Read on Twitter
1) So... a tweet about a Native woman prof at ASU who got COVID and died came into my timeline a few days ago.
Yesterday I started seeing tweets that the person wasn't real.
Yesterday I started seeing tweets that the person wasn't real.
2) That person was made up by a white woman who, it seems, ran that account, too. Lot of science ppl followed it and "learned" from it.
What did they learn, I wonder?
What did they learn, I wonder?
3) Apparently lot of people joined in a Zoom to mourn that not real Native woman who was supposedly at ASU, and was Hopi. Some got angry at ASU.
I gather that's when the legitimacy of that account came into question.
I gather that's when the legitimacy of that account came into question.
4) I wonder what all will come out today, tomorrow, etc? Here's a good recap of what I've been reading through in various threads: https://heavy.com/news/2020/08/sciencing_bi-bethann-mclaughlin-asu/ (see next tweet for link about Heavy dot com site):
5) Slate wrote about heavy dot com in 2017. I've got lot of questions about this whole thing. I hope other news on it comes out today/tomorrow. https://slate.com/technology/2017/03/heavy-com-five-fast-facts-you-need-to-know.html
6) So, if it true that a white woman made up a Native woman who is her friend, that's bad.
It gets worse when the white woman decides to give her made-up Native woman friend COVID because in real life, we (real Native people) are being devastated by COVID.
It gets worse when the white woman decides to give her made-up Native woman friend COVID because in real life, we (real Native people) are being devastated by COVID.
7) And it gets even worse when the white woman decides that her made-up Native friend has to die of COVID.
8) I'll add threads to mine as I see them: https://twitter.com/cricketcrocker/status/1290105491981348866
9) A dimension of this fakery that is cruel is that it adds another layer of erasure of Native people. By that I mean that I'm seeing lot of people wondering if the Native ppl they follow/interact with are real.
10) That's a perverse fact that is always in my mind as I write/tweet... that we have to say real/not real, at all.
McLaughlin's fraud is deeply harmful.
McLaughlin's fraud is deeply harmful.
11) The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article up now: https://www.chronicle.com/article/did-the-founder-of-metoostem-create-a-fake-online-persona-and-then-kill-it-off
12) And here's another article. This one is at Vice: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3zxg5/lgbtq-indigenous-professor-sciencingbi-died-covid-didnt-exist-asu-twitter
13) What did "Alepo" (sciencing_bi) tweet, and what did McLaughlin tweet about Alepo, that all those people thought Alepo was Hopi?
See, I think people are easily duped because what they "know" about Native peoples is just that horrific White Man's Indian nonsense.
See, I think people are easily duped because what they "know" about Native peoples is just that horrific White Man's Indian nonsense.
14) You know what I mean, right? Ferocious warriors and tragic end-of-the-trail ones. Ones you see in the books you read as a kid. Or that your high school "honored" on the athletic field. In other words: stereotypes.
15) Jezebel's article: https://jezebel.com/woman-whose-feminist-stem-group-had-a-racist-meltdown-n-1844592330?utm_campaign=Jezebel&utm_content=1596479227&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=twitter
And here's a thread from someone who was on that Zoom call (to mourn sciencing_bi's death): https://twitter.com/BatesPhysio/status/1290294367689744384
18) Details on sexual harassment charges "Alepo" made: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/bethann-mclaughlin-twitter-suspension-fake-covid-death Photo is of people on the zoom call. During it, Eisen started to figure out Alepo wasn't real. McLaughlin told Eisen and another person on Zoom that Alepo included them in her will.
19) Note: the article in Buzzfeed (linked in tweet 18) has been updated to include comments by Native scholars, Kim Tallbear, and Marisa Duarte. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/peteraldhous/bethann-mclaughlin-twitter-suspension-fake-covid-death?__twitter_impression=true
