There is a time and place for certain nuanced conversations and honestly Twitter is not always that place.

With that being said, I’m going to quickly talk about gatekeeping and how it is a double edged sword. A tool, nonetheless. (1/n)

The US has a certain surface-level obsession with Black culture. I say surface-level b/c we’ve seen how other races like to appropriate culture without caring about any of the issues Black people face on a daily basis. (2/n)

The mental toll it takes to watch Black people get punished/discriminated against for their hair/skin color/clothing etc. while others are applauded for the same is huge. Gatekeeping is a form of reclamation in this sense. (3/n)

Now when we delve into what gatekeeping looks like within the Black community, the lines get a little muddier. This was most likely the source of friction today. A topic that must be contextualized by our history (4/n)

While race is a social construct, we can all agree that the US based an entire economy off of upholding and maintaining the racial caste system. Black people internalized much of this rhetoric, favoring proximity to whiteness. Colorism exists in part b/c of this (5/n)

“The paper bag test” and “one-drop rule” are racist/colorist ways to divide the Black community and promote dark skinned Anti-Blackness.

The lighter your skin, the more privilege you had. The looser your curls, the lighter your eyes, the more doors opened up for you. (6/n)

How does gatekeeping come into play? Women like Rachel Dolezal, Jessica Krug, Satchuel Cole, and others used colorism/one-drop rule to posit themselves as frontier thought leaders on Blackness in the US while using their privilege to discredit those that caught on. (7/n)

Imagine that. Knowing the role you play as a white person in the oppression of others and STILL infiltrating safe Black spaces and gaslighting the people who caught on.

This is why gatekeeping is necessary. (8/n)

White passing people of color add another complex layer to this topic, and it requires reflection/introspection. Because you are gonna have to sit down and interrogate the line between being white-passing and being white, regardless of what your parents look like (9/n)

Because like we’ve been saying, race is not genetic it’s a social construct. You can have Black parents and not be Black. (10/n) https://twitter.com/hood_biologist/status/715610854327132160

Race is what society sees (i.e., social construct) not necessarily what you identify as. Society will gatekeep its identities. (11/n) https://twitter.com/hood_biologist/status/1302008623451770880

If you’re wondering how you can have Black parents and not be Black here is an example https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/11/20/my-mother-spent-her-life-passing-as-white-discovering-her-secret-changed-my-view-of-race-and-myself/