I talk about cops online, and I have cops hate-following me through their puppet accounts. Sometimes, they reply or DM me.🤷🏿♂️
I talk about GOP politicians, and I have them too. Hi!
I talk about VC bros. So many fleece vests!
For the most part, people are surprisingly reasonable. I'll rant about 10 things, and they'll reply "Mostly fair. But 9 is wrong."
But the 2 things get me the most push back:
* Holding white women accountable for their own actions.
* Advocating for Black women at all.
1/N
The flip side of "presumption of guilt" when talking about Black men, is "presumption of innocence" when talking about white women.
They're both forms of racism. They both harm Black people.
One is easy to recognise *in other people.* One is hard to see *in ourselves.*
Some people have an emotional reaction when I point out that more than half of all white women voters in the US reliably vote for whichever candidate promises to harm Black people more. They get mad at me for saying this!
2/N
The US is a very racist country. It has racist systems, processes, and outcomes. That racism harms all of us, but disproportionately harms Black people.
If you want to reduce that racism, you have to understand where it's coming from.
Almost half of that racism, comes from white women. Some of the rest of it comes from white men, but is done in the name of white women.
You cannot effectively combat racism, if you don't understand and accept this.
3/N
As a Black dude, I gotta say that the dynamic I see is super weird:
1) ~50% of all white men I interact with are super open-minded and inclusive! They want less racism. ♥️👍🏿
2) ~50% of all white women I interact with are super open-minded and inclusive! They want less racism. ♥️👍🏿
3) ~50% of the white men and ~50% of the white women that I interact with are... not super open-minded.
But both the good white men and white women I interact with, are convinced that 3) is 95% men?🤷🏿♂️
4/N
And it's not like ~95% of the white people in New York are open-minded, and ~95% of the white people in Atlanta are not open-minded. That's not how it works.
It's ~50% of the white people in New York are super open-minded, and ~50% aren't.
And it's ~50% of the white people in Atlanta are super open-minded, and ~50% aren't.
And it's not like "this whole family is open-minded, and this whole family is not open-minded." That's not how it works. It's "most families have both."
5/N
It's super weird to me that it seems like half of the white folk in this country, literally cannot see the other half, even though that's their coworkers, family members, friends, and partners. 🙂🙃
It got me thinking: What evidence could you show to the 50% of white folk that are more open-minded, to convince them that the other 50% exists and is about half women? That Black folk are not making this up?
Poll data, viral Karen videos, and lived experience of ~40M Black folk, isn't doing it.
6/N
Then I remembered, that "evidence does not persuade." So there is no evidence that I could possibly show to convince the 50% of white folk that are super open-minded, that close to half of the other 50% of white folk that are less open-minded, are women. 🤷🏿♂️
7/7
@mekkaokereke well, I'm white and all of those Karen videos convinced (and disgusted) me.
I think men's behavior often (to me) being more overt combined with my own obliviousness to hide ww's racism from me for most of my life.
But I'm also not one to speak up and have conversations about race with other white folk, and as people are suggesting, maybe that's an effective way of flushing the racists out of their hiding behaviors.
Which reinforces the notion that if you don't actively do something about it, it (whatever it is) is gonna continue.
@fivetonsflax @mekkaokereke thanks for your question.
I'm often reticent to express myself around other people, which is one behavior which makes me suspect that I have some degree of autism. It can be very situational for me. Sometimes I'm gabby, but only one on one. In a group setting, I'm highly likely to be wallpaper.
I certainly see value in having the discussion. It's being comfortable verbally engaging that's a real issue for me in those settings.
And maybe that's not the whole story. I really don't know. It's certainly part of it.
I'm on a bit of a journey trying to figure that part of me out. I have a long way to go.
I hope that helps.
mekka okereke 
stevenray
Ben Rosengart