Just briefly logged into mastodon and my mentions are mostly people debating my experiences here and whether I was entitled to tweet about them, and I just want to say, I was called slurs for days by people on *other instances* and received a death threat saying that they would do to me what was done to Emmett Till.
Anyone discussing any of this like *I* did something wrong, including by talking about it, is a fucking dipshit.
Have a fabulous fucking day.
I’m disgusted that protecting the reputation of the platform is more important to some people — including some Black people, what the actual fuck — than making sure people are safe, physically and emotionally.
That’s some nasty shit.
And to the “it’s just growing pains/join the right instance” crowd: Black people shouldn’t need a fucking Green Book to navigate the physical or virtual world.
@economics @chanda You said it better than I could.
Dr. Prescod-Weinstein, you're probably not going to have the experiences you're looking for here, because people on the general Internet are awful and the real world is a white supremacist world. Also, you're a famous public figure, compared to the average person, with a large following, and in multiple groups that the far-right hates. This place isn't going to provide the experience you're seeking, because it can't. It may never be able to.
I hope I didn't sound like I was "shrugging my shoulders" by saying I don't think there's a solution to the problem of experiencing racism and microaggressions from strangers the way things are set up now. I was trying to be the opposite of the white person saying "no, things are great and going to get better, you'll see!"
I'm afraid things will get worse as far as unwanted interactions before they get better. The really awful trolls haven't gotten here yet.
BTW, I'm blocked on Twitter by the OP, but from what I've seen of her recent social media posts, she's extremely sensitive to white people denying or minimizing racism, like some comments here. That's why I said I can't *imagine* she'd have a fun time on Mastodon at the moment with lots of white folks not understanding the specific dangers and triggers they deal with.
We don't have good enough filters to give her the same opportunities to banter as Twitter, yet.
Please note also that I very carefully said "user experience" rather than trying to prescribe how anyone should think about this or what anyone should do. There are only three strategies that any of us can take with any social media: 1) engage and deal with the downsides, 2) choose not to engage, 3) pay someone to moderate your engagement.
Ad-supported social media like Twitter relies on (or at least did rely on) the sweated labor of moderators in the Global South.
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
The Other Economist
jedmund