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4 things white people can do to start making the fediverse less toxic for Black people (DRAFT!)
(privacy.thenexus.today)
this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2024
-76 points (26.5% liked)
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Not upset, just thought it needed to be said.
It seems odd to expect people to realize this is largely addressing issues in mastodon when it is posted to Lemmy and the summary uses terms that are interchangable. Most people are not going to take the time to follow the link if they have a negative reaction to the summary.
In short, the summary is very easy for people to take as some sort of attack on the places they personally spend time in on the fediverse as lacking. I don't think most people look around on Lemmy and see evidence of what is being addressed as though it is an all encompassing problem, and so you get knee-jerk downvotes and that's the extent of the engagement.
I agree that it can be difficult for people to hear that a place they enjoy has issues with anti-Blackness. It can feel like a personal attack, and most people consider themselves 'not-racist'.
I think the real thing to strive for is to be 'anti-racist', rather than 'not-racist'. We all ultimately have prejudices - the point is are we able to simultaneously be honest with ourselves, forgive ourselves, and improve.
In many ways, the overall reaction to this piece actually proves many of its points. The overall reaction seems to have been to deny that the problem exists and refuse to investigate further (or, as you point out, to recognize that the Fediverse being discussed extends beyond Lemmy).
Additionally, some of the reactions here are themselves examples of anti-Blackness (e.g. accusations of so-called "reverse racism" and the like, as well as the 'knee-jerk' downvotes you describe). Which makes me less inclined to think of Lemmy as any kind of bastion of anti-racism!