On BLM and Taking a Stance · 7:30pm Jun 4th, 2020
Hi everyone!
Last week, I held a stream with my partner and a friend where we took commissions and all the money we made went to different charities in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. It did really well (we raised $1231)! And it could have done better if I had announced it here.
But I didn’t.
Unless you follow my Twitter or are in my server, there was no way to know this. At the time, I didn’t post it on Fimfiction, for reasons others have expressed. “Oh, I want to keep some spaces free of politics,” or “Oh, Fimfiction isn’t really the place for that”. Now, as I watch friends take a stance, I regret not having done that. Even though I know I was not in a great place mentally, I regret having stayed silent out of the fear of what? Upsetting people by supporting a cause I believe in? By supporting people being treated with basic frickin’ decency???
One of the fundamental tennets of my writing is the belief that everything is important because it might help someone. The idea that taking a stance, saying something, speaking up is worth it because it might help even one person.
So, with that in mind, fuck being silent. Black Lives Matter, and as tough as everything going on is, it’s better to fight/speak than be complicit. As a latino woman, I should and will always stand with other minorities.
Here is a link to the BLM carrd where there’s a lot of helpful links and places you can donate to. If you’re going to protests, obviously please be careful, and have a backup plan in case something goes wrong--as some protests have been.
As the wonderful Carabas said, “When there's demonstrable injustice, we ought to protest it or at least give our solidarity to those who do. When police forces treat a populace demanding their basic rights as an enemy to be crushed with whatever underhanded brutality they please, we mustn't shut up about it”.
I love this fandom. I love my community. I will fight to make sure other people feel safe here and know they can count on me.
- Monochromatic
Hell yeah Mono, you fight the good fight!
Thanks for your words.
Look up Tony Timpa.
Had you ever heard that name? He was murdered in the exact same way. But his murderers where taunting him and laughing while he died. Why have you never heard his name? His death was on camera, but his killers where never arrested. Why have you never heard his name?
If you still think that the problem is racism and not police brutality let me know.
1. I cannot think anything than All Lives Matter. Anything else could bring You to rasism.
2. Injustice does not give the right to violence, vandalism and robbery.
100% with you on all of this
5276095
Please understand:
theinclusionsolution.me/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/all-lives-matter-comic-620x330.png
If your house was on fire, and you screamed, “save my house, my house matters”, and your neighbor told you, “but all houses matter”, that wouldn’t be very fair to you. Their house is fine, but yours is burning down. In this situation, it’s okay to say “my house matters” if it means people will stop ignoring that your house is burning down.
Right now, black people are getting disproportionately murdered and unjustly prosecuted by police compared to all other races. And we need to put a stop to that. If all lives matter, why do we treat black lives as if they matter less?
That is true racism.
Yes, all lives matter. But black lives need more help right now.
There’s a full version of this comic as well that breaks it down further.
chainsawsuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/20160707_allhousesredux.png
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
5276095
i.imgur.com/G8udzIC.jpg
Good for you mono!
Solidarity from the UK to you all
Black lives matter!
5276114
Then whose lives should matter less? I am from Russia and I know well what it means. Less than 30 years back Russians became the second sort people in the most of the republics of former USSR. And in some parts of Russia too - in the republics of the Northern Caucasus. Terrorism, rasism, war, murder, robberies - we had it all.
Yesssss
5276134
Nobody’s. Lives mattering is not a zero-sum proposition. Making black people’s lives matter more does not mean anyone else’s lives should matter less. We just want black people’s lives to matter as much as everyone else’s, because right now they don’t, and that’s not fair.
I’m an American, and I’m not sure what happened racially in Russia after the fall of the USSR. But the lives of everyone in Russia matters too, and if an ethnicity is being threatened in Russia, it should be fixed there too.
#BlackLivesMatter is a USA movement, and is specific to our current struggles. And in the USA, Russian lives are not typically treated as lesser than everyone else’s.
Thanks, mono. Thank you a lot.
5276134
No one’s lives should matter less! One group asking for justice doesn’t diminish the struggles of other people, and it doesn’t mean that the first group should be quiet unless everyone is getting help because then nothing will change. If we all wait until everyone is getting help, nothing will happen. The moment a minority takes a stand and forces progress, other minorities and groups struggling will also benefit from this.
This shouldn’t be a competition, and it often isn’t. The BLM movement, for example, took a strong stance in support of Latinxs when Latinx children were getting mistreated horribly at the border, and so the latino community stands with BLM because they were also there for us when we were struggling. When you help a community, the community often will try to help you back when it’s you who are struggling.
No one is less valid, but when someone says “I’m hurting” and the reaction is “I’m hurting too, you know” or “I’ve hurted more”, then no one is getting help and no one is feeling better. We’re all just hurt.
5276134
Russian Lives do Matter, so do all the lives of everyone who oppressed by those in power across the globe. The reason BLM is so prominent at the moment is because of what is happening in the United States.
BLM and RLM are not opposing ideologies but rather are unified in a shared goal of destroying the power structures that propagate police brutality.
Never be afraid to speak your opinion mono
Great job writing this Mono! No need to apologize for being afraid of posting about the charity stream here. It's perfectly understandable, with the implicit support of white supremacy on this website. It's clear that we're at a crossroads with this site now, and it's great to see your support now.
5276095
Why is this so hard for you to understand? People who say "Save the Rainforests!" aren't saying "Fuck all the other forests." They're just identifying the forests most at risk.
If you were at a funeral where a mother was saying how important her dead daughter was to her, would you stand up and shout "All children are important!"
The struggle is against those who brutalize and opress, not for one single minority. Look at the photos of the protesters and you will see people of every race. This isn't a race issue for the white, asian, and hispanic protesters, it's a justice issue.
Thanks for speaking up about this!
you continue to be an inspiration, Mono
5276145
Thanks.
I do not know how to explain it right, but... I heard there are lots of Latin people in the southern states of the US near the borders of Mexico, am I right? Let`s imagine the catastrophy - the USA is no more and those southern states are independent countries with Latin majority in population. The leaders of those countries are Latin too and became the presidents on the wave of heavy nationalism and with help of tons of demagogy. The independent life is not going well from the beginning, they need some great history for their countries to back them up and somebody to blame for their mishaps. And they have it! White people - WASP and not and just non-latin and non-color people. They are called opressors, robbers, natural rasists and so on. And no one will blame anyone for making some... "justice" for it. Add some internal rasism in it - Cubans and Mexicans, for example, are Latin, but not the same Latin - and that are former Soviet Republics of Central Asia and Transcaucasia in the first years of their independence and some time later. Russians had to flee from there losing everything they had or got killed. Some could survive, but they are minority in rights and numbers.
5276160
Thanks a lot. And sorry if I was rude. Rasism, nacism and so on - are sore points for Russians.
5276168
Thanks for You too. I do not support and like police brutality, but the monopoly for force should belong to the state only. State - is the mechanism of coercion, do we like it or not. It makes us do sometimes things we may not like to make our lives safer and better. And if it gives up or losing that monopoly for someone else - there is no state anymore. It does not have the ways to coerce anymore. And then it is anarchy.
5276199
Justice is good. But there is no justice in vandalism, looting, robberies and destruction. Believe the citizen of the country which had three revolutions and two civil wars in the less than a century. There is no victory in it for anyone - only defeat for everyone.
5276114
Curiously, you downvoted without replying to Aburi, likely because your analogy about houses doesn't work in the face of evidence of police brutality against a white man. This is why "black lives matter" rankles people; because despite the analogy, it is used to minimize and dismiss other issues, and ignore the reality that the problems that it does focus on are far more complicated than "people be racist". The greatest issues with the US police force are:
1. Training and policies that emphasize lethal force and minimize deescalation.
2. Backwards laws and institutional systems that make it hard to charge someone in law enforcement for wrongdoing, let alone convict them, when their place of power should require a system where it would be easier to charge them than a normal civilian (and potentially, punishment for transgressions should be by default, more serious for those in law enforcement).
3. A general attitude in the court system that law enforcement is inherently trustworthy, despite their legal ability to lie during interrogations, which they really shouldn't have.
These are problems that effect everybody. That some officers then go on to do things to black people because of their own racism is a consequence of the issues above giving them immense leeway to do whatever they want. Addressed, they would solve the racism issue... while attempting to address the racism issue would not fix any of the problems above.
The BLM movement is one of hearts... but not of minds. To solve a problem, you need to step back and figure out what the actual causes are and how to actually fix them, not just have a blind emotional reaction. Blind emotion, as demonstrated by the riots, tends to make things worse, not better.
5276282
Man out here really arguing against fighting racism along with police brutality just because it's complicated that the two can be connected.
5276091
I absolutely think a lot of police brutality in the States are influenced by racism. Not all of them, no, but a great deal of them. I also think that there’s a lot of police brutality that doesn’t stem from a place of racism.
Both can co-exist. Right now, the movement is addressing those coming from a place of racism while also acknowledging that police brutality is a huge issue period, whether fueled by racism or other things.
5276294
Or, alternatively, I didn't say that, and you're assuming things about me that aren't true because you don't want to actually consider what I've said.
love you too mono
keep on fighting
5276250
This is a delicate topic, and every country has experienced it differently. Ultimately, the goal is to collectively reach a better place for everyone.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Mono. I agree with them, as someone who has two black cousins, and who has a mother who is Hispanic, a grandmother who is Hispanic. Racism is a cancerous ideal that has been lingering for far too long in the soul of the US. I love this fandom, I love that it is based on an air of tolerance, of friendship and the bonds that come with it.
And while I would say I am tired of the politics, and that I would prefer this place to be free of such heated and heavy debates, I know that in the end such debates must take place. That we, as a fandom and as a culture, need these debates. To look deep into ourselves, and do our best to take stock of what we believe, and if what we find is dark to replace the darkness with the love, the tolerance, the friendship that is the basic building block at the root of all that was and is Friendship is Magic.
In the end, I think I am just going to end this comment by posting a video of someone who can say a lot of this a lot better than I can.
5276315
May the Lord help You!
5276265
I think you're just deliberately missing the point now. You mention vandalism, looting, robberies, and destruction, but not what the vast majority of the people in the streets are doing: protesting.
You are falsely casting anyone opposing police brutality as a criminal. This is serving the continued abuse of power by corrupt officials.
Your disengenuous "All lives matter" stance is a smokescreen for evil. You are on the side of the murderers.
5276231
I am countering his arguments because he is supporting murder and brutality. People who are neutral on this issue are on the side of corruption, racism, and murder. To be silent is to be complicit.
5276282
All of your suggestions are good ones. Unfortunately, there is little to no sign of any of them being implemented in the near future. Peaceful protests have not only been ignored, they have been vilified. I loathe mob violence. It always hurts innocent people. But when peaceful protest doesn't work, when excellent ways to fix a bad system, such as the ones you suggested, are laughed at... what else is there?
5276331
Respectfully, now you are the one generalizing. He did not insinuate anything of the sort.
I agree with your explanation that there is no harm in using the BLM motto for this situation. But he is right on the fact that this could be done differently - without the looting and vandalism. In the Netherlands there were also large solidarity protests with huge number of people taking to the streets, yet not one shop or car was damaged. The looters are damaging the good cause the most because they pull attention from what the media should be focusing on.
5276331
Peaceful protests have not, in any way, been ignored. Some of them have been villified by association with violent riots... which you proceed to attempt to justify, thereby giving reason to connect the general protests with the riots. You're shooting yourself in the foot.
Also, your "example" of riots working fails a basic fact check: the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, King was murdered in 1968. You appear to be getting your information from social media blurbs, which more often then not, are nonsense.
Edit: To clarify, there was a Civil Rights Act of 1968, but it's not the one you're thinking of; it's not the one that made sweeping reforms like discrimination law and voting rights. The 1968 law was about Native Americans, a clarification for discrimination specifically regarding housing that built on the 1964 bill, and ironic to your point, a provision making it a federal crime to travel across state lines for a riot.
I am of the firm belief that two wrongs do not a right make, and frankly, history bears me out on this.
5276301
5276294
I wholeheartedly agree that all racist actions need to be punished. And I agree that there is police brutality caused by racism.
I've watched every clip of this tragedy, and I can't find the racism. Don't get me wrong. This cop and every one of his buddies there should be crucified. I would be happy if he went to the electric chair. But I can't see where his gross behavior is tied to the color of his victim.
Can you show me where this happens? Did I just miss it somehow? I am not being facetious, I honestly want to know: What part of this murder makes it racist?
I know that some people will read this and think that I'm trying to raise a fuss, or dismiss the very real problems that exist, including racism. But that is not true.
The reason I post here is that I can see friends and family being polarized because of this. People who never showed any bias are now hesitant to be friends to people of another skin tone. Calling something racist, ADDING race to a terrible problem, is tearing people apart.
5276368
Fun fact: For decades, the Russian intelligence plan for foreign countries has essentially amounted to "stir the pot", and for the US specifically their internal documents pinpoint racial tensions as a vulnerability.
Another fun fact: The protests and riots are being encouraged by a massive bot push on social media, spreading false narratives on all sides (sometimes including bots arguing with other bots).
This, of course, doesn't mean that there aren't actual issues going on... but we have to be aware that there are groups who want to foment racial tensions.
5276368
It is generally accepted that white policemen treat black suspects more harshly than others. Meaning that in an alternate reality, if Floyd would have been white, maybe he would have only been made to kneel while being cuffed, thus avoiding the circumstances of his death. Since there were no white people being detained at the same time, we don't have concrete evidence to this in the video, but general statistics on police brutality still support this theory.
5276368
The racism has been there the whole time, it's not being added. There's countless acts of police discrimination and I honestly don't know where to start trying to show you that racism is a problem in America, there's literal nazis waving swastikas around.
5276399
To treat individuals based on statistics is the logical mistake that racism itself is based in, though. A police officer might justify their harsh treatment of a black suspect by sighting that, statistically, black men are more likely to commit violent crimes (this is a true statistic, by the way; feel free to look it up). But that doesn't justify their treatment of the individual; the statistic does not justify the logical conclusion that this particular black man will be violent. For the same reason, treating this case of police brutality as racism solely because of statistics isn't justified. Individuals are not statistics. Could this have involved racism? Yes. But please don't fall into the irrational mistake of assigning truth to an individual or a specific event based on statistics. Evidence regarding this specific case needs to be involved for such a judgement to be validly made.
5276315
I absolutely adore the empathy with which you four calmly discussed your views and thoughts on the matter. We need more constructive dialogue like this. You all have my respects.
Also, the analogy with the burning houses is very much on point, I shall take to myself to spread it as well.
5276361
Colin Kaepernick, peaceful protester. Ignored. Vilified.
I will take you correction on the Civil Rights Act. I was there, but my memory is likey incorrect.
5276432
Ignored... by being repeatedly mentioned on national television? Your definition of that term is very much different from mine. Villified? Partly by the people who didn't like the message, sure, but a lot of the criticism also came from his own "side": His "protest" consisted of sitting or kneeling prior to playing in a sports game where he makes a paycheck larger than most people ever dream of seeing. It's like those people who posted black screens to Twitter a few days back; the effort is so minimal as to feel almost insulting, like he's trying to get credit for activism without actually doing any activity. He actually ended up donating to some relevant causes... after people pointed out how minimal his effort felt.
I sight, in return, the many peaceful civil rights protests MLK led that DID lead to changes.
5276368
5276421
Or we can assume it's racism because it was definitely racism.
It was also racism that the "we want a haircut!" protests with white people bringing guns into state capitals were handled peacefully.
5276385
Plus the cops attacking peaceful protestors and even people who weren't protesting.
And minus the bots, because that assumes there wasn't otherwise a reason for people to be angry.
5276428
There are some cases where I don’t think empathy is warranted or deserved, but when someone is coming at me with a comment whose intention isn’t clear (as in like it doesn’t seem to be a comment coming from a place of hostility), I try to err on the side of empathy and good faith.
Also yes! It’s a very good comic c:
(also, I think you might have meant to tag other people as well but only tagged me by mistake?)
5276421
I've never said it was justified because of statistics. Like Aburi, I also failed to find any hard evidence of racism in the video. Police brutality? Absolutely. But this could have happened to any person regardless of color. Therefore I was trying to give him my thoughts on why this event lead to the Black Lives Matter leading the forefront of the protests, and not Down With Police Brutality. What I came up with was my explanation to that question. If you have a better one, I am genuinely curious to hear it. I could stand to learn more from this topic being a white man in Europe (and as such having no experience on being the target of racism).
5276265
And again, you're subtly claiming that only criminal behavior is going on at protests.
Silence is victory for the oppressors. Colin Kaepernick tried peaceful and dignified protest and he was ignored, vilified, and driven out of the sport that was his livelihood.
Justice isn't just "good," it's absolutely critical for a stable, peaceful society. What you are seeing in the streets of the US is the result of justice being actively denied for decades. Gee, that dog you beat for years suddenly turned and bit you? What a bad dog!
5276453
Peaceful protests, and the not so peaceful ones that schools prefer not to teach you. I imagine you think MLK and Malcolm X were enemies or something, lol. Plus you assume the improvements from the Civil Rights protests were entirely satisfactory. While we're evoking MLK, I'm sure someone has pointed out his comments about white moderates to you at some point, but here it is again.