#mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

I am 20 minutes into When They See Us and oh my god. Oh my god. It’s just to much already. 

“And to think we were gonna release these animals to family court.”

“What did these animals do between here and here? Hmm?”

“You go in those projects and you stop every little thug you see”

I am already tired!!!

mod velonius

[siryouarebeingmocked]

anonymous  asked:

Since when does racism require systematic power?

fandomshatepeopleofcolor  answered:

Since roughly three decades of academic research has said so.

mod velonius

Meanwhile, in reality, a sociologist named Pat Bidol said one definition for racism was “power+privilege”. SJWs got ahold of it, and said racism was “systemic power + privilege”, and that was the only definition. Therefore, only white people could be racist. Because non-white people never have systemic power, apparently.

It’s hard to have much more systemic power than the President.  But I’ve even seen them say Obama doesn’t really count.

The definition is pushed almost entirely by SJWs, not academics. The academics that do act like it’s the only definition are SJWs themselves, and AFAIK they’re the minority.

And of course, if FandomsHatePeopleOfColor had any actual confidence in their position, instead of just an Appeal to Authority, they wouldn't need to block people who disagree or ask uncomfortable questions, would they?

Previously in FandomsHatePeopleOfColor:

“If you change a non-white character to a white character when you adapt a work, the only possible reason is racism.”

“Only actors of color have to change their names to get good roles, or play stereotypes of their cultures. White actors never get in trouble and lose their careers.”

“If someone makes a post which implies a problem is unique to black people, and someone else says it’s not, the second person is derailing. Also, we have no problem with the term “whitesplaining”, even when the “whitesplainer” isn’t white.”

“China made a movie about Chinese history and put in Matt Damon. This is racist somehow, even though I don’t know who made the movie or why they did it.”

“We suddenly care about nuance when the conversation is about Asian privilege., even though we’ve ignored the subject entirely in other discussions of the alleged racial wage gap.”

“Straight people should shut up about gay issues. But we refuse to say whether gay people should shut up about straight issues, because we’d either have to tell gay people to shut up about something AND admit straight people have issues, or openly be hypocrites.”

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

I feel like every time there is a chance for the Critical Role community to show its ass in regards to topics about diversity and all that they do.

Let me give you some background. So the cast and crew of Critical Role ( a game where a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors get together and play DnD) created a kickstarter to fund an animated special. The goal was 750k. It is day 1 of 45 and we (the critters) have raised 4.6 MILLION dollars.

So because we essentially did this to the stretch goals and fundraiser:

There was a live Q&A yesterday (March 4) and during that time Matt mentioned wanting to voice act Gilmore (one of his non player characters) but possibly not because of the issues of a white guy voicing a man of color (which Matt called him).

And as you can image the community exploded. People going on about snowflakes ruining shit. People comparing a man of color to dragonborns and sentient weapons to try and belittle the issue of behind the scenes representation. People saying this wont be an issue because he will have a diverse cast (idk about that) so this one thing is fine. People acting like because they are vocal about equality means Matt should be allowed to do this or my favorite that pointing out the racial issues in the VA community (which Laura has talked about before this) and how Matt could contribute to it is a form of bullying.

Its really exhausting being a fan of color in this community. It is really exhausting seeing people completely ignore the racial issues that arise (i recall the Beau whitewashing issue). I said this on the reddit post about the topic of VA for npcs this is one of the worse parts of the community and it keeps rearing its ugly head.

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

can I ask what Brian w foster did? I did some digging but all I can see is posts in support of him and I kinda feel like I need to know! I’m a critter but I’m so behind I don’t keep up with the fandom at all.

So this is second hand information for me since I wasn’t around when it all went down but I will try to give you the run down. So this is the tweet that started it all:

Now I want to emphasize that in the aftermath I have seen people acknowledge that needing to step back is a thing but also want it acknowledged that being able to step back is a privilege that marginalized folks just don’t have since our very existence is politicized.

Another issue people found with the tweet is specifically this quote:  “Rather than add to noise on either “side”, because I’ve never felt like I fully belonged in either camp” because it plays the dangerous game of comparing sides when the two sides are GROUP A (the right) wants to openly oppress and murder marginalized people and GROUP B (the left) is just like no (not to say GROUP B doesn’t have issues it does).

Marginalized people affected by his statement spoke up about it. To be fair there probably were some people more heated than others because of what he said - which I don’t begrudge them for that. And then apparently the community just blew up from there.

People have stated that others have tried to cancel him (haven’t seen that at all), that he was called homophobic/transphobic/racist (while I believe the words were used I am skeptical they were used in the way the fandom at large is claiming) and that the marginalized people that spoke up ran him off twitter. 

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Brian's second tweet wasn't super good either tbh, the whole "being criticizes by the people I've fought for" sounds a lot like "I can't believe how ungrateful you are for my allyship". It really disappoints me that so much of the fandom is claiming that he didn't fuck up at all (a lot that never even saw the tweets) and saying shit like "Matt will have a word with you!" like these people are toddlers or something. I do love Brian, he's a good guy,but I hope when he comes back he addresses this

Yeah...that is not how you handle that situation at all and I do hope while he is taking his mental health break from twitter he thinks about this situation and has something better to say on it.

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

This whole Brian situation is absolutely 100% making a mountain out of a mole hill. There's a huge difference between well intentioned criticism & just straight up harassment. Which it absolutely has become. If Brian wants to be neutral in terms of politics then why is that a bad thing? Plus if the harassment continues, who's to say Brian & everyone else won't walk away.... Permanently? If it happens we ALL lose.

“There’s a huge difference between well intentioned criticism & just straight up harassment. Which it absolutely has become.”

Hmmm has it though? Who am I supposed to trust? A community filled with people that go onto untagged posts made by marginalized group with no mention of BWF name venting about why they have a problem with what he did and dry snitching by tagging BWF and Matt Mercer? Am I supposed to trust a community who I have witnessed in this situation with my own eyes tear people to shreds who very clearly have made no denigrating comment about BWF but are just explaining their issues with what he said as a marginalized individual? Am I supposed to believe a community who decides this level of “toxicity” is what might drive them out of the community and not say the rampant bigotry (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, queerphobia) that continues to exists unchecked? 

OR do I believe the marginalized voices that are going to bat for those communities inside and outside the critter fandom and the people corroborating what they are saying? 

Like be honest let’s say the two sides are two people yeah? Person A has a history of being upfront, honest and consistently defends marginalized people. Person B has a history of turning things into something they aren’t, isn’t very upfront and honest and pretends to care about marginalized people but doesn’t put their money where their mouth is. Which one of these people do you believe if a situation occurs?

And to answer your “If Brian wants to be neutral in terms of politics then why is that a bad thing?” I will quote  Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel:

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.”

-  The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, the Accident

If a handful of people comparatively “misbehaving” is what gets Brian and everyone to walk away from defending and supporting marginalized people then they weren’t allies to begin with. Like *some* members in a group behave in a way you don’t like and you decide “oh well fuck your rights” to the entire group at large. 

Like I’m black and queer and I have consistently run into queerphobic black people that make me feel like shit. Like my blackness isn’t enough. Like my queerness degrades my blackness. It seems like in the past two months parts of the black community have time and time again showed their ass when it comes to queer topics and yet I’m not suddenly going “well since this group are being trash none of yall deserve my support.” 

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

How on earth did Matt contribute to racism with Gilmour? Genuinely baffled.

Matt hasn’t contribute to racism with Gilmore. But if he voiced him he would. Laura has actually touched on the topic of white people voicing characters of color in the voice acting world and how 9/10 the voice actors don’t even know they are doing it.

But the problem boils down to PoC rarely getting to voice PoC (or really white people for that matter either) and white voice actors getting all the roles regardless of the character’s race. It’s a pervasive issue in the community and if Matt (a white guy) voices Gilmore (a man of color as described by Matt) he would be contributing to that racial issue in the VA community.

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

theres nothing wrong with being critical of Brian W Foster-- his tweet was tone-deaf and from a place of certain privilege -- but the amount of toxicity that was flung at him is completely despicable. he's a grown man and can take care of himself, but I do think it's important to still talk about what happened

So here's the thing. No one has been able to show me all the toxicity that was flung at him and I am weary to believe ANY fandom not just this one when it comes to situations like this because I've witnessed first hand an inumerable amount of fandoms make this same claim when the reality is far from it.

There are a number of people - marginalized people - that I follow and trust more than the CR fandom at large that are making it sound like it's one of those situations where marginalized people rightfully had a problem and people blew it up.

So until someone can prove otherwise that's where I stand.

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Liam Neeson

I want to start this off by saying I am one black person. I do not speak for our entire community fuck I don’t even speak for the rest of the mods in this moment this is just me talking.

Now I’ve read the initial interview. I’ve watched him on GMA. I’ve listened to John Barnes. I have “full scope” of the situation. 

This entire thing has been super fucking distressing and the way I know that is the case is the way I handle stuff is by laughing about it. I had a close friend once tell me that a family member of their’s died and I had the hardest time not laughing. I moved recently so I was on the phone catching up with a friend and I asked if she heard about Liam Neeson and she hadn’t so I told her and the entire time I’m just laughing and she asked me why am I laughing it’s not funny. And I said you’re right it isn’t I think it’s just really fucking with me. 

I know I won’t be able to stop any of you that wanna cry “oh this is fake outrage” and want to stick to your guns on that rather than acknowledge how traumatizing it can be for black people to hear racist shit like this but for those of you on the fence I want you to pause for a moment and just think about something you’ve heard or experience frequently that has literally just worn you down to bone and continues to do so. 

Having listened to GMA now I do think he is remorseful for not just the revenge but also the racism. But me coming to that conclusion hasn’t erased this knot I have in my chest over this entire thing. 

I recognize that everyone (myself included) is at the least casually racist because we are in part the society we were raised in. Even those of us that had really forward thinking parents that tried make sure this wasn’t the case still have the same casual racism the rest of us do - at bare minimum. 

But the level of racism required to wander around for up to a week and a half with a weapon hoping to be provoked so you can murder some random black person is beyond the casual racism we all have in us. That’s the type of active racism that got Emmett Till killed. That’s the type of active racism that has gotten so many other black men/people killed. That’s the type of active racism that could get me killed or my brother or my mom or my dad or my niece.

There are so many people that are defending him like “he experienced a trauma/tragedy.” Okay y’all think experiencing a trauma/tragedy is an excuse to wander around with the intent to commit a hate crime but you can’t recognize that Black people can be traumatized by racism and then be angry with him for that extremely high level of active racism that has gotten us killed. You can’t seem or just don’t care that y’all dismissing and diminishing our trauma is making this entire situation worse. 

I saw a tweet that put it well “There have been to many incidents really close together lately where some white person says or does or said or did some incredibly racist thing and people can’t rush fast enough to tell those of us viscerally affected by it to suck it up cause we gotta center WP’s feelings. Or we aren’t even supposed to process it out loud with each other before being told it’s now time for healing and reconciliation and acknowledgement of growth and change and redemption and whatever. It’s exhausting.”

It would be great if for once you guys could center our feelings, our pain, our trauma in conversations revolving around racism and black people. It would also be great if yall recognized that while people are fully entitled to grow and change as a person no one is entitled to give a fuck. 

Again I do think that he is remorseful for not just the revenge but also the racism. That being said I don’t give a fuck because that remorse does nothing for my trauma. 

I do believe in conversations being had to talk about racism and whatnot in a constructive manner that helps alleviate it but what Liam has done hasn’t done that. What it has done is brought people out the woodworks admitting to thinking like him not to own up to their racism but to defend him. What we have is people centering white feelings over black trauma again. 

I am reminded of something from AA. If making amends would cause harm then you don’t do it. This entire thing has caused nothing but harm.

What do I want from Liam?

Now that he has started this whole thing I want him to address the people trying to defend what he did. Like so many people are out on social media trying to say the tragedy he felt for his friend justifies his behavior. 

If his intention was to start a conversation about race relations an bigotry  then he needs to step up and address the people that are missing the point he claims to be trying to make on GMA. 

I want Liam Neeson to address the people trying to dictate how we as black people react to hearing about that level of racism and let them know it’s not their place to decide how we should or shouldn’t be feeling.

I want Liam Neeson to have a conversation about how if he wasn’t a white man he wouldn’t be received so well. The droves of white people coming out to defend him would be silent or they would be vocal about using that non-white man to paint his entire race as violent and racist.

This is his story and he started this. If he truly meant this to be the start of some good dialogue he has a responsibility to this conversation now. 

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

I can understand the need to vent about cases of tactless tweets, but in this case (BWF) it was a man stating that he needed to step back for the sake of his own mental well-being, and people interpreted it in the worst way. As for sides, he's advocated for *causes* even when not explicitly taking *sides*. Rejecting allies for not being *allied enough* certainly goes against BWF's message of "don't forget to love each other." Silencing voices speaking against injustice just makes things worse.

First I want to make it clear that I am not faulting Brian for needing to take a step back. I recently got a job working with a reproductive justice organization and within two months of having this job a small part of me is just like “fuck it’s too much.” I suffer from major depression so I get needing to take some space. 

That being said “Rather than add to noise on either “side”, because I’ve never felt like I fully belonged in either camp” is pretty indistinguishable from a racist dog whistle a lot of us marginalized folk see all the time. And Brian being an ally doesn’t suddenly mean he gets a pass on using racist dog whistles. Part of my issue with what he said is that while EYE don’t necessarily believe he is going down that road the power and platform he has means that when he says stuff like that it can embolden people that are undoubtedly going down that road in the community. 

I’ll say it again from where I am standing people were trying to have a conversation with him about why what he said was messed up and a problem and then others blew it out of proportion and he left. And like if comparatively a small group of the people you claim to be an ally for “misbehaves” and that makes you stop being an ally, you weren’t an ally to begin with. That last statement isnt an invitation for people to *actually* abuse and silence allies but it’s also the truth.

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Listen up. Candace Owens is trash and continues to be trash but I swear to god I will fucking curb stomp someone if yall make me have to defend her from anti-black racism.

I swear if I have to fix my fucking mouth to defend Candace Owens cause yall cant criticize people without being racist I am gonna hurt somebody.

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[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Okay i just saw what is in my opinion whitewashed art of the new black guy from overwatch.

The artist's argument is that it isnt whitewashing, its pastel and everyone not just Baptise is lighter in the picture.

I have no response to that cause im not an artist and i dont have a grasp on a lot of the concepts so can someone who is more knowledgeable than I explain to me whether or not pastel means that Baptise has to go from this:

To this:

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

Is it racist if a white guy rejects a black girl because he has "racial dating preferences"

Short answer: Yup! 100% racist

Long answer: its definitely racist but no one is entitled to people dating them and said racist has every right to say no to who he wants to date/sleep with but that doesn't make the reasoning wrong.

I saw an argument that said refusing to date someone is a part of bodily autonomy so I'm gonna expand on that to get my point across.

A pregnant person has the right to get an abortion for whatever reason they want. It's their body and their choice. That being said the reasons can 100% be fucked up.

The aborting of non-neurotypical/disabled babies is usually pretty ableist. Sex-selective abortions are pretty sexist. And yet people still have a right to have an abortion for those reasons.

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[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

I want to say that recently a cosplay convention I went to began doing a wipe check on cosplayers to make sure no one is brown/blackfacing. Those that failed the check weren't allowed into the convention. So I hope blackfacing cosplayers and their supporters finally realize they're assclowns.

BITCH YES!! YES this is how you do it!

What convention?

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

So, I'm a bit lost on the Brian W Foster situation. To my knowledge he's a person who's pushed for positivity in the community. Him not taking sides is probably viewed by him as a way to reach people on both sides of the spectrum. It's harder to reach a side from a place of opposition. Yes, criticism is valid but it should stay as being critical as opposed to hateful. It's disheartening to see all the negativity toward someone for the POTENTIAL implications and interpretation of their words. :(

Okay listen yeah Brian has done some good stuff but that doesn’t mean he gets a pass when he messes up. 

When the sides are “I want to oppress and murder marginalized people” and “hey no don’t do that I want to live” not taking sides is a problem. It’s an act of centrism that leads to trying to find a middle ground between those two sides and the middle ground is still harmful for the marginalized people. 

Two things about your “criticism is valid but it should stay as being critical as opposed to hateful.” First I am not convinced the criticism was “hateful” to begin with because again fandoms in general and critters specifically have a history of taking the valid issues marginalized groups have with the show & cast and turning it into something it isn’t. Second let’s say it was hateful. I am not gonna begrudge people being hateful about someone using a dogwhistle that is used by people that oppress and murder them. I’m just not. We live in dark times. Marginalized people are having their rights stripped away and being MURDERED. 

The potential implications of Brian’s words is engaging in the oppression of marginalized folks. I would agree with you if the implication was something minor but it isn’t. Not to mention even in my “I am giving him the benefit of the doubt world” his words and actions can and will embolden the bigots in our community. 

mod velonius

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

I feel like this CR business really exemplifies something I've witnessed that really bothers me. I see POC call someone out, taking extra care to be reasonable and nuanced (because they have to be, just to get heard), and then white allies so eager to prove their ally card are the ones that are like "THIS ONE PROBLEMATIC THING BASICALLY MAKES YOU A NAZI AND YOU SHOULD BE KILLED FOR YOUR HATRED," and then the whole call out gets painted as absurd extremism by POC, when really it's the whites 1/2

that have gone to extremes and are making a reasonable complaint (“Hey, this thing isn’t ok, it bothers me because X, Y, Z, and it makes me feel unsafe/suspicious of this celebrity”) sound like an absurd cancel culture parody. I’m not for tone policing POC who are upset (no one HAS to be reasonable or polite), but I just feel like white allies need to calm down and match the tone of the POC who are actually affected by whatever is going on. 2/2

I realized I forgot to answer this. 

So I completely agree with you about allies  (not just white people since white people can be part of marginalized groups) matching the tone of the people they are allying with. And like I am sure there were cases of that in this conversation because it always happens like clockwork.

That being said as much as I want and need allies to do better in that regard I won’t lay the sole blame on them for situations that devolve into shit storms because again it takes TWO to tango and people’s willingness to readily lump in marginalized people’s criticism with a comparative handful of people doing to much is just an example wanting to brush aside that criticism. 

Like I’ve had situations on this blog where people have gone to far as a collective when it comes to a situation but I am also careful not to ignore the valid criticisms that are coming my way. 

mod velonius