I want to be happy here.
But my Black friends keep getting banned for doing justice work.
Or just... Existing.
At a much quieter volume than I do.
If people didn’t know me or who I’m connected to, would I be gone by now too? 😔
How do you exist in a world where your cultural norm is frowned upon?
Why do I always have to compromise with the oppression dynamic
or get removed? 😭
It’s painful.
And there’s no reason to it.
And all the “solutions” include bowing to that same dynamic.
Leaving isn’t your defeat.
It’s to the shame of the space that refuses to recognize they have blocked your equity.
But it still building the road that leads back to the opening of fascism.
That should worry people. Because again it’s not just the red hats and the cross burners.
It’s liberal spaces that cannot bear critique & disguise the rejection as rule breaking, thus the fault of the justice worker.
Staying isn’t a victory.
Because you’re not free.
You’re perpetuating the illusion of freedom, in the hopes that your presence and conduct as a leader shields others.
Which partially works - not well enough apparently - and also plays into respectability politics - oppression in fancy clothes.
Because again, people whose voices are gentler than mine,
some who agreed to stay behind CW or move to “better” instances?
Still got suspended.
TWO this weekend.
I’m not going to list names. That just sends them more abuse.
I’ve been doing this work 30 years. I know when I’m being put on a merry-go-round.
So just please remember all parties need a certain amount of privilege for name & shame to work.
The fact that it happened means I don't have enough to cover them.
If they have enough they'd still be here.
The most frustrating thing is going to be
when the voices that have been silenced in this space
are needed inALL spaces to rescue us from fascism
yet again.
They will appear when called and do their duty.
Because THEY know what most don’t.
We need them.
Because they serve The World, not just other Black women.
Securing our rights secures everyone higher in the caste or intersected.
We need the voices from the Black community that are also the most shunned.
The world treats us so horribly but also can’t exist without us.
And by the time it is realized in the macro, it is ALWAYS too late in the micro.
Notes: I don't know why an image that only says #BlackLivesMatters is marked as sensitive media when hashtags like #/BlackLivesStillDontMatter are not.
Also I only marked the rest of the thread with CW so I would not be overwhelming the stream.
#BlackMastodon I see you. I am just thinking and exhausted.
Sigh. I should not have to point out that some #BlackMastodon friends have been booted for EXISTING.
Or to point out AGAIN that *moving to another instance as Black people in circumstances where white people don’t IS ALSO AN OPPRESSION DYNAMIC.
You don’t have to listen. You don’t have to care.
I am not addressing even you - why would I discussing drowning with WATER??
Perhaps a clearer explanation
An update: admin of this server contacted me. It led to a positive place.
Prior to that convo, one of my three peers has been reinstated.
Regarding the sensitive marking of that photo- the reason I said I don’t know was not to be sarcastic. I truly don’t know what happened , including if I did it by accident .
What concerns me is whenI edited to un-do it? I cannot get to the greyed out option to change it.
@Tinu I too am sorry that you and other POC are going through this.
I am well aware that my journey as an #AntiRacist #Ally is a bumpy and forever ongoing journey. Virtual redlining SO obviously isn't the answer. And you shouldn't need to speak up about any of this.
I respect and appreciate you and others who lift your voices. I hope that you find far more here who listen, affirm, and amplify than those who attack & denigrate.
Images in a CW post are automatically marked as sensitive content by the software. That post doesn't have a CW, though, so.... yeah.
@haven4books I figured it was automatic. But I don’t know WHY that set it off when it hasn’t before.
Or who programmed it that way. Or why no one fixed it.
So when I don’t know the reason? But can speculate? I say I don’t know. Maybe that’s annoying but it’s an integrity thing with me. 🤷🏾♀️
@Tinu @haven4books Perhaps it’s because it’s a reply to a post with a CW?
I’m still learning the subtleties of how things work here, but I’m fairly sure there isn’t any of the algorithmic ranking/tagging that we’re used to on social networks.
@Tinu @haven4books The potential problem has been raised & gained traction online.
No, there shouldn’t be a separate server.
No, it’s not up to others to educate the moderators further after pointing out an error in their judgement.
They’re aware of the situation & I’m very interested to see how things progress - I hope that with a wider understanding of its communities, this platform will live up to the standards it claims to have.
@haven4books @jcc I have zero expectations for this to be like Twitter. I did in 2016 when I arrived- like Twitter but an upgrade.
6 years later I don’t expect Anywhere to be like Twitter and have suggested to my audience that it won’t.
That’s the problem really, a particular experience I expected not to experience because “this ain’t Twitter”
IS like Twitter-
worse as at least those people are direct & conscious of their behavior & how it affects me.
@jcc @haven4books Yeah I’ve not only been around since before social started, I’ve started and run communities.
There’s adjustment periods. And then there’s ways communities tell marginalized people not to bother getting comfortable.
The only expectation I had of Mastodon was
not to be treated differently from white people
in a way that involved me doing extra labor my white friends dont, specifically due to race.
@haven4books @Tinu Oh! Please accept my apologies, then - you’re clearly much more familiar with these situations than I am 😅
Re the adjustment periods comment, I hope that’s what it turns out to be… the community needs to educate itself & change its perspective to be genuinely welcoming of marginalised groups.
The appeal of a platform that isn’t controlled by corporate interests is exciting, and I’d hate for it to be yet another thing f*cked up by white people.
@haven4books @jcc I had been sure it was when it was five people.
When dozens have people have the same complaint and there are discussion groups about it? I tend to think it’s a little more serious. I didn’t write this out of pure anger or a whim.
I did it because other people have told me they don’t feel safe speaking up after repeated tries. I’m somewhat protected from simply being ignored.
@jcc @haven4books Yeah from my IT troubleshooting days, step 2 is gathering data to see if there actually IS a problem or if you are experiencing a feature as a problem.
Which is why I wondered allowed. I wasn’t being snide or snarky. I literally don’t know.
@jcc @Tinu @haven4books Called out, but not necessarily fixed.
Case in point: "Local-only posts", that don't get shared to other instances, are very helpful at reducing abuse for people who are on well-moderated instances (and good from a privacy perspective, too). The glitch fork implemented these in 2017, and the Hometown fork also has them. But Mastodon's BDFL Eugen has rejected them from the mainline code, so they're not available on most sites.
@Tinu wait, you posted a BLM image and somehow it got tagged as sensitive? What the actual fuck. Even though I'm a server admin, I don't know the internals of mastodon that well and assumed there was no automatic moderation of that type. Maybe another #MastadonAdmin can chime in here?
I have more to say about this whole thing. Part of me wants receipts but not because I need proof. I know everything you've said is true. I just want to rage. Probably best you didn't name names. I'm incensed.
@Gargron @chickamora @atomicpoet @Tinu
Its a bug with mastodon - if you reply to a post marked with a "content warning" then remove the text, but don't click the blue "CW" then type a bunch into the input box then add an image; the usual "Mark media as sensitive" checkbox is hidden below the input text and the scroll bar only scrolls to show the image. This means your only indication it will be marked sensitive is the easy-to-miss blue "CW".
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