Sending good vibes and solidarity to my Armenian peoples out there as they fight for their self-determination and their success in getting the Armenia Genocide recognized by the U.S.

We will get free together.

#WeWillNotBeErased

Armenians don't need their fight for recognition of their suffering met with whataboutisms from anyone--especially privileged white men. Sometimes it's good to shut the fuck up and center indigenous voices in their own liberation struggles, promote THEIR works and be silent.

The Armenian Genocide may be an academic exercise for the think tank world, but real lives were impacted by this. There is no need to All Lives Matter this movement. Anyway, Armenians and Black folks have one common enemy: white supremacy.

Let's kick the man's ass together.

Armenians have faced years of their genocide being ignored and generalized. If you participate in that in anyway, you are participating in white supremacy.

Yes, denial or any whitewashing of the Armenian Genocide *IS* white supremacy.

The problem with white men who write about Eurasia is that too many of them assume that if they just learn the languages that they understand culture. No. The Caucasus is all about race. If you don't understand race, you can't speak to the genocide.

The white gaze that is dominating the Armenia Genocide is indicative of how white supremacy works. If you have a panel on the genocide that is not lead by actual Armenians, you are participating in white supremacy.

The Eurasia field is very much in need of critical race theory and intersectionality led by Armenians and Black people. We have so much in common it's not even funny.

Anyway, let's boost Armenian voices, honor their work and shut up.

OK. Let me help y'all understand how bad it is to downplay the Armenian Genocide and say "other people in the region suffered too and they should be studied together."

Follow along in this short thread.

Let's talk the attacks against Asian Americans, for example.

Asian Americans have been targeted in hate crimes at an alarming rate. People have died in mass shootings and beaten in the streets. It is a serious problem.

Asian Americans say: Help us

Black folks say: We had it worse.

See how fucked up and wrong that is?

As a Black man whose job is to write about Black people, I would be completely out of line to decenter the violence Asian Americans face by centering my own oppression. Yes, there is anti-Blackness in Asian American communities, but it is white supremacy that planted that seed.

The way white supremacy works is that it will have oppressed people fighting each other. Real solidarity means working through the ways in which white supremacy has infected our communities, come together and fight the real enemy.

I would never say that my Asian brothers and sisters should take second place for me to center my experiences of racism as a Black man. We can honor each others experiences without fighting over who has it worse. It really isn't productive. At all.

Same with Armenians and the genocide. There is no legitimate argument which Armenians need to be swallowed into a convo about other people's oppression. Each movement is individual because oppression targets individually. Yes, we can come together but each fight is unique.

Just as I'd never argue that my oppression as a Black man should be centered over an Asian American, I'd never argue that the Armenian Genocide should be absorbed into other people's struggles. That is not good analysis. That is just insensitive and tone deaf.

It's one thing to be an intellectual at a fancy think tank. It is another to be a privilege white man who can't shut up for a second to recognize their privilege blinds them from seeing the errors in their ways. You may not be the oppressor. But you're certainly his spokesperson.