About a year ago, I wrote this fediblock post.
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RE: https://blackqueer.life/@tillshadeisgone/113891510610086508
About a year ago, I wrote this fediblock post. Ericka has spent the intervening year doubling down over and over. I am adding more examples to this post simply to demonstrate that her behavior is a clear pattern and not one or two outbursts. She really is committed to it. I have eight examples below, but you can see her doing the same on her profile at any given time.
Ericka critiquing someone by saying they are mentally unstable
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/5qchAEricka claiming someone is a “sociopath”, a narcissist, and has BPD all in a couple quick posts
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/j5Fi9Ericka saying doing something misogynistic is “white supremacist stupidity”
https://archive.is/r5JNyEricka talking about white American racial psychosis
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/PSa4mEricka calling some guy slow and then dumb
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/115528482622667230Ericka speaking glowingly of Idiocracy and dismissing claims that it's ableist (“it's not eugenics it's just true”)
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/115528482622667230Ericka saying once again that racism is a mental health issue
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/116015918015822589Ericka saying she's doubling down that whiteness is a mental disorder
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/116015936719937968I don't want to belabor the issue so I won't be posting about her after today, but I think this is more than enough to demonstrate serious and prolonged harm.
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RE: https://blackqueer.life/@tillshadeisgone/113891510610086508
About a year ago, I wrote this fediblock post. Ericka has spent the intervening year doubling down over and over. I am adding more examples to this post simply to demonstrate that her behavior is a clear pattern and not one or two outbursts. She really is committed to it. I have eight examples below, but you can see her doing the same on her profile at any given time.
Ericka critiquing someone by saying they are mentally unstable
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/5qchAEricka claiming someone is a “sociopath”, a narcissist, and has BPD all in a couple quick posts
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/j5Fi9Ericka saying doing something misogynistic is “white supremacist stupidity”
https://archive.is/r5JNyEricka talking about white American racial psychosis
https://ghostarchive.org/archive/PSa4mEricka calling some guy slow and then dumb
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/115528482622667230Ericka speaking glowingly of Idiocracy and dismissing claims that it's ableist (“it's not eugenics it's just true”)
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/115528482622667230Ericka saying once again that racism is a mental health issue
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/116015918015822589Ericka saying she's doubling down that whiteness is a mental disorder
https://mastodon.social/@ErickaSimone/116015936719937968I don't want to belabor the issue so I won't be posting about her after today, but I think this is more than enough to demonstrate serious and prolonged harm.
Now, on to a related issue.
When I made the original FediBlock post, something I really didn't expect was that someone who had been mutual friends with myself and Ericka would choose to respond to my post by trashing me publicly and claiming I was tapdancing for white approval. Unfortunately I am speaking about are0h.
I haven't spoken up before now for one reason. Ro has become a lightning rod for all the racism on the fediverse by repeatedly standing up and criticizing racism without exception. They have been instrumental in building safety tooling for the fedi and spaces such as PV where Black folks and people of color were able to establish themselves. Black folks barely have anyone on this website who prioritizes our needs, and I am not so naive as to think that the antiblack fuckos rattling around here won't have a field day with a post like this.
Sadly, I have been put in a position where there are no good options. When your movement becomes populated with people who cause harm and then refuse to admit fault, refuse to accept criticism from any source, and ostracize any who disagree with that kind of behavior, your movement can either deal with that openly or it can be doomed to failure. So here we are.
You can do all of the work in the world and it doesn't give you the right to treat people any kind of way. It doesn't give you the right to kick people out of your spaces whenever you have a disagreement and it especially doesn't give you the right to participate in or excuse ableism.
This is a long standing pattern with Ro. They have a disagreement with someone, it escalates into an argument, they kick said person out of whatever chat they're in (or leave and remake another chat elsewhere that they and only they control), and they write a post trashing that person. I've seen it twice myself with other Black folks and I know it's happened more.
I've seen Black and indigenous disabled modmins try to push back against Ro on the subject of his ableism (he was posting about how racism is lunacy, a take similar to Ericka's sentiments), first in private and then a call-in in a small group setting he controlled. After a heated back and forth, Ro kicked them out and went on a tirade on his fedi account about how some people were just trying to ride his coattails and take advantage of his hard work.
And last year, as mentioned above, it happened to me too. I made the aforementioned fediblock about blatant ableism, and Ro attacked me for it. They declared that the person I was calling out shouldn't be expected to be perfect, accused me of only caring about optics and policing the other person's behavior, and claimed publicly that I was caping for white approval by making that post. Feel free to check out one of the multiple threads they wrote about me here:
Never mind that I had approached Ericka about her ableism privately and got shit for it, never mind that Ro and I had been working together for years to try and carve out space on the fedi for Black folks, never mind the fact that my actions have made my intentions clear from the get go. The second I dared cross someone they valued, they immediately dumped on me in public and made a bunch of shit up about my true motivations.
The fact of the matter is, they have no ability to handle conflict resolution in a constructive manner. I have had a pinned post for years about how I handle conflict with comrades. I believe this approach can maximize unity in movement spaces, allow for criticism to be delivered and discussed constructively, and that is what I followed when Ericka was posting seriously harmful ableist takes. This approach also happened to be followed by the other modmins who tried to speak to Ro about his words and actions before my fediblock post even happened. Once that approach to intracommunity conflict has been followed, with no admission of fault and no change in behavior, we need to move to the next step to stop more harm from happening.
Ableism is extremely insidious, both because it can be found in any given space (including Black/leftist/queer communities of all intersections) and because it is such a foundational structure under white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy.
I have had extended conversations with other Black and indigenous modmins, most of whom are disabled, about how to respond to Ro's behavior. After consulting with them, I decided to speak up about what happened. I know very well what kind of a response a post like this will engender, and I don't see a better choice.
I am sure there will be some who will claim I'm pursuing a personal vendetta against Ro because of what they said about me. All I can say in response is that while obviously it did deeply hurt my feelings last year, this is not a post I make on some sort of emotional impulse. This comes after careful consideration of likely outcomes and weighing harm. At the end of the day I have a responsibility as admin of this server to stand up to bigotry, no matter who it is coming from.
My instance's rules and About page are crystal clear about where BQL stands on ableism. Many of my users and all of my mods are disabled. Those of us who aren't stand with our disabled comrades. No tolerance for ableism in our spaces. No tolerance for ableism apologia. No tolerance for ableist retaliation. Full stop.
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Now, on to a related issue.
When I made the original FediBlock post, something I really didn't expect was that someone who had been mutual friends with myself and Ericka would choose to respond to my post by trashing me publicly and claiming I was tapdancing for white approval. Unfortunately I am speaking about are0h.
I haven't spoken up before now for one reason. Ro has become a lightning rod for all the racism on the fediverse by repeatedly standing up and criticizing racism without exception. They have been instrumental in building safety tooling for the fedi and spaces such as PV where Black folks and people of color were able to establish themselves. Black folks barely have anyone on this website who prioritizes our needs, and I am not so naive as to think that the antiblack fuckos rattling around here won't have a field day with a post like this.
Sadly, I have been put in a position where there are no good options. When your movement becomes populated with people who cause harm and then refuse to admit fault, refuse to accept criticism from any source, and ostracize any who disagree with that kind of behavior, your movement can either deal with that openly or it can be doomed to failure. So here we are.
You can do all of the work in the world and it doesn't give you the right to treat people any kind of way. It doesn't give you the right to kick people out of your spaces whenever you have a disagreement and it especially doesn't give you the right to participate in or excuse ableism.
This is a long standing pattern with Ro. They have a disagreement with someone, it escalates into an argument, they kick said person out of whatever chat they're in (or leave and remake another chat elsewhere that they and only they control), and they write a post trashing that person. I've seen it twice myself with other Black folks and I know it's happened more.
I've seen Black and indigenous disabled modmins try to push back against Ro on the subject of his ableism (he was posting about how racism is lunacy, a take similar to Ericka's sentiments), first in private and then a call-in in a small group setting he controlled. After a heated back and forth, Ro kicked them out and went on a tirade on his fedi account about how some people were just trying to ride his coattails and take advantage of his hard work.
And last year, as mentioned above, it happened to me too. I made the aforementioned fediblock about blatant ableism, and Ro attacked me for it. They declared that the person I was calling out shouldn't be expected to be perfect, accused me of only caring about optics and policing the other person's behavior, and claimed publicly that I was caping for white approval by making that post. Feel free to check out one of the multiple threads they wrote about me here:
Never mind that I had approached Ericka about her ableism privately and got shit for it, never mind that Ro and I had been working together for years to try and carve out space on the fedi for Black folks, never mind the fact that my actions have made my intentions clear from the get go. The second I dared cross someone they valued, they immediately dumped on me in public and made a bunch of shit up about my true motivations.
The fact of the matter is, they have no ability to handle conflict resolution in a constructive manner. I have had a pinned post for years about how I handle conflict with comrades. I believe this approach can maximize unity in movement spaces, allow for criticism to be delivered and discussed constructively, and that is what I followed when Ericka was posting seriously harmful ableist takes. This approach also happened to be followed by the other modmins who tried to speak to Ro about his words and actions before my fediblock post even happened. Once that approach to intracommunity conflict has been followed, with no admission of fault and no change in behavior, we need to move to the next step to stop more harm from happening.
Ableism is extremely insidious, both because it can be found in any given space (including Black/leftist/queer communities of all intersections) and because it is such a foundational structure under white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy.
I have had extended conversations with other Black and indigenous modmins, most of whom are disabled, about how to respond to Ro's behavior. After consulting with them, I decided to speak up about what happened. I know very well what kind of a response a post like this will engender, and I don't see a better choice.
I am sure there will be some who will claim I'm pursuing a personal vendetta against Ro because of what they said about me. All I can say in response is that while obviously it did deeply hurt my feelings last year, this is not a post I make on some sort of emotional impulse. This comes after careful consideration of likely outcomes and weighing harm. At the end of the day I have a responsibility as admin of this server to stand up to bigotry, no matter who it is coming from.
My instance's rules and About page are crystal clear about where BQL stands on ableism. Many of my users and all of my mods are disabled. Those of us who aren't stand with our disabled comrades. No tolerance for ableism in our spaces. No tolerance for ableism apologia. No tolerance for ableist retaliation. Full stop.
@tillshadeisgone sorry to hear that it's come to this. thank you for speaking out even through the difficulty.
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