Combat Toxic Online Haters.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
As Vice President Kamala Harris pointed out last week in her remarks announcing the formation of a White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse, we live in a world where the internet, and social media platforms have become a part of most of our lives, for better or for worse.
The results of the downside can be debilitating or fatal for far too many of us who become targets of hate — murder, terrorism, suicide, PTSD, fear — it’s a long list.
I realize that a lot is going on to hold our attention, and you may have missed the news of her latest efforts on our behalf (easy for that to happen given the MSMs failure to highlight much of what she is doing and instead spew disparagement) however I wanted to applaud this start.
Harris was introduced by Black tennis pro Sloane Stephens — who is no stranger to online hate, receiving over 2000 sickening messages when she lost a US Open match in 2017.
Here’s the video of VP Harris’ comments.
Excerpt of her remarks
Context. Well, the Internet is an essential part of life in the 21st century. Can’t get around it. Can’t get around without it. And for far too many people — and Sloane told her story — the Internet is a place of fear.
One in three women under the age of 35 report being sexually harassed online. Over half of the LGBTQ+ people in our country are survivors of severe harassment.
Nearly one in four Asian Americans report being called an offensive name, usually motivated by racism — being called an offensive name online. And Black people who have been harassed online in our country are three times more likely to be targeted, again, because of their race.
No one should have to endure abuse just because they are attempting to participate in society.
Of course, the impact of this abuse extends beyond the ability to use Internet — the Internet system and the power of the Internet — without fear. It’s beyond that. In many cases, cyberstalking have serious mental health consequences for its victims, sometimes leading to self-harm, sometimes leading to suicide.
And we continue to see how some acts of mass violence — the most recent included — have followed expressions of online hate and abuse.
The white supremacist who murdered 10 Black people in Buffalo, New York, was first radicalized, by all accounts, online.
And after the massacre of 19 children — 19 babies — and 2 teachers in Uvalde, it was revealed that the shooter had threatened to kidnap, rape, and kill teenage girls on Instagram. One of the girls he harassed described the abuse, I quote, as “just how online is.” Think about that. Hate has become so common on the Internet that, as a society, it’s kind of becoming normalized, and for users, some might say unavoidable.
What Madame VP didn’t bring up, but I will, is that she and the Duchess of Sussex, the former Meghan Markle are currently two of the most famous Black women targeted for virulent abuse online, and you can add Former First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, the Williams sisters tennis stars, among others to that vile brew of misogynoir.
Sian Norris covered a recent report on the Harris attacks for The Byline Times
Abuse uncovered by the report includes tweets using racist and misogynistic language, and men sharing manipulated photos of Harris engaging in lewd sex acts.
A total of 4,265 problematic and disparaging tweets about Harris were sent in the first 135 days of 2022. However, of the 40 tweets reported to Twitter, only two were removed by the social network.
Tweets that were allowed to remain included those referring to Harris as the n-word. A tweet discussing assassinating the Vice President was removed but the account was allowed to remain active.
Surprisingly, the story was picked up by CBS News.
“Twitter slow to remove racist and sexist tweets targeting Vice President Kamala Harris, report finds”
The replies to tweets from Vice President Kamala Harris, the nation's highest ranking Black female official, routinely include racist, sexist and graphic messages threatening her safety. A new report finds that hateful tweets directed at Harris are rampant, while Twitter has been slow to respond, and at times failed to act properly.
According to Bot Sentinel, a non-partisan research organization that works to combat disinformation and targeted harassment online, during the first five months of this year, more than 4,200 tweets directed at Harris included the use of the n-word, manipulated graphic images and death threats. [...]
On Monday, Bot Sentinel released the second portion of its report, with screenshots and links to more than 1,300 tweets of a similar nature, in addition to the original 40 released last week. The research showing racist tweets directed at Harris comes as sentiments of white supremacy seep into American society and politics. Just last month, an 18-year-old drove over 200 miles, and killed 10 Black shoppers and injured three others, at a supermarket in Buffalo. Police said the shooting suspect was racially motivated, targeted the area because of its high percentage of Black residents, and wanted to kill as many Black people as he could.
Christopher Bouzy, founder and CEO of Bot Sentinel has been tweeting about this:
Was glad to see that he is having some successes, however draining the social media swamp of hate is not going to be easy, since hate comes from haters — and they can and do act out in real life, not simply online.
I bring up the Duchess of Sussex, because she, like our VP, has offended sensibilities by daring to step out of “her place.” The penalty for “Extreme Uppity” is death threats.
Though VP Harris, the Dutchess, tennis star Sloane Stephens and other high profile women can draw attention to the problem and have resources that they can draw upon, I’m sitting here thinking about all the people, the anonymous victims of online and real life abuse who are suffering in pain and fear today, and every day, feeling hopeless and helpless.
I look forward to hearing how the recommendations made to the task force translate into real life actions that can help put an end to the isolation they are subject to.
Will keep you posted.
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NEWS ROUND UP BY DOPPER0189, BLACK KOS MANAGING EDITOR
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Black fathers in college are not the first image most people have when it comes to being a student-parent. But Black student fathers deserve systems, allies and communities that fight for them, elevate their experiences and understand their potential. The Grio: The invisible lives of Black student fathers
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To be a young Black man navigating higher education is to be reminded that institutional spaces are rarely environments cultivated with our success in mind—or to simply see us. Young Black men encounter a cocktail of disparities, stereotypes, and discrimination that reverberate throughout the education system ultimately creating unwelcoming and unsupportive learning environments.
Black men currently have the lowest college completion rate at 40 percent due to myriad reasons, but most prominently Black college students are more often balancing school with work and family responsibilities compared to their peers. Therefore, it is easy to imagine how adding becoming a father to this intricate equation can only elongate the pathway to completing college for Black men.
Black fathers in college are not always the first image that comes to mind when thinking about the student-parent population—and there is even less representation for Black fathers on college campuses. Lack of representation makes the lives and experiences of Black fathers on campus nearly invisible. The first time I saw a representation of myself was on my son’s mother’s college campus. I attended a birthday party there and saw so many other Black fathers with their children. I had grown up primarily raised around women with few examples of Black fathers around me—let alone other Black student fathers. Seeing people who were having similar experiences and who also looked like me created a short sense of reassurance that was completely absent on my college campus.
I had been in college for a year before having my son, and like many young fathers, my role as a provider was expedited placing the decision between earning a degree⸺and a future of economic possibilities⸺and immediate financial relief for my family on the table. I ultimately chose the latter and decided to leave school to focus on working.
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In April of 2021, Cecelia Lewis had just returned to Maryland from a house-hunting trip in Georgia when she received the first red flag about her new job.
The trip itself had gone well. Lewis and her husband had settled on a rental home in Woodstock, a small city with a charming downtown and a regular presence on best places to live lists. It was a short drive to her soon-to-be office at the Cherokee County School District and less than a half hour to her husband’s new corporate assignment. While the north Georgia county was new to the couple, the Atlanta area was not. They’d visited several times in recent years to see their son, who attended Georgia Tech.
Lewis, a middle school principal, initially applied for a position that would bring her closer to the classroom as a coach for teachers. But district leaders were so impressed by her interview that they encouraged her to apply instead for a new opening they’d created: their first administrator focused on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
DEI-focused positions were becoming more common in districts across the country, following the 2020 protests over the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. The purpose of such jobs typically is to provide a more direct path for addressing disparities stemming from race, economics, disabilities and other factors.
During her early visits, Lewis found Cherokee County to be a welcoming place. It reminded her of her community in southern Maryland, where everyone knew one another. But leaving the place where she’d been raised — and where, aside from her undergrad years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she’d spent most of her adult life — wasn’t going to be easy. Before her last day as principal of her middle school, her staff created a legacy wall in her honor, plastering a phrase above student lockers that Lewis would say to end the morning messages each day: “If no one’s told you they care about you today, know that I do ... and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it!”
Lewis was beginning to prepare for her move South, spending as much time with friends and family as possible, when she got a strange call from an official in her new school district. The person on the line — Lewis won’t say who — asked if she had ever heard of CRT.
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The Schomburg Center’s Literary festival made its live return to the streets of Harlem this weekend after being hosted online for two years during the height of the pandemic. The fourth annual celebration of Black joy, culture and writers was held at the famous research institute, with both indoor and outdoor access for visitors.
It’s not by coincidence either that the festival is being hosted during Juneteenth weekend, a holiday that celebrates the day the last enslaved population of Galveston, Texas learned of the emancipation of all enslaved people on June 19th, 1865. Two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863.
“On a weekend where Black communities around this country mark the anniversary of Juneteenth, I can’t help remembering that reading was a revolutionary act every time a person of African descent defied society’s relegation of what enslaved persons should know about the world around them,” Novella Ford, Associate Director of Public Programs and Exhibitions at the Schomburg Center told CBS News. “The opportunity to gather book lovers in Harlem to interact with bold writers who imagine new worlds and help us make sense of our past and present is just one way we continue Arturo Schomburg’s legacy and honor the rebellious, joyful- privilege and necessity of reading.”
This year, the festival’s visual identity and aesthetic took its direction from Jennifer Mack-Watkins, printmaker and arts educator. Her work, “Take A Look…The Universe is Yours,” is featured on all promotional materials, and throughout the scene of the celebration.
From the early morning until dusk, storytelling workshops were held, public readings were taking place, and of course, hundreds of books were available for purchase. Many authors arrived in person to read their work, or to simply take part in the festivities.
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The idea that Black men are absent fathers is one of the most pernicious lies in all of white supremacist America, and Herschel Walker, a Trump man, has been one of the loudest spreaders of that lie for years. The Grio: Herschel Walker, stop lying about Black dads. Put some respect on our names
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I hate lies. Especially lies meant to make my people look bad. Lies like, “Black people are lazy. Black people are criminal.” And this one: “Black men are absentee fathers, and that’s the problem with the Black community.” These lies are used to shape the way people view us and to justify our oppression. Spreading these sorts of lies about us makes you an agent of white supremacy. I’m sure you already know that Herschel Walker, Georgia’s Republican nominee for the Senate, is an agent of white supremacy. But did you know how deep it all goes with Herschel?
The idea that Black men are absentee fathers is one of the most pernicious and enduring lies in all of white supremacist America, and Herschel Walker, a Trump man, has been one of the loudest spreaders of that lie for years. I once saw him telling those Trumpy clowns of Newsmax and Fox News fame, Diamond and Silly – I mean Silk – that “Even if you have to leave that woman, you don’t leave the child.”
Ok, good advice. How come you don’t follow it? Come to find out ol’ Herschel has left. He has a 10-year-old that he hasn’t raised. Mom had to go to court to get him to pay child support. So let me get this straight – this big, loud critic of Black absentee fathers is himself a Black absentee father? But wait, there’s more! Herschel has more children he’s not raising—two more. A 13-year-old and a 20-year-old. So if you add up all the kids he’s not raising, you get three. And he’s criticizing who?
Herschel has gone from calling out Black people to embodying the stereotype that he was calling out. He was attacking Black people to make himself look good for white people because Black right wingers understand that their position in the conservative media ecosystem is to bash Black people. That shows they’re independent from the Black community, and it gives white people the freedom to not feel racist, because surely it can’t be a racist thought if Black people are saying the same thing, right? But now that Herschel is himself the poster child for Black absentee fathers, is he even more useful to the right? I’m not sure.
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on Sunday Colombia elected their first leftist president and first Black vice president. a single mother aND former maid who challenged international mining interests as aN environmentalist. Her victory IS a turning point in a country plagued by social inequalities and historically governed by conservative elites. France 24: Francia Marquez: From maid to Colombia’s first Black vice president
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On the campaign trail, she was exuberant and unabashedly dazzling. In brightly coloured Afro-Colombian garments teamed with big jewellery, Francia Marquez embraced her identity, challenged the status quo and proposed a brighter future.
"It's time to move from resistance to power," the 40-year-old candidate would chant, raising her fist – with a smile.
On Sunday, Colombians elected their first ever leftist president when Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla, defeated a real estate millionaire in a runoff victory that marked a seismic shift in the South American country long governed by conservatives or moderates.
With Marquez as his running mate, Petro has signalled not just a political break, but also a social one in a country that has historically denied the existence of racism.
What’s more, Marquez – with her brightly printed fabrics and the assertion of her Afro-Colombian roots – has also thrust the Europeanised elitism of Colombia under the spotlight, opening a discussion on racism in a country that overwhelmingly identifies as racially mixed, or Mestizo, sweeping racism under the table.
Marquez’s journey, from young, Black single mother to the country's vice presidency is an extraordinary story of grit against the odds.
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WELCOME TO THE TUESDAY PORCH.
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE BLACK KOS COMMUNITY, GRAB A SEAT, SOME CYBER EATS, RELAX, AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF.