WOW. OKAY. Yeah, I'm the person they're referring to. I have previously noted that @DrWilliamProct1 is complicit in #racismo. I gave @henryjenkins the benefit of the doubt. More fool me. Great job on the racism. Love that BLM header. #ComicsStudies #FanStudies #MediaStudies https://twitter.com/shallowbrigade/status/1299803866448490496

The second person @DrWilliamProct1 is referencing is @RukminiPande who is someone who has not only repeatedly pointed out how racially gaslighting his work is, but has had to listen to him say things like he doesn't think structural racism exists. Fuck this racist dude.

"In the current climate, the better manoeuvre"? I pretty much knew Billy Proctor was going to cynically try to milk BLM, but for someone who wrote that he was "trying to do better" he's sure still a straight up gelatinous turd.

https://twitter.com/SamiraNadkarni/status/1299831742530908160

Would I love to not be the damn Cassandra of racism in pop culture or media studies? Sure. But maybe people could be 50% less racist to give me a fighting chance???

Here's my emails with transcripts in the thread. https://twitter.com/SamiraNadkarni/status/1299833915314597888

The saddest thing is that Rukmini wasn't even involved in the writing of that email. We discussed it and based on her previous experiences with calling out racism in Fan Studies and my previous experiences with the Whedon Studies Association, she thought it would change nothing.

I am far less upset at the fact that people clearly milking BLM were proven to be racist because I kind of give zero shits about them. I am furious & on the verge of tears because Rukmini is hurt because her field is showing her YET AGAIN how dismissive they will be of her work.

The fact is that @DrWilliamProct1 and @henryjenkins not only are WELL AWARE of how hurtful this is. How many people stood up and fought the last time @RukminiPande called out racism? Has Fan Studies changed even a little after 2 years or has it just patted itself on the back?

I wrote that email after pulling a ridiculous workday with another to follow, and I did it because I /KNOW/, I fucking KNOW what it is to stand in a room and wish someone would say something and hear nothing but silence and have to think "this is going to cost me" and do it.

I'm not the only one who has had that. @RukminiPande knows that feeling well too. So she did what was right and stood up as well. No one else emailed the whole listserv in support. I got single emails to me thanking me, and not apologising to Black scholars for that contd silence

Let's be clear: No one wants thanks for standing up. I want people to fucking make it right. I want no one to feel scared and alone because they know, they fucking KNOW, that no one will say anything and they will have to. And they will be made to pay for it.

You want to look at costs? Both of us have upcoming books in fields we have called out for racism. Is this going to affect us when hurt white scholars refuse sales, refuse access, don't recommend us, won't blurb us, won't review us? We have to weigh that every fucking time.

You want to look at costs? How many Black scholars are now seeing this and knowing that this field is dismissive of their needs? How many people on that listserv spoke up after Bill Proctor sent that email publicly? Count up what this MEANS for young academics in your field.

You want to look at costs? Now every alternate academic racist is going to pop out of the woodwork and justify these dudes and their "real intent." I will put cash money on it. It's so predictable because it has happened every time before this one.

We and every other antiracist academic out there will have to deal with them. Is this going to affect @DrWilliamProct1 and @henryjenkins the same way? I doubt it. That's also the damn cost. /They/ did this. Their refusal to see how they were enabling racism did this.

You want to know what costs are? Look at the #BlackInTheIvory hashtag. Look at what happens all the time. Look at how there is never accountability for this. Look at who carries those costs. Will people in these fields finally fucking stand up and do shit about it?

I want to point as well to the email shared accidentally that notes that @DrWilliamProct1 was warned "not to engage for reasons everyone has stipulated to me" which suggests this is not just him and @henryjenkins but likely multiple other scholars as well. THIS is what we face.

At the end of everything, what hope is there to be in these fields? Between these people and their supporters, how does anyone go back to a conference and stand there? How does anyone write in this field? How does anyone collaborate on work? How.

This is how we're driven out.

And we're brown. We're not even facing the worst of it. We are literally the epitome of middle class highly educated privilege. That we're here to say something at all means we can get in the damn door.

Racism /is/ academic gatekeeping and it /is/ antiblack and it /is/ shite.

And it won't go anywhere until people start fucking standing up.

I don't regret writing that email. I don't regret spending that hour. I don't regret making clear ALWAYS that no one is fucking alone in that room.

That's what it means to be in solidarity. That's the work.

And no one should EVER have to be grateful for someone refusing to let dehumanisation pass. Fuck that noise. Solidarity means community. It means we care for each other. I'm here. We're here. We keep each other going.

If You're an academic and know people on that comics listserv who might feel worried or upset by what was said, reach out and make sure they know you care about and support them. (I am not on the listserv and very happy about that, thanks.)