mekka okereke 

I love how Silicon Valley Bank is being portrayed as a "woke" bank, and their failure is blamed on being too woke.🤡

There is absolutely nothing that the US won't try to blame on Black folk.

Less than 2% of VC money even goes to Black folk. By assets, it was an anti-woke bank.

Black. Woke means Black.

Mar 14, 2023 at 1:19amWeb
Show threadmekka okereke Mar 14, 2023

I'm not being hyperbolic. This was literally the bank that the most anti-woke people used. The people that write anti-woke books like this.

Black folk weren't architects of either the hedging strategy or the bank run.

Don't bank run on your own bank, then try to blame it on us.

I'm not saying that Black folk didn't care about the Venture Capital money in Silicon Valley Bank. I'm just saying that we probably cared about it ~98% less than the rest of y'all. 🤷🏿‍♂️

Show threadvyMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke i like how theil stabbed his friend sacks in the back
Show thread🇺🇦 Anna FilinaMar 14, 2023
@vy @mekkaokereke He kicked him in the sack :)
Show threadCourt Cantrell does not complyMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Not to mention that their cover art and trade dress are absolutely hideous.
Show threadJill duhMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke I swear I heard a caller on Thom Hartman that said 'these idiots think diversifying funds is "DEI" and not how you invest in a diverse type of investments to secure your funds'
Show threadjenifer daniels ♎ :verified:Mar 14, 2023
@Gilda @mekkaokereke 😬
Show threadDanMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke it's just to keep us distracted fighting each other while they continue to fuck us over
Show threadThe DoctorMar 14, 2023
@dan @mekkaokereke All of this.
Show threadCJ PalomaMar 14, 2023

@mekkaokereke I knew Thiel was an utter fail as a human (he's also a world class misogynist- who could have guessed?)

But I hadn't heard of Sacks until the last few days. So I can now add that he is an author of what I am sure is badly written racist propaganda to other stuff I've recently learned about him: that he's a putin supporting asshole, who also threw himself a marie antoinette themed birthday party a few years ago. These are the kinds of guys who...well, I'm generally against using dehumanizing language...So I'll just say that I fail to see thow these folks contribute ANYTHING positive to the world and they do a lot to lower the quality of life for plenty of people.

Show threadeingyMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Sacks & Thiel are so trash. Thanks for letting more people know.
Show threadMarcus Marcius MarcellusMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Oh be fair now. Nobody —NOBODY! — is more woke than Peter Thiel.
Show threadOggieMar 14, 2023

@mekkaokereke Since woke has now come to mean 'treating people with basic human decency' it could, in theory, mean other things.

Just not, you know, in this case. It was a bank, and there's absolutely zero indication that this bank was any less late-stage capitalist greed than any other, and some reasonable evidence it was on the bad end of the spectrum.

The real causative here is it had a female POC who said she encouraged diversity (in a boilerplate statement). And, woman POC, target.

Show threadFirefighterGeek Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Yeah, I don't think most people realize that while San Francisco is generally pretty liberal, much of silicon valley is rabid frat-boy land.
Show threadPeat BogMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke
Hmm, "Genovese" sets off white collar crime feels for some reason.
Show threadKenneth John BardsleyMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke
Eugh !
Show threadMorganaMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Ah…. But they don’t have the guts or the moral backbone to admit they were responsible….Mr Thiel is a fascist hiding in plain sight to break all the norms he can….
Show threadTom 🇨🇦Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke
Peter Thiel puts Bond villains to shame. Guy is quintessentially evil.
Show threadthepoisontartMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke considering Thiel spurred the bank run, then blaming "woke culture" it seems completely on brand for the fascists.
Show threadvyMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke that #WallStreetJournalOpEd was unacceptable
Show threadMike McGeeMar 14, 2023
@vy @mekkaokereke and of course they’re the type of publication that requires a phone call to cancel your subscription.
Show threadAntonio YonMar 14, 2023
@mkmcg @vy @mekkaokereke The WSJ OpEd banner is the journalistic equivalent to “Hold my beer…”
Show threadCautionWIP 🎃+🇨🇦+🏳️‍🌈= Mar 14, 2023
@mkmcg @vy @mekkaokereke Technically, you could just block them from dunning your payment method of choice and rest assured they will close the account without payment. :)
Show threadViking60Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Makes sense. That’s why the right is so hell-bent on anti-wokeness. Another form of racism.
Show threadMathias ❄️🐺🐶 Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke They're trying to throw us queer folks under the bus too, for good measure. Fuck these racist-ass, bigot-ass motherfuckers. I'm so sick of it. I'm so sick of reading the words "woke" and "diversity hire" in these opinion pieces, in comments sections... everywhere. It makes my fucking blood boil. And a national paper has the audacity to publish some fool saying "I'm not saying white people would have done this better but"? Fucked. It's all fucked.
Show threadRonja A-R (e/em/eir ; hen)Mar 14, 2023

@mathias @mekkaokereke

Wall Street Journal - unsurprising in their asshattery, once again.

#WSJ #racism #sexism #queerphobia

Show threadMathias ❄️🐺🐶 Mar 14, 2023
@ronja @mekkaokereke It's certainly nothing new, but you can see the shift from dog whistle to air horn in real time.
Show threadRonja A-R (e/em/eir ; hen)Mar 16, 2023

@mathias @mekkaokereke

Yeah. That 2 veterans are on the list of identities that WSJ implies are "under qualified" to participate in leading a bank is unexpected and, frankly, somewhat shocking.

Show threadSasha FoxMar 14, 2023

@mekkaokereke Yeah, like, their literal problem was a lack of diversity in their investments.

The right is just straight up lying because they know they won't face any issue for it.

Show threadAntonio YonMar 14, 2023

@mekkaokereke The woke bank accusation revolves around the “diversity” of their board, not their portfolio. With the implicit rationalization that 12 white men would not have fumbled this way.

Unlike all the other failed banks that _did_ have 12 white men on their board.

Show threadKevin KolkMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Yes, they had the famously “woke” strategy of investing deposits into treasury bonds.
Show threadPaulMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke I lost track of the link, but I think it was on WSJ where - in the article’s conclusion - they felt the important detail was that SVB didn’t have an all white board and prided itself on having a slight modicum of diversity.
Show threadacmMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke is it the US or the GOP placing blame that way??
Show threadmekka okereke Mar 14, 2023

@acm_redfox

Newsmax, Fox, Wall Street Journal, tons of alt-right agitators on Twitter... basically all the racists are trying to find a way to blame this on Black folk. As they always do.

It's just extra funny in this case, because we had literally nothing to do with this at all.

Show threadacmMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke truth!
Show threadDr. Ruchira S. DattaMar 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke @acm_redfox An article debunking their lies: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-quick-look-at-the-lying-trumpist-liars-behind-that-database-on-corprate-giving-to-blm
A Quick Look at the Lying Trumpist Liars Behind that Database on Corporate Giving to “BLM”

According to stories bursting across the right-wing mediasphere today, a key reason for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was its focus on spreading "woke culture"

TPM – Talking Points Memo
Show threadDanMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke for these people, woke mean the n word, but yes, you're right for sure!
Show threadJoelleMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke
By my count, zero Black-owned banks were shut down by the FDIC in the last week.
Show threadPaul CantrellMar 14, 2023

@joelle @mekkaokereke You’re spot on! They’re speculating about causality and they don’t even have correlation!

What I’m wondering: https://hachyderm.io/@inthehands/110017916018414980

Paul Cantrell (@[email protected])

Hmmmmm. I wonder why we never hear the WSJ say something like this: “Besides 91% of their board being Republicans and 100% of them men, they also are 100% white. I'm not saying a more diverse group of 12 people would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by racism, sexism, and ideological demands.” If somebody made a statement like that about a struggling company, I wonder what the WSJ would have to say about it?

Hachyderm.io
Show threadWilliam RobisonMar 14, 2023
@joelle @mekkaokereke also no tribal owned banks have been closed by the FDIC.
Show threadbkMar 15, 2023
@joelle @mekkaokereke also, zero black Presidents repealed Dodd-Frank…
Show threadGadgetComaMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke @donmelton They are deflecting the blame to everyone except those who always cause this kind of problem: super rich, super greedy, manipulators and the anti-regulation legislators on their payroll. https://prospect.org/economy/2023-03-13-silicon-valley-bank-bailout-deregulation/
The Silicon Valley Bank Bailout Didn’t Need to Happen

The debate over protecting all deposits in a blink looks past the incompetence that got us here.

The American Prospect
Show threadLa NégresseMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke
Blaming bank failures on Black Americans reads straight from the Nazi Germany playbook that blamed Jewish Germans for the collapse of the Weimar Republic.
Show threadWndlBMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Regardless. The intended audience is FoxNews producers who can feed the talking point to chyron writers and the talent.
Show threadRosenstand 🇺🇦❤️Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke Exact same playbook used in Germany in the 1930’s. Just replace woke with Jewish and you are all set. The scary part is that the swamp here in the US is enjoying it like cats lapping milk.
Show threadStan Wonn 🏳️‍🌈 🌹Mar 14, 2023
Seems pretty clear to me that the GOP (and some others like Sinema) would like to distract us from the fact that deregulation helped create this outcome.
Show threadBinder🅅Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke
that... was not an interpretation I was aware of.
Show threadjmorris1974Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke when the far right finds some straw, they try to make a man out of it.
Show threadNicholasRMar 14, 2023

@mekkaokereke @Runyan50

I don't understand why so many people need to be racists in 2023

PLEASE LET'S MOVE BEYOND THIS AND CANCEL RACIST!

We have a lot more issues to deal with

Show threadClaude RainsMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke So I’m guessing that’s why Peter Theil started a run on the bank? Because it was “too woke”, what with having a (1) Black person on the board? #PeterThielisTheWorst
Show threadStatmonkey 🙊Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke True but the Wall Street Journal was more egalitarian. They blamed women, LGTBQ+, Asians, and Blacks. Hard to out discriminate those Rupert Murdoch publications.
Show threadRichservo Mar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke which makes no sense. It was all white VCs.
Show threadmarkMar 14, 2023

@mekkaokereke and isn't this the 3rd company that the ceo has tanked?

Wsj blatantly states 12 white men as a potential solution, while skipping over this guy being rewarded with failure. Could it be that the guy with Rick and powerful friends isn't good at this? Maybe they should stop propping him up?

Show threadTheCityDweller Mar 14, 2023

@mekkaokereke SVB executives thanked personally #TFG for his deregulation / cancellation of Dodd-Frank.

SVB was Peter Thiel and Elon Musk - the opposite of "Woke".

What if Peter Thiel started all this to crash those banks to become himself with his masters the new "bosses"? Do not forget - the in my opinion Assholes Musk and Thiel want a part of the world only for them without any regulations - and it seems #GOP is willing to give this to them.

Show threadLucius Annaeus SenecaMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke
SVB failed because of staggering incompetence. The tech sector has been slowing down for quite some time, as consumer electronics have become commonplace and traditional social media are losing steam. The sector is looking for the next big thing. The "metaverse" flopped and Meta is laying off 10K more in the real universe. AI is growing but amidst serious concerns about legal liability and unintended consequences.
This could have been anticipated by anyone who follows the news...
Show threadLG MediaMar 14, 2023
@mekkaokereke the #wsj actually printed this racism.
Show threadMrShoggothMar 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke - Absolutely. I believe the board had 1 black and 1 gay. You guys can duke it out for who takes the fall, I guess. Not the 10 sixty-year old white men on that board.