starless @starless@pixie.town

No doubt the bigotry in this space is annoying. Still, in many cases, it's less annoying than Good White People™, who 'just want to understand' and badger me for information I've discussed at length, can find on their own and/or completely ignore the context of what I have already said.

The way white people just expect me to drop what I'm doing and explain the ENTIRE social and cultural context of the fedi to them FOR FREE because they are too lazy to do a shred of labor is an easy way to show me they don't give a shit.

If you want to be viewed and treated as a reasonable and intelligent person, you need to act like one.

This is not a high bar.

if you've ever messed up a dimension or a hole position on something you're building, don't be too hard on yourself.

at least you're not the Cisco design engineer who caused an entire product line recall by placing the mode button (which resets the switch if held) directly above an RJ45 port.

An awesome quote from @aurynn that I need to share, in a discussion we were having about automatic filtering/moderation:

"if your tool hasn't thought about how it will be used to create harm, and isn't built in such a way to reduce its ability to cause harm, maybe don't build the tool"

It's amazing how many people don't think like that.

Earlier this year, I was invited down to Texas by folk who asked me: "Do you think you could teach our assorted group of blind, low vision, and neurodiverse folk about lockpicking?"

Their results were terrific. 😁👍 This video was captured that day...

https://youtu.be/2tVpNzX963g

...and we are jointly publishing it as a way of sharing this lesson plan with you all in the hopes that more classes like this can be replicated by others. 🔓

This is one of my favorite pictures. It feels like it was taken yesterday… but it was taken in a Paris public garden nearly a hundred years ago. Everything feels modern: the composition, the casualness, the daring clothes, haircuts, and accessories.

The colors are original: this is an #autochrome, using the first process for color #photography invented by the Lumière brothers in 1903.

The women are unknown, but I can't help wondering how they fared a few years later in nazi-occupied Paris.

"Hemp is one of the fastest-growing plants in the world and can grow 4 metres high in 100 days. Research suggests hemp is twice as effective as trees at absorbing and locking up carbon, with 1 hectare (2.5 acres) of hemp reckoned to absorb 8 to 22 tonnes of CO2 a year, more than any woodland."

Techbros: *get extatic about untested and potentially useless carbon capture tech*

Actual scientists: "yeah just go on and plant hemp, that shit can capture carbon *fast* and store it forever in clothes and building materials"

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/24/could-hemp-be-a-key-tool-in-fight-against-climate-change

#introduction
I'm Artist Marcia X, one of the og's of the fedi. Helped mod the only Blk instance onhere before it was chased off.

I longboard, I'm a visual artist, scholar, I do as much DIY content/art stuffs as possible. I write, sell prints & started ur favorite tag on here 😎

Afro-Indigenous Puerto Rican Peruvian hard femme w the tea on the fediverse. Elephant memory

www.artistmarciax.com/shop

I also have a GFM bc I'm in need of assistance

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-marcia-get-stable

little message to whoever drops and breaks the sculpture in the future

In the replies of new Black folks on here discussing the harassment they’ve faced, and slurs they’ve had thrown at them, I’ve seen white users respond with suggestions that they should move to better moderated instances – I even saw one guy say ‘you should just move to a black instance’. The usual line they take is to (patronizingly) talk about how the protocol lets you move instances, and so you can just find an instance with policies that suit you.

IMO, this behavior is (and should be more widely seen as) anti-Black; users should be reporting it, and instance admins should be banning for it.

Firstly, it shifts the blame for the abuse solely to the recipients – ‘it’s your fault for not picking an appropriate instance!’ It also makes the commenters themselves feel all smart for knowing the ins and outs of the protocol (even when they often have no idea what they’re talking about), which is honestly just annoying as fuck.

Secondly, it sweeps the fedi’s historical + continuing anti-Blackness under the rug by making racist abuse into a technical discussion rather than a cultural one. It serves to assuage the consciences of those making such comments, because they can just point to the safeguards that are *technically* there, allowing them to forego self-reflection.

Cumulatively, the effect of these kinds of comments is to push Black users off the fedi, or onto instances that can be blocked/marginalized/attacked by white users. This is segregation, plain and simple, and it’s absolutely shameful.

SO! Fellow admins, I’m gonna be reporting such behavior + suspending accounts that do it from instances I moderate. I’m gonna encourage users to report this shit too so that I can take action. How about you?

The National Museum of African American History & Culture announces “Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures” to open March 24

It will feature Octavia Butler’s typewriter, Nichelle Nichols’ Star Trek uniform, Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther suit, more

https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/news/national-museum-african-american-history-and-culture-announces-new-exhibition-exploring

#blackmastodon #blacktwitter