Farah Stockman contacted me while researching this article

I suggested several local Black and Indigenous activists she might talk to

I also gave my perspective about whether anarchists have taken over BLM (nope)

Obviously, none of that made the cut https://nyti.ms/33gILSX 

It's a very strange experience to have something this horrible written about a community you love by someone who doesn't seem to get why it's so awful. Someone who expects to continue to have a friendly dialogue despite what feels to me like a betrayal

It sucks to have someone earnestly listen to your opinions and suggestions, thank you, tell you that you helped them gain a better understanding, and then write something that ignores every word you said. Not even both-sides-ism, which I'd expected, but exclusively the other side

Maybe it's inappropriate to center my feelings like this. But I'm real sad. And I feel guilty, like maybe if I'd been more articulate or pushed harder for her to interview other people or....something, maybe she wouldn't have written it like this

Like I'm guilty by association

Rather than people involved in the movement, Stockman relies almost entirely on the conspiratorial ramblings of someone with no credibility whatsoever. @IGD_News breaks down the problems with Quinn as a source here: https://twitter.com/IGD_News/status/1311560820757729280?s=19

She also cites an excellent article from @crimethinc as evidence of a planned conspiracy, when in fact the article describes the things that happened in Minneapolis and observes what made those actions successful. Nowhere does it claim top-down coordination of events

(Stockman cites a Rutgers white paper as well and I'm gonna have to put on my social-science hat and decipher it. I'll do it soon. Maybe it's great, but suffice it to say I have questions)

Stockman responded to these critiques by claiming the article gives insurrectionary anarchists credit for boosting the cause, which is one way to read it I guess

Another way to look at it would be that she's making a case for leftist to be considered domestic terrorists

The idea that a vast and highly-coordinated conspiracy theory by anarchists deliberately introduced insurrectionary tactics into the BLM movement for their own nefarious purposes places everyone in the movement at risk

It also undermines the agency or Black people on the ground

Stockman expressed to me a desire to write a follow-up piece that centers the voices of Black anarchists

Forgive me if my trust in that ever happening in a responsible manner is gone

Stockman stressed that she's only human and just trying to understand, which, again, is one perspective

Another perspective would be that she has an enormous platform and, if she's still trying to understand something, she should maybe not write a whole fucking article about it

I'm hurt and sad and angry and scared about what this means for us, and I hate myself for feeling rude for writing all this. Like, because someone was polite and even nice to me I somehow owe them my silence. That's coming from inside my head, that's my fault for feeling that way

I hate this. It gives me no joy to tweet any of this

If Stockman wants to try to undo the harm she's done with a follow-up piece that would be great

But I won't be talking to her again, or to anyone from the New York Times: not anytime soon