Thread by @PriscillaEyles, Feel need to vent, anxiety/upset triggered by willful ignorance, #whitefragility & racist [...]

Feel need to vent, anxiety/upset triggered by willful ignorance, #whitefragility & racist attitudes I keep coming across in #neurodivergent communities/'support groups' I hoped would want to try & understand my perspective. But instead, just accuse me of being 'aggressive'...

Because I dared to challenge people on their bullying, defensive, patronising & gaslighting behaviour aka #covertracism & #misogynoir.

I am fed up & exhausted frm trying to explain why the personal is political & can't be separated...

& that pple don't understand that by basically calling me a 'black angry woman' you're simply reinforcing racist stereotypes & trying to silence me. & that it's a white man's privilege to be apolitical in the 1st place...

Or that being 'bullied for having freckles' ffs (yes an admin of one of the main ldn ADHD groups actually said this to me) is not the same as experiencing racism.

Patronisingly tellg me that people aren't going to 'like you if you keep trying to get them to agree with you'...

...is also beside the point.

When a #POC tells you that admins/pple in your group have been bullying you & behaving totally inappropriately beyond their remit. Trying to tell you that you're the one with the problem when others have been racist.

Then you just LISTEN...

You don't argue with them and give your ignorant opinion on dreadlocks on white pple being totally fine. Or how it's the same as them cooking Italian food for Jamie Oliver to appropriate Jamaican cooking?!!

Or tell me that you can't do anything about the longstanding toxic....

And domineering/overbearing behaviour & racially ignorant behaviour of your admins because, well they've been there for years & it would be a shame to waste all that training!!??

This is why we have groups for #POC who understand intersectionality because we are TIRED...

We are so fricking TIRED of having our identity & experiences being invalidated and dismissed & being told to basically 'shut up & stop being making things difficult for everyone'.

TIRED of the thinking that just bc we share a condition, we don't have to acknowledge anythg else

We can pretend that we all share the exact same experiences bc hey we all have #ADHD etc etc

So please don't mention race, we were so much happier when we didn't have to think about our privilege or whiteness. Why spoil the fun?

If the majority-white support groups keep denying the experiences of #POC in their community, then please don't also expect them to help out with their 'admin'.

I am done with these groups, end of. I don't care how many of them don't like me as a result...

Or how many of them think I 'take things too personally'.

I am here to speak my truth, as cliched as that phrase is, & I will continue to do so bc I am not here to be liked.

If everyone cared abt that there'd be no Audre Lorde's, Frida Khalo's, Franz Fanons or Nina Simone's...

Not comparing myself to them, but just saying...

I am however disappointed & frustrated that part of a community I have spent so much time trying to help, can dismiss & invalidate me & others so easily.

I can only hope that things get better. Rant over.

One more thing actually, bc this is a real bugbear...Trying to say you're 'objective' or that your opinion matters more as you are not white (even if you have passing privilege) & only trying to see 'both sides of the argument', only continues to validate racist behaviour...

& doesn't take into account that POC are also subject to #internalisedracism. That in fact some of the more overtly racist comments I have received were from other POC's at school.

So pls educate yourselves & stop thinkg you truly understand what racism is until then...

...& stop alienating pple in the community bc you're afraid to rock the boat.

If you're not prepared to have uncomfortable conversations, to challenge pple & to lose friends then definitely don't tell me you care abt racism, that you 'get it' or that you're anti-racist...

....Bc it's the polite, 'nice' and 'well-meaning' people who are the main part of the problem.

They enable pple to get away with bullying racist behaviour bc it's not them doing it after all! They sit back whilst the ones like us who do challenge end up having to leave...

So please for the love of God do the work, read/follow pple/media like: @blkgirllostkeys, @renireni, @lilririah, @galdemzine, @akalamusic, @afuahirsch, #robindiangelo, @autistichoya, @TripleCripples, @kerima_cevik, @BeingKaylaSmith, @Mis_TAught, @BobbVenessa, @MorenikeGO...

@AshleighJMills, @KalwantBhopal, @DavidLammy, @AyoCaesar, @BlackAutistics, @sandylocks, @BlackDisability, @phineasfrogg, @tylgrnt, @silverswansong, @CloudSkillet, @Glamrou, @travisalabanza, @MunroeBergdorf, @CampbellX & so many more amazing, ouspoken activists...

Also part of the fab @LondonBiPandas who are def worth supporting...As usual too many to ment but @lilririah has created a v useful list of awesome #AutisticBIPOC's & articles on racism. So check out their pinned Tweets.

What I'm saying is there really is 0 excuse to be ignorant

For starters this insightful article by @FaimaBakar illustrates very well how covert racism can manifest

https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/28/way-define-racism-may-stop-seeing-definition-hold-12287889/?ito=newsnow-feed

Also Robin DiAngelo on how being 'nice' is not being antiracist

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