCarrick@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice I believe it could be the digital public forum that Twitter wished to be. With decentralization removing the concerns of top-down power struggles for controlling the narrative, I believe Mastodon can be a platform for fair discourse without the lens of capital drive.
Hurley Byrd
a millennial named chelsea@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice yes it was #1 outlet for marginalized communities to amplify each other when MSM was disincentivized to publish stories about US oppressive systems. In addition to forcing awareness of white supremacy in the context of anti-Black racism, it was an outlet for Indigenous people to raise awareness about Indigenous erasure, pipelines damaging ancestral lands, and why we shouldn’t travel to Hawaii. & it’s how Tarana Burke’s #metoo movement was amplified
Stop-the-MAGAss-Reich@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice That is what I noticed too! Less reliant on MSM and more on grass roots reporting by actual journalist/people with boots on the ground.
dearydarling@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice Such a good point. Also, for me, the rt footage of the cops brutalizing incapacitated, elderly, and non-threatening protesters forever turned the tide. I hate to have to admit that i needed to see it but sadly it's true. That footage forever opened my eyes, not only to "bad apples" but to all the cops who did not flinch or move to restrain their violent fellow officers or speak out. I'm mortified it took me so long to fully see but without twitter, i wouldn't have.
JazzyGirl
Brent Guernsey, Artrocity StudioThe Southern Poverty Law Center (https://www.splcenter.org) does an excellent job tracking violent hate groups across the U.S. and abroad. They are methodical and precise in their work, but they are not "real-time or instant. Unfortunately, they aren't on Mastodon yet.
MassivRuss@ItsLisaRice @ifilljustice
I’m not sure that’s true. A lot of BLM-adjacent vandalism was just rando’s feeling free to fk sht up. That’s my impression from farfaraway. Also, I’m motivated to believe this as a defense against the “antifa did Jan 6” crowd.
I’m not sure that’s true. A lot of BLM-adjacent vandalism was just rando’s feeling free to fk sht up. That’s my impression from farfaraway. Also, I’m motivated to believe this as a defense against the “antifa did Jan 6” crowd.