File It

Twitter remains my favorite social media platform to this day. It isn't perfect, though. Not by any stretch of the imagination. There are those who "steal or borrow" content from other Twitter users. The occasional viral flash in a pan turned into volcano erupting molten lava. Then there's the tedious interfacing when you're really just trying to say something important, but get cut off from fully expressing yourself.

In the past month I've had a number of engagements on the subject of race on Twitter.

One engagement, ended with me blocking someone because they chose to ridicule and disrespect me, for simply pointing out intention.

Another engagement, ended with someone blocking me, because I wasn't seeing or reading a tweet the exact same way they were.

The final engagement, ended in me feeling defeated, but at least no one was blocked. At least, I don't think so.

I consider myself to be an ally of the African American community and to people of color, but I know I'm imperfect. I try and I fail. Some of my attempts, simply fall short. 

The first engagement was focused on politics and "The White Monolith".

I am not apart of The White Monolith. It's not for me. I did not vote for Trump. By any metric, polling data, political science report, I am an outlier.

In saying this, I will absolutely, 100%, always defend and distance myself from The White Monolith, simply because no one else is going to do it for me.

This means, if someone is writing out their hot take on, "Wypipo in America", and I feel like they're pushing me closer to The White Monolith, I'm going to push back.

In an era where Black Lives Matter has changed America in many different ways, the phrases I have learned and heard so often is, "The problem isn't White Nationals, it's White Moderates", taken from Martin Luther King Jr.'s, "Letter from Birmingham Jail", and "It's not enough to not be racist anymore, you have to be anti-racist."

By saying I do not want to be associated with The White Monolith in any way, fashion, or form, is me taking a stance against racism.

The second interaction was based off my first ever viral tweet. I made a comment about Candace Owens and her disagreement with a recent Vogue photo shoot, with Harry Styles.

I said the following in response.

One user chalked my gumption to say such a thing on Twitter as me exerting, White Privilege.

No. Incorrect. I base my ability to make such a comment on the rights bestowed upon me by The First Amendment of The US Constitution.

Another Twitter user, read it in a way where they believed I had misgendered or was even questioning the feminine qualities of Candace Owens, basically making her sub-human.

No. Also, incorrect. In the tweet I clearly refer to Ms. Owens only as a woman and use the pronoun she, multiple times. I also am fully aware Ms. Owens is, in fact, a woman. I also would like to point out, in no way did I try to take anything away from Ms. Owens or her ability to identify as any gender she pleases.

Take notice, Ms. Owens did exactly this within her comments.

Ms. Owens clearly supports the idea men are supposed to be men, therefore masculine, and nothing else at any other point in time. Men, like Harry Styles, should not be allowed to express themselves, even in the fashion they choose to wear.

Who exactly is espousing hatred for those who are different here? Me? Or Ms. Owens?

The last interaction, is based off a thread. This Twitter user was expressing his discontent when interacting with White people, because he has to approach all White people as strangers and therefore, any White person could be the kind of person who dislikes or hates people of color.

It makes perfect sense, but I couldn't take it anymore, I had to engage because it's who I am. I like to talk, I'm curious, and I want to be better.

So I asked, "What do I as a White man living in Alabama have to do to prove I'm an ally to Black people, without coming across as being weird, strange, or desperate?"

His response.

"I don't know. It's a delicate balance, right?"

He's right.

I had proved it by originally thinking the man who was writing this thread was Black, when in fact, he's Asian American. I had made a mistake and didn't even know it until I was thinking about writing this blog post and I was doing my research. 

I suddenly realized, I am the White stranger he's talking about.

It doesn't make me a full blown racist, but it goes right back to what I was saying about falling short, or being an imperfect ally.

I knew it was more than likely it had to be true about me, but I couldn't actually think of any example(s), until I decided to suck it up and write this post detailing how I try to understand differences between people based on the color of our skin and dealing with racism in virtual spaces.

I'm not entirely shocked or hurt by what others have levied against me. I wish others had given me a better chance, but I don't blame them. Not one bit. I have to move on. I can only try to learn and be even better than what I was the day before.

One thing is clear. Social media can and should do better when talking about race.

Normalize talking about race online.

No human being is just a piece of paper, waiting to be filed, slotted into a folder, placed into a drawer, then encased in a metal cabinet.