@Julie so I'm all for making Mastodon a more welcoming place to all groups, especially black people, whose voices definitely belong here: I, personally, would like to follow some of my favorite black commentators, like FD Signifier. I would definitely stand up for them if I saw someone actively trying to push minority communities off the platforms, but I think what's missing from a lot of these calls is some information on what we could actually do, proactively.
How can we be better allies?
My go-to shortlist:
Follow some BIPOC and optionally also hashtags like #blackmastodon. Boost liberally.
Click through to the replies. Push back against white cluelessness, and report racism — including sealioning — as abuse.
When you encounter examples of Black folks getting "oops! false positive" suspended for calling out racism, publicly name the instance & ask what concrete steps they're taking to prevent that same "oops" from playing out over & over.
And pass it on.
No one is born racist or antiracist; these result from the choices we make. Being antiracist results from a conscious decision to make frequent, consistent, equitable choices daily. These choices require ongoing self-awareness and self-reflection as we move through life. In the absence of making antiracist choices, we (un)consciously uphold aspects of white supremacy, white-dominant culture, and unequal institutions and society. Being racist or antiracist is not about who you are; it is about what you do.
@Julie I think some of the "Make a #BlackMastodon" comments might be misunderstood. Mastodon likely won't get much traction until it's seen by the masses the way they see Twitter... as a casual hangout.
I think it's going to be very hard to effect culture change in an established online society w/o actually creating a space for the underserved to thrive on their own first b/c trying to be welcoming won't get far. The neighbors need to want to move in on their own before "trying" is meaningful.
@Julie “Make your own instance” is especially unhelpful to the targets of abuse because you’re just telling them to create a really attractive attack surface. Better to have a crap ton of instances with good policies and active moderation teams.
“Make your own instance” is for people with money and access and time who want to make their own rules or nerd out about something specific, it’s a totally different problem.
It would be great if all the instances protected #Jews, but the fact is that on the Fediverse, Jews are subject to the same kind of hate and harassment that we often receive on traditional large social media.
I complain to instances when #antisemitism comes up, and sometimes it's addressed, and other times, it isn't, because, sadly #JewsDontCount in the eyes of many (even well intentioned) instance operators.
So I did start a new instance, for this marginalized community.
I agree with the idea that "Go make your own" is something no one should be subjected to. It's a way to further marginalize a group. It's not something someone should say, and it does require a certain level of privilege in terms of time/knowledge/money.
But I also see nothing wrong with a group deciding that they need protection *or community* that they aren't getting from existing infrastructure. After all, that's why so many people joined the Fediverse in the first place.
@serge @whetstone @Julie I think the general idea of “make more” instances is good, in general. But shouldn’t be an individual thing. In fact more instances is good for a multitude of reasons.
I also don’t think any harassment is ok, no matter the reason. I’m lucky to be on an awesome instance myself.
Also isolation is a terrible thing. Let’s find common ground and have fun!
I don't know your background. Let me know what you think!
“Trying to talk about Mastodon about the problem of addressing racism on Mastodon is recalling memories of all my terrible experiences with facebook groups, and I think the reason is that people on Mastodon have the confidence of people who are saying stupid stuff in private”
@Julie Black people are telling Black people what instances to use, based on having moderators who will actually support Black voices against bad faith accusations of violating instance rules.
As a white man I wouldn't tell a Black person that they SHOULD use a different instance. But this stuff is clearly important in practice.
@Julie Yeah, I think it would be a lot more helpful if white people would make sure that their instances had Black moderators, instead of telling Black people to make their own instances.
Like, if you want spaces to be welcoming to Black people, make sure that power is shared with Black people. If all the people running a space are white, you can't be surprised when you create a white space.
@gennisaisquoi @Julie Yeah, that is definitely true.
Based on my personal experiences it's not something I would trust white people to do well on their own. My assumption is that they would lack the knowledge and create work for Black people in explaining the racism being faced.
I would love to see white people do better than they've done historically and manage that though.
@Julie Run in a racist way.
Each instance is operated independently by its own moderation team under its own rules and with its own goals and intents in the form of the group within it. It's a sort of nation of choice.
Federation allows the instances to talk to each other but there is no decision between each who joins or what is allowed.
Note, for instance, the one I am a part of has significantly...unusual interests from the mainstream.
@Julie everyone is welcome except Mr musk who owns his own village green..
They will come soon. Those no one believes
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