Solidarity with Professor Priyamvada Gopal. It's devastating to see the racist abuse directed at her as she challenged white supremacy. Yet I think it's important to note that allies can also reproduce anti-blackness at the same time as purporting to fight it. https://twitter.com/_joeshaughnessy/status/1276089735061082112

CN/ racist language and imagery

The ease with which Professor Gopal, a senior academic and non-black WOC shared violent anti-black messages directed at her (including the N-word, N-word lover and nooses), was not lost on Black students. I am not the first to make this critique.

The white supremacists attacked Prof Gopal for daring to call for the abolition of whiteness. They attacked her because she is a vocal Brown woman. But significantly a lot of the racist language directed at her was specifically anti-black likely due to her support for BLM

The sharing and amplication of antiblack racism (even to condemn it) as a non-black person is itself a form of violence and causes harm, even in this context. It's part of a broader culture whereby anti-black racism is shared reflexively, with the purpose of denouncing it.

As ample black journalists & scholars have argued, the well-intentioned circulation of antiblack racism- especially violent imagery & videos of Black people being murdered- contributes to our dehumanisation. Could the point not be made without sharing violent anti-black messages?

Proximity to blackness via the BAME category and through allyship with Black people via social media is not the same as being Black. The anti-black racism could be shared in this way because it isn't as viscerally traumatising to a non-Black WOC.

In our fight against white supremacy, racism and particularly antiblackness, accountability is crucial for the health of our movement. As a black woman, I feel compelled to say something. This shouldn't be construed as a lack of support ofc. I stand in solidarity with Prof Gopal.