OK, let's get into it. Let's talk about anti-Blackness on this here Fediverse, "civility traps", and "why nazis wear suits."
First: there are some trans folk that love Black people, care about our safety, and want to see the Fediverse be more welcoming to Black users.♥️ These kind folk volunteer considerable time, money, effort, and social capital, to make the Fediverse more welcoming for Black folk. We love them for this.
But there are some trans folk that are super fashy, and hate Black folk.
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mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •The super fashy trans folk want the Fediverse to stay uncomfortable for Black folk. Some want to make it even more uncomfortable. Some are literal nazis.🤷🏿♂️
Some trans folk pretend to be surprised that there are actively anti-Black trans folk, and ask questions like, "But isn't the Fediverse welcoming to all marginalized communities?"
I used to try to explain that being welcoming to one community isn't by default, welcoming to another.
Octavia con Amore :pink_moon_and_stars:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •I read your post trying to clarify this toot, but I'm still unsure what you mean by "Have you heard of the Nazi phase?"
What I know from my own experience is that a transphobic stereotype exists that says that trans-fems tend to have a "Nazi phase", and considering you're talking about some trans folks being anti-Black in the same toot, along with TBP being accused of transmisia and transmisogyny, I'm thinking you may have inadvertently hit a transphobic dog-whistle landmine.
If you're not trans, it's understandable that it may have been completely off your radar (as dog-whistles often are to people not in the know), but a correction and clarification on this toot would probably be prudent and save you some grief.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to Octavia con Amore :pink_moon_and_stars: • • •Ah! Thank you for letting me know! And no, I was not aware that the term was a transphobic dog whistle.
The idea that this is claimed to be inherent to trans femmes didn't occur to me, as like I said, most trans femmes I know are not white, and I haven't experienced any anti-Black racism from Black trans femmes, but have experienced it from some of the white trans femmes that I've met.
I'll delete that term from my post above so there's no confusion about my intent.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •I reject the TBP being transphobic claim though.
When I've dug into it, what I've found is that some of the anti-Black racist people are trans, and TBP doesn't tolerate anti-Black racism from anyone. Not from trans folk. Not from Kanye.
Whenever I've tried to find transphobia coming from TBP, it's come up crickets, or pointed to people being close friends with/enabling the abusers harming Black Fedi users.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •Defining a term "civility trap," and explaining why nazis wear suits, and why Obama never gets angry:
A civility trap is where a Black person receives an intentional provocation. If the Black person responds with understandable frustration/anger, they are perceived as unreasonable / unhinged / untrustworthy. The original provocation is forgotten.
If they respond reasonably, another provocation will follow. And more. Hundreds more.
Nazis wear suits to try to make the contrast even greater.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •There are kind trans folk involved with the FSEP project, from the approval of the project, to feedback on its design. There are also cis folk, queer folk, Black folk, white folk, Muslims, Jewish folk, Buddhists, atheists, etc. It's a big effort.
A big part of the project is collecting feedback and input, because this is far too important to get wrong.
So the initial design is being done in the open. There are a number of things that need to be improved before this is ready for prime time.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •Most of this criticism is good and useful. Even if it's repetitive / something that's already covered in the proposal, it is good feedback.
All great questions:
* Who controls the blocklist? One dude? No new kings!
* Blocklist get weaponized! See [insert example].
* How do we audit reasons for blocks?
* What's the path back for blocked instances?
Knowledge of these harms didn't start with Twitter Blocklists. Years before GamerGate, those same bad actors targeted Black women.
This is not new.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •But some of the criticism I'm seeing is not useful. It's just a targeted attack against one individual.
Quick history:
* There used to be an instance called Play Vicious.
* That instance was run off of the Fediverse by abusive fashy people, some of whom were trans
* Some of those abusers continue to harass the PV admin to this day
* Some of them tried to DDOS the hashtag that Black users and others use to stay safe on the Fediverse
(Obama would probably handle this with grace and composure🤷🏿♂️)
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •If an instance is added to The Bad Space in error, that admin can reach out to have it removed. This happens. Admins do this every day.
The FSEP proposal makes a number of points:
* There needs to be more info about how/why an instance was added
* There needs to be more than one person making add / remove decisions
* The Bad Space won't be the only provider
* Human mods make mistakes
* The false negative/positive rate is as important as the weaponized abuse rate
None of this is controversial.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •If you say "Why is my instance on the Bad Space? Did I do something wrong?"
You might get a response like, "Sorry! There is an ongoing DB issue. No changes needed on your end. Should be fixed in an hour."
But if you say, "See! We don't need blocklists! The people that tried to stop Black people from using Fediblock were right!"
Then the Black person that's been fighting nazis on the fediverse for 6 years without much help or backup, might tell you about yourself, and where you can take that.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •I've said this before but I'll say it again:
* I don't trust any one individual to run a blocklist. Whatever individual we choose, could turn bad. Consensus is required.
* Blocklists will be weaponized against the most marginalized communities (read: Black users). This is not a possibility. It's an eventuality. Good instances will wind up on the blocklist. The path back needs to be clear, and actionable.
* Reliability requirements are increased when thousands of instances depend on you.
Another Angry Woman
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •Respectfully, this exact same socially violent shit is pulled on trans people to the point that the original provocation is entirely forgotten and whatever type of violence they have supposedly done upon falling into the civility trap is an inherent part of them and they are tainted and represented of the problem.
Right now, trans people are one of the biggest groups of people targeted by fash, right next to Black people. I don't think your rhetoric is helpful here.
mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •What rhetoric? Pointing out that some trans people are anti-Black racists and/or fascist? I point out that some Black people are transphobic all the time. I never get complaints about that?🤷🏿♂️
Or that Black people pushing back against perceived anti-Blackness sometimes use naughty words? I point out that people pushing back against transphobia don't owe anyone civility either.
Or are you upset that I suggested that civility traps often happen to Black people?
Another Angry Woman
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •Another Angry Woman
in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •No. You need to deal with this.
I'm not saying that trans folk are especially fashy. Among white people, trans folk are almost certainly less fashy than average. That's great! But there are 2 problems, a small one, and a big one:
Small problem:
*Some* trans folk are extremely anti-Black. Violently, abusively, anti-Black.
Big problem:
Some people have an allergic reaction when Black folk point this out. Even Black trans folk.
The fragility is massive.
Another Angry Woman
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •It's entirely possible you're talking about a specific situation for which I don't have context, with regards to some specific individuals, because anti-Blackness is common at all levels.
I've got the wrong end of the stick, because without that context, some of these posts do read like specifical singling out.
That's a problem of the fedi, that context goes missing. I'd urge caution about how these posts can be read though; I have seen transphobia from replies on this thread.
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mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •Another Angry Woman
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •Alexandra Lanes
in reply to Another Angry Woman • •mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •@stavvers
Black men have been targeted since forever. There's not a year you can point to where Black men have not gotten it bad. And yet... I call out transphobia, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism when I see Black men do it. Every time. It doesn't matter if we're being targeted.
If you think that DeSantis waging his war on trans folk means that I'm not going to speak on anti-Blackness from trans folk? You have me confused with someone else.
Another Angry Woman
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •mekka okereke :verified:
in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •I'm not afraid of stepping in it. Happens.
I have trans loved ones that don't sugar coat, and will check me if I'm out of pocket.♥️
My only fears are:
* Not having enough decentralized instances and infrastructure ready if/when Twitter eventually falls over.
* Repeating the blocklist sins of the past. Shifting harm instead of reducing harm.
* Letting 6 year old beef between a few anti-Black shitposters and a Fedi safety pioneer, metastasize into distrust of any safety project
Another Angry Woman
in reply to mekka okereke :verified: • • •Leon Bambrick
in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •Another Angry Woman
Unknown parent • • •Alexandra Lanes likes this.
your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦
in reply to Another Angry Woman • • •Octavia con Amore :pink_moon_and_stars:
Unknown parent • • •@faithisleaping Mekka, it's not that you don't tolerate transphobia from anyone, you don't tolerate transphobia *you agree is transphobic from your frame of reference* from anyone.
Just like my Japanese/Indigenous/Irish/Welsh arse can't be relied on to properly parse what is and isn't anti-black and defer to black people as a *first* opinion, you can't be relied on to understand or parse what is and isn't transmisogyny and should defer to the target of said transmisogyny to fill you in.
Oh, and so should Ro. Cis-splaining transmisogyny to a bunch of transfems is transmisogyny at its finest.