mekka okereke Apr 17, 2024

Something a lot of white folk don't realize happens to Black people a lot:

When there is a competition between a Black person and a white person for a coveted prize, if the white person wins, they're celebrated. If the Black person wins... they're asked to share the prize with the white person that came in second place.😮

This happens to Black women more often than Black men.

Literary awards (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/15/bernardine-evaristo-margaret-atwood-share-booker-prize-award)

Whitehouse invitation for championship teams:
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/04/1167965013/iowa-lsu-jill-biden-ncaa-basketball-championship

Backlash after Booker awards prize to two authors

Decision to make first black female winner, Bernardine Evaristo, share £50,000 prize with Margaret Atwood causes controversy

The Guardian
Show threadmekka okereke Apr 17, 2024

When LSU beat Iowa for the national championship, Jill Biden invited Iowa to the White House anyway, to share LSU's prize. It was only because Angel Reese said "Oh hell no, then I'm not even going to the White House. Y'all can keep it." That the White House walked it back.

Do you know how much courage it takes to stand up to the First Lady of the United States of America? Do you know how much racist abuse Angel Reese has faced every day since then, as a result of her standing up for herself?

Show threadmekka okereke 

If Iowa had won, there is no way that Jill Biden would have invited LSU to the White House as well. The sharing and the graciousness only goes in one direction.

I want you to know that Black girls feel the message of "You weren't supposed to win! We wanted the other girl to win! We resent you for winning!"

Don't do this.

Apr 17, 2024 at 12:24pmWeb
Show threadmekka okereke Apr 17, 2024

Jasmine Shepard was the first Black girl to be valedictorian in the 110 year history of a historically racist and segregated school.

But she was forced to share the award with a white girl with a lower GPA.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/ywgynk/schools-first-black-valedictorian-forced-to-share-title-with-white-student

She sued to have this corrected, and lost. Because even though the court found that she should have been the sole valedictorian, she did not prove that the "error" happened *because* she was Black. Therefore a federal civil rights violation was not committed.🤷🏿‍♂️

School's First Black Valedictorian Forced to Share Title with White Student

After graduating first in her class at Cleveland High School, Jasmine Shepard was told that a white student with a lower GPA was named her "co-valedictorian." Now, she's suing the historically segregated school for discrimination.

Show threadmekka okereke Apr 17, 2024

If a Black person achieves something and receives an award, and your first instinct is to say, "They should share it!" Think deeply about why you are saying and feeling that.

If the Black person says, "No, I don't want to share it." Will your opinion of them change? Will you think they are being selfish? If so, then was your request really a request?

Angel Reese:
"All this has happened since I won the national championship."
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lzjmEcu_hGs

Angel Reese on online abuse: 'I'm still a human' | ESPN College Basketball

YouTube
Show threadmekka okereke Apr 17, 2024

1) Saying "I am going to win."

2) Then winning.

3) Then saying "No, I am not going to share my prize. No one before me has ever been asked to share their prize."

Is an act of unforgivable defiance, worthy of death threats? Seriously?

These are the things that made Angel Reese a villain.

Show threadPiers CawleyApr 17, 2024

@mekkaokereke when I was a kid, I took part in an inter-school book quiz thing. We reached the finals and won and the prize was to choose a book of our own from a tableful of books.

For some reason, the organisers decided that actually, all of us would get to choose a free book, and then gave first choice to the fucking losers.

Now we were all (very) white. I don't know a single black person at the time.

But, oh boy does that experience make me side with Angel Reese all the way.

Show threadPiers CawleyApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke let the prize be the prize. Turning into a bait and switch is fucking disgusting behaviour, I don't care whether your the organisers of some little local competition or the First Lady – respect the rules of your game, like you expect the competitors to.
Show threadschrotieApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke Amazing, I was indeed totally not aware of this. Thanks for sharing!
Show threadTom McGintyApr 24, 2024
@mekkaokereke why do I get the feeling that these same white people are also against participation trophies
Show threadLyle Solla-YatesApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke I'm reminded of the Veil of Ignorance here. If the rules have to be changed after the race of the winner is known, that rule change probably isn't great https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_position
Original position - Wikipedia

Show threadAutisticMumTo3Apr 17, 2024
@Lyle @mekkaokereke
Agreed
Show threadShadSterlingApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke if anybody ought to be sharing more, it’s us white people
Show threadAutisticMumTo3Apr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke
Why should they share it? They won it not the person who came 2nd.
Show threadzillaApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke Horrendous
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke whats worse about this is I read the first paragraphs and was expecting to see an archive report from the high school newspaper in 1977 and a picture of the young woman on Kodachrome film, *not* a modern article from VICE in 2017 - its like nothing was learned from the civil rights struggles of 1960s or if anything there has been a constant backlash..
Show threadIvey Janette McClellandApr 17, 2024

@mekkaokereke Because they don't want Black people to succeed.

They still only view us as Stepin Fetchit and Mammy.

Show threadEdelruth, PBS Passport HolderApr 18, 2024

@mekkaokereke

And the other girl did not have the moral core to refuse. Alas!

Show threadDoug 🌈🇨🇦 Apr 18, 2024
@mekkaokereke
It's not historically racist, it's currently a racist school.
Show threadJoe WokeApr 18, 2024
@mekkaokereke what shit is this?
Show threadJoe WokeApr 18, 2024
@mekkaokereke a black valedictorian is the valedictorian. That’s it. No ‘dual’
Show threadyour auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦Apr 17, 2024

@mekkaokereke Biden’s 40 years of criminalizing Black people prove his racism. all racists have their “chosen negroes” while hating the whole concept of not just Blackness but Negritude.

that's why we have to speak of the Clarence Thomas’ and even Obamas of the world from the frame of narcissism; most specifically narcissistic parenting.

look at Trump: he’s the typical narcissist who has a “golden child” and more than one scapegoat/black sheep.

same phenomenon of the chosen negro.

Show threadThe Animal and the MachineApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke
To anyone who doesn’t know about this, you are experiencing White Privilege.
Show threadThe Febrile MuseApr 17, 2024
@mekkaokereke ^^ @potus Listen and learn from this.