#BlackLivesMatter

A good 95% of the people i follow have been unapologetic in their support for black people during this hard time. I really appreciate that

However, before i try to go to sleep tonight i wanna talk a bit about allyship when times are not like how they are now

The other 5% of people that i follow have noticibly been less active, or actively continued to post about fandom things. Now i dont know their personal lives, and everyone deals with hardship differently so i wont pass judgement on them. But i do want to talk about the latter.

One thing i stressed earlier today was maintaining allyship of black people even when there isnt a serious situation going on. Everyone's assistance is needed most at this hour, especially when a certain someone is sending military personnel to kill protestors and rioters,

Which is why i havent entirely been away from twitter and have been continuing to like and retweet resources and information where i can. On top of the stresses of the pandemic, my mental health hasnt been the greatest, so i do what i can to take the time to break and focus-

On nurturing my health, especially as a black person during this difficult time. A lot of my time is spent indulging in things like video games and fandom spaces, and believe it or not the world is more anti-black than you might think.

This is mostly in relation to escapism in fandom spaces as well as video games and other forms of entertainment, but some of the media i personally consume has very subtle themes of antiblackness. Pretty much all of it is discovered after the purchase or after the fact.

One notable example in my personal experience is Gravity Rush 2. Now i loved both games in the series, but one thing i noticed in this game was in certain cutscenes how majority of the black side characters were percieved as enemies or hooligans if not beggars and servants.

They were aggressive, violent, and majority of them were black. Now this might seem insignificant to people who arent black, but people like me are hyper aware of this, because its thinking like this that gets us percieved as aggressive and violent and shot down in the streets-

When we're really just going about our business. This is is how one little "coincidence" spirals into a constant reminder that any one of us could be the next George Floyd.

Now I also wanna talk about fandom spaces.

This is more "immediate entertainment" in a way. We dont really have to wait for content to come out, we sort of just show everyone our art and talk about a particular fandom and, in a perfect world, is more of a leisurely creative space for fans of a particular published content

Unfortunately fandom spaces can also become a breeding ground for more blatant and violent racism to flourish.

Lets talk about Pokemon and the Nessa incident for this one.

Im sure many pokemon fans and artists remember the racist backlash that ensued after many black artists attempted to provide resources and education on how to properly color the character Nessa, since she was repeatedly being whitewashed. In response, many artists started to draw

Caricatures of the character, going as far as to draw her as an ape and a nazi, which not only made the top popular spots in the nessa tag, but also deplatformed and silenced many black artists, in addition to reinforcing the idea that black is ugly, undesirable, and inherently-

animalistic.

The point of these examples is to point out the fact that anti-blackness is everywhere. We live with these fears and these struggles every day on a variety of levels. Days like today or this week are just exponentially harder than usual.

The point of this thread is to emphasize why we need allies to speak up when antiblackness is rearing its ugly head. If you see a racist tweet, dont comment on it. Report the creator and the tweet, and get your friends to do it too. Deplatforming and silencing them is the best-

Way to show you support your fellow black peers, especially if youre white.

We do not have the luxary of avoiding events like this because the very essence of a lot of established work is deeply rooted in racism, not to mention its a constant reminder that our lives are always-

On the line.

Please continue to support us even when things arent like this. Buy from black businesses. Deplatform racist voices and uplift black ones. If you can do this now, you can do this at any hour of the day, and it needs to be done to have your full support.

Here are some links to continue your support in aiding the protestors in Minnesota:

Minnesota Freedom Fund
https://minnesotafreedomfund.org/donate 

Northstar Health Collective
https://northstarhealth.wordpress.com/donate/?fbclid=IwAR2qc0-q0cEPYD_QgnLsgRE8n2cBHofKqqpDSfZ8ZWKzGkE98mrZjY8Ik4M

Black Visions Collective
https://secure.everyaction.com/4omQDAR0oUiUagTu0EG-Ig2

Reclaim the Block
https://secure.everyaction.com/zae4prEeKESHBy0MKXTIcQ2