Discussion
One of my better habits I've kept from my Twitter days is making it a point of following people from marginalized groups. This way, I probably have fewer delusions about this than most cishet white guys.
I am still sticking around here because I think the Fediverse is still the best chance we have of building better social media. But we do have our work cut out for us, and not pretending that the Fediverse is great for marginalized groups is the first step.
Yeah, "I don't see color!" and its variants are... not really helpful when it comes to fighting #racism .
Because what this approach does is to stick with one's own subconscious biases, and reinforce the status quo. If you cannot make the effort to understand where marginalized people are coming from, then how can you work to make things better?
@juergen_hubert @minmi @ashwin@defcon.social @dumpsterqueer
I grew up in West Africa. I spoke Hausa mostly, was treated as what Hausa calls "bature", white people and Arabs. No pejoratives attached.
But,immersed as I was in Hausa culture, I picked up pro-Hausa beliefs. I fit in really well, a bature who really liked Hausa people,
Everyone has biases I believe. But every thoughtful person "makes the effort" - and it is hard work. But it's always appreciated
@tuban_muzuru @juergen_hubert @minmi @dumpsterqueer
You are talking to a person of color, a first generation immigrant to the USA, who also happens to be LGBTQ.
As for making an effort, in 2023, I was a programmer with federal clearance, working for the US government, through #AccentureFederalServices , through a contractor, when I called out corruption, became a #whistleblower
I have been homeless since 2023, and hounded by the law, a dozen rides in the back of cop cars, usually handcuffed. Kicked out of hospitals, banks, libraries, stores, and buses. 5 arrests, police brutality, 6 nights in jail. I have slept outdoors in winters without warm clothes, in muddy orchards, in rain, on cold concrete city pavements. Denied public defense in courts, though I told judges I was homeless and food insecure. Broken bone, body in constant pain. I have eaten out of garbage cans, and several times, gone hungry for 2-3 days at a time.
Moved to Tokyo to avoid persecution, though it followed me here, and I am homeless here as well, probably because the Japanese government is afraid of granting me political asylum.
Here, read my account:
https://whistleblower.lovestoblog.com/
The linked PDF has an appendix with the “receipts”, documents that corroborate my account.
All because I took a stand for the people, asked tough questions, spoke truth to power. Such as, why is the government using public money to pay for proprietary software, when #FOSS is available. That money could be used to help US Veterans, instead of lining the pockets of fatcat executives and bureaucrats.
Here are some of the questions I raised:
https://rant.li/ashwin/perl-versus-java
You are right though. I don’t know where marginalized people are coming from. Please tell me more about how Microsoft, Oracle, and Meta are free of bias, and how bad the FOSS community is. You must have done a lot of research from your armchair. Tell me about what you are doing to help, except complaining. Tell me what you have risked personally.
@ashwin @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
I have repeatedly stated on my account in the past that I consider commercial #SocialMedia to be a dire civilizational threat, and that I want the #Fediverse to replace them.
But this is precisely why I refuse to ignore the flaws of the Fediverse as it is - we _must_ get better.
As a white, cishet guy, the story of marginalized people who did not feel welcome on the Fediverse is not mine to tell. But the story of #BlackTwitter / #BlackMastodon is well-publicized, and thus there is no need for me to do that:
https://www.techpolicy.press/the-whiteness-of-mastodon/
I'd like to imagine that we _are_ getting better. But we are nowhere where we should be. The Fediverse is still overwhelmingly white, and North American and European, with a few notable exceptions like #Misskey .
@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
If it’s not your story to tell, then don’t tell it.
The Fediverse may be mostly caucasian, but so is much of the web.
Your complaining, kvetching and virtue signaling is not helping anything or anyone.
Have you talked to homeless people of color? Did you sit with them on a street curb, and ask about their concerns? Did you learn any gutter argot? Did you actually do anything at all, armchair warrior?
@ashwin @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
So you are saying that I, as a white person, should... simply not talk about racism? Pretend that it does not exist? 🧐
@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
What I am saying is that there’s a distrust of privileged people among the marginalized people, and that the distrust has sound basis. There are too many privileged people playing fair weather friends by day, making eloquent noises. Yet, as the numbers show, they are not true allies, merely spineless people, interested in virtue signaling to appear respectable and to go with the prevailing trends. In private, they feel differently and act differently.
For example, I was repeatedly thrown out of public buses in Hawai’i, and held my ground ( invoking Rosa Parks here ), to the extent possible. I got into a conversation with a caucasian man, whom I met on the beach, where I would meditate, and he did Yoga. He sympathized and appeared to ardently support the cause of justice. After many conversations, he asked me how he could help the cause of social justice. I asked him to stand next to me, and video the next incidence of the bus driver trying to forbid me from riding the bus, in clear violation of my civil rights. He immediately backed out, made himself scarce and never spoke with me again. There’s a difference in saying that you want justice, and standing shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with those experiencing injustice. Walking the walk involves real discomfort, real risk, real action. And this Yoga practicing dude was not real.
So I had to go it alone. Here’s a video of the driver refusing to let me put my stuff in the cargo bay, and board the bus, which is a free, public service in Hawai’i, paid for by public money. The driver makes several false claims, such having to call 911 twice, because of me. 911 records will show that to be a blatant lie.
https://youtube.com/shorts/GOaQjcPxGxQ?si=s9UYMHjfESjRc286
Better go it alone, than be surrounded by false friends, making sympathetic noises.
Would you have marched with Gandhi or MLK, and faced police brutality? Or are you just making fashionable sounds from the comfort of your armchair?
Save us the talk, if you can’t walk the walk.
YouTube
@ashwin @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
"Would you have marched with Gandhi or MLK, and faced police brutality?"
I would like to think that I would have. But I will never know, because I was not alive during that time.
@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
Of course you were not alive during those times of injustice. But you are alive during this time of injustice. So I ask again, besides making noises, what have you really risked?
@ashwin @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
Little, because I do not live in a fascist nation.
And to help ensure that it does not _become_ a fascist nation again, I actively work as part of the German Green Party.
@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
Is Germany free of hate groups persecuting minorities? Have you physically stood with the persecuted people, and risked taking a bloody blow to the head?
@ashwin @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
No, because the hate groups do not prowl for their targets in public where I live.
Anyway, are you not seeing how weird this conversation is getting?
I start out with saying that the #Fediverse could do more to include marginalized people, and you get all worked up and demand that I pass your arbitrary purity tests before I am allowed to voice any criticism.
I do not need to justify myself to you.
@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
Good to see that you support the #Fediverse over closed platforms. I am not literally asking you to face violence. I am asking about anything you have done, any concrete actions you have taken, to help people out of the walled gardens, and break the deadlock of mutual presence with their friends and community, on those closed platforms?
What do you think of the idea of making a site to facilitate an exodus of users from Twitter / Facebook, to the open platform of #Mastodon ?
Could the German Green Party help with this undertaking?
@ashwin @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
I have been pushing for greater promotion and use of the Fediverse within the German Green Party, such as with these custom business cards I have created.
And the Greens even have their own Mastodon instance - gruene.social.
The Fediverse is not yet widely known within the Green Party, but those of us who know of it are pretty passionate about pushing it.
@juergen_hubert @tuban_muzuru @minmi @dumpsterqueer
Good to hear. I realized, as you do, I am sure, that merely advertising the Fediverse is not going to cut it.
I personally started down the road of building the exodus gateway I propose. But I got knocked down, and thrown into the streets 3 years ago. The bank ( #WellsFargo ) will not let me access my own money, which I was going to use to host the exodus websites ( facebook2mastodon.org / twitter2mastodon.org ).
I am an experienced programmer, and could have finished implementing these sites in a week, working solo.
The German Green Party has access to the modest resources required to break people out of the billionaire jails. So my ask of you is, can you take up this cause and make it real? I would have loved to have claimed the credit for bringing the vision to fruition, though I am homeless in Tokyo at the moment, and struggling for daily survival. So I pass the torch to you and your party.
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