Are You Showing Support for Black Lives Matter in Second Life?

[Lyssa Greymoon]

7 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Wow - another indication of just how much the Police don't "get it".

All 57 remaining members of the Buffalo Emergency Response Team resigned from that unit because of the suspension of their fellow officers after pushing someone down and then walking past them as they were bleeding on the sidewalk.  

Good riddance. FTP.

[Lyssa Greymoon]

36 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

I think I will be controversial yet again and go with 'all lives matter' or simply 'life matters' to make it about one color of skin or ethic background over any other is a slap in the face of every other color of skin and ethic background.

All lives don't matter until black lives matter.

 

36 minutes ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

and now for another controversial part.. blacks need to get over the slavery issues of the past and let it go. they hold themselves back when they dont..

I think that's not an entirely terrible idea. It lets is talk about the subsequent 155 years that have been sub-optimal.

Edited June 5, 2020 by Lyssa Greymoon

[Beth Macbain]

1 minute ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

They truly see nothing wrong with the actions of their fellow police officers -- or they are too scared to buck the system and go against their fellow officers.

I think we have the real actual bullies of the Fraternal Order of Police to thank for this kind of bull feces. The cops who control the unions are exactly the kind of cops who shouldn't have power over anything. A good cop that wants to run for office and make reforms, or even tries to blow the whistle on bad cops, gets that treatment from other cops on the orders of the ones currently in charge. They get iced out, backup doesn't show up, anonymous complaints to their supervisors... 

If any of you have Hulu, watch the documentary called Crime + Punishment about whistleblowers in the NYPD. It's absolutely infuriating. It's not really about the FOP, but more of terrible leadership allowing the bad cops to continue being bad cops, and no one can stop anything because behind them all stands the FOP padding the mayor's pockets, and the prosecutors pockets, and the judges pockets... 

Let all 57 BERTs walk... all the way to that cushy Paul Blart mall security job waiting for them. 

[Luna Bliss]

1 hour ago, Drakonadrgora Darkfold said:

blacks need to get over the slavery issues of the past and let it go. they hold themselves back when they dont..

Slavery is still occurring via our prison system.

But even if not in prison the effects of trauma don't just disappear when one decides to "get over slavery". While ultimately we're all responsible for our lives or choices it's a whole lot easier to take responsibility when one has good parenting. Trauma can remove an individuals ability to function much at all, much less parent effectively. And the effects of trauma can last for generations, as each successive generation passes on their lack of skills needed to create emotionally healthy humans. Sometimes the right environment can make up for the lack to a degree though, or if lucky an extended family can pick up the slack.

Just the effects of having an alcoholic parent often ruins a persons life -- the majority of children of alcoholics go on to lead wrecked, miserable lives due to inadequate parenting (the lack of support that helps a child thrive and turn into a healthy adult).

There are studies now that reveal how trauma might even pass on to the next generation through inherited genes:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/trauma-inherited-generations/573055/

Edited June 5, 2020 by Luna Bliss

[Gatogateau]

Things are complicated. But so simple... quit being ****** to each other. That pretty much covers it, but we can't seem to manage it. I've travelled a lot. No country has a lock on horrid people. America is so huge, so diverse, that makes it great, that makes it difficult. Simple answers don't work for complex issues. One size does not fit all. "There's always an easy solution to any problem — neat, plausible, and wrong." (Menken) I don't want to hate my country or my countrymen. Meeting hate with hate is simple and wrong. (I'm hating on the haters. I'm hating on the people who want to send us back to a time in their minds that never existed. I don't want to. It is hard not to.)

As to the OP, this thread has changed a few things for me. A few days ago I posted the photo of me wearing a BLM tee and a hanging a tapestry on my houseboat (Petite Morte, free). I figured it was the least I could do until I figured out something more real, more tangible. I'm keeping the tapestry up on my LL houseboat because it feels true and right to me. I don't feel the same about the tee. I wanted to show "white-girl" support of BLM and the...whatever it is going on now... and I think that it is very important to have the Haters see "it ain't just black folk fed up with your BS." But to me it felt more like me virtue posing, or like "what voice do I have?" Inauthentic? Poser? Whatever, I wasn't comfortable.

Also this song has been playing in my mind, and while it celebrates the USA, if you look and listen it also covers some of the "not so great" things. Drain the swamp of Cheeto and let's pull each other out of the muck and mire, where all the poisons have been leaking out.

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Gatogateau
left out words had me wearing a tapestry

[Scylla Rhiadra]

1 hour ago, Aethelwine said:

STAND FOR JUSTICE

IN SUPPORT OF BLACK LIVES

Stand for Justice is a fundraising effort within the virtual world Second Life dedicated to raising funds for the charities Black Lives Matter, Black Visions Collective, Campaign Zero, the National Police Accountability Project, and a Split Bail Fund benefitting 38+ bail funds nationwide.

The fundraiser will begin at 12pm Noon SLT on Friday, June 5th, 2020 (end date TBA).

https://standforjustice.carrd.co/

Thank you so much for posting this! It's going out to my groups immediately.

[FairreLilette]

2 hours ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

$100-150 million is definitely not small change and can possibly do some good, but it is just pennies compared to the $1.8 billion budget the police had for 2020 - 1.6 billion of that being just for salaries.

By the same token, stripping away millions from a budget that has already been approved and planned for it at least a show of effort.  It is hard to modify departmental spending plans part way through a fiscal year.

I don't know if it's "really pennies" LittleMe.  I think it's a pretty good chunk of change.   They have to lay all the groundwork first and then build from there.   The 100-150 million dollar proposed budget to help people instead of pay for police is through the end of 2021, I believe.  Things may change as this change only started to take effect a few short days ago but all are in agreement including the Los Angeles County Mayor, Mr. Garcetti.    So, groundwork first.  

Edited June 5, 2020 by FairreLilette

[Beth Macbain]

4 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

I wanted to show "white-girl" support of BLM

Confession time! 

Up until this thread started, I thought you were black. I never bothered to ask because I don't particularly care, but I was taken aback for a moment when I realized you're white. I was really looking forward to having some intelligent, in-depth discussions with you about growing up in America as a black woman, so I'm really kind of disappointed. 😋

[Aethelwine]

2 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Confession time! 

Up until this thread started, I thought you were black. I never bothered to ask because I don't particularly care, but I was taken aback for a moment when I realized you're white. I was really looking forward to having some intelligent, in-depth discussions with you about growing up in America as a black woman, so I'm really kind of disappointed. 😋

I am disappointed she isn't a cute little kitten

[Beth Macbain]

2 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

I am disappointed she isn't a cute little kitten

She can be whatever she wants to be! 

I just meant that I thought she was a cute little black kitten but she's really more of a cute little white kitten. I love all kittens. Kitten lives matter.

[Eggy UwU]

I believe there is no freedom till we are all equal. 

#BLM

[Scylla Rhiadra]

17 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

I wanted to show "white-girl" support of BLM and the...whatever it is going on now... and I think that it is very important to have the Haters see "it ain't just black folk fed up with your BS." But to me it felt more like me virtue posing, or like "what voice do I have?" Inauthentic? Poser? Whatever, I wasn't comfortable.

I actually get this -- being an "ally" is sometimes a difficult and uncomfortable negotiation.

One of the movements that developed from the Montreal Massacre in Canada in 1989 was the White Ribbon Campaign (started in 1991), founded as a movement that was specifically created by and for men who wanted to show their support for ending violence against women. The idea, in part, was to give men an opportunity to take responsibility for change without seeming to usurp the role of leadership by women in the broader anti-violence against women movement.

It's worked pretty well as a sort of campaign designed for "allies." Maybe what is required is something like this? Or maybe some of the organizations already allied with BLM (the ACLU, for instance) offer that kind of opportunity?

[Gatogateau]

2 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Confession time! 

Up until this thread started, I thought you were black. I never bothered to ask because I don't particularly care, but I was taken aback for a moment when I realized you're white. I was really looking forward to having some intelligent, in-depth discussions with you about growing up in America as a black woman, so I'm really kind of disappointed. 😋

/me just stares at the screen with mouth hanging open and then starts kinda laughing

WHAT?

How the heck...?

What the heck...?

I couldn't be further from a black woman. I was born in a very white area, of a very white middle America, of a very white middle class, of ... yeah. Pretty much a poster child for something.

Not that there's anything wrong with that (gah, I can't believe I just wrote that), but I can't imagine what I could have said that would have... OHhhhhh. When I started back on this forum I was still in my black avatar! I'll bet that's what did it.

Last year, when I turned 10 in SL, I decided to do a major change. For 10 years I had been much like my RL self, pale, green eyes, brunette kind of sweet but wussy looking, ya know. What could be more different? A strong black woman. So I made one, based on a bunch of photos that drew my attention. I love her look. Love it. And I never felt comfortable in "her" skin (I was still me, I didn't "act black" whatever that would mean.) She just gave off an air of... competence and self-assurance that I simply lack! Since I really identify with my avatar, I had to go back to the wussy pale girl with self-esteem issues. I did and I feel better (??!?). Some people can change avatars freely, I can't.

Early on in this thread was the conversation about "wearing" a black avatar if you're white in RL as support for what is going on now, the consensus was it wouldn't be quite right. I sure feel like the answer to that is "No" and I won't be doing it.

But this is probably how you first got to know me. This was my avatar picture for quite a while. Have you not noticed changes? My flickr? & sorry to have disappointed you. ? ♥

 

[Selene Gregoire]

1 hour ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Wow - another indication of just how much the Police don't "get it".

All 57 remaining members of the Buffalo Emergency Response Team resigned from that unit because of the suspension of their fellow officers after pushing someone down and then walking past them as they were bleeding on the sidewalk.  

"Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square," said Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans. "It doesn't specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don't know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards."

 

They truly see nothing wrong with the actions of their fellow police officers -- or they are too scared to buck the system and go against their fellow officers.

That was very benevolent of him. /sarcasm

Sometimes I just want to get in thier faces and say "That was mighty white of you." and then watch as they try to figure out what it's supposed to mean. Most never get it.

[Gatogateau]

2 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:

That was very benevolent of him. /sarcasm

Sometimes I just want to get in thier faces and say "That was mighty white of you." and then watch as they try to figure out what it's supposed to mean. Most never get it.

Really? You've said this to someone(s) and they didn't get it? I mean, like, that's pretty obvious? Really? Wrong thread, but Human Peeve: People.

[Gatogateau]

25 minutes ago, Aethelwine said:

I am disappointed she isn't a cute little kitten

:::lip quivers:::

You mean I'm not?  But but but... lookit that face!

[Selene Gregoire]

30 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Confession time! 

Up until this thread started, I thought you were black. I never bothered to ask because I don't particularly care, but I was taken aback for a moment when I realized you're white. I was really looking forward to having some intelligent, in-depth discussions with you about growing up in America as a black woman, so I'm really kind of disappointed. 😋

That makes two of us. Sorry GiGi.

[Beth Macbain]

3 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

I actually get this -- being an "ally" is sometimes a difficult and uncomfortable negotiation.

One of the movements that developed from the Montreal Massacre in Canada in 1989 was the White Ribbon Campaign (started in 1991), founded as a movement that was specifically created by and for men who wanted to show their support for ending violence against women. The idea, in part, was to give men an opportunity to take responsibility for change without seeming to usurp the role of leadership by women in the broader anti-violence against women movement.

It's worked pretty well as a sort of campaign designed for "allies." Maybe what is required is something like this? Or maybe some of the organizations already allied with BLM (the ACLU, for instance) offer that kind of opportunity?

I understand it, too. 

I know a lot of people have seen this photo of the line of white women linking arms to shield the protesters from the police here in Louisville, and it's awesome, but it wasn't something that happened naturally.

There was a black woman out in front yelling for all the white people in the crowd to come to the front - it was just a coincidence that it ended up being mostly women, and those women are being held up as heroes but no one is talking about the black woman that made it happen. 

I know the protesters are happy to have their white allies marching with them. I've seen the thank yous. At George Floyd's memorial yesterday, Rev. Al talked about the difference between the protests today and the protests in the 60s because this time the black community isn't alone in their fight. 

Right now, all I can do is donate some cash because if I tried to join the protests I'd collapse after like 50 yards and end up looking like a pitiful sweaty pale whale flopping around on the asphalt and nobody needs to see that.

My point, though, and I do have one, is that in trying to figure out what the best thing to do is, I've decided to just listen to the black woman in the front, whoever she may be. 

[Selene Gregoire]

5 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

Really? You've said this to someone(s) and they didn't get it? I mean, like, that's pretty obvious? Really? Wrong thread, but Human Peeve: People.

I get the deer in the headlights look.

[Beth Macbain]

16 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

OHhhhhh. When I started back on this forum I was still in my black avatar! I'll bet that's what did it.

That's exactly it, and she's still who I see in my mind when I picture you. 

[Selene Gregoire]

3 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

Rev. Al talked about the difference between the protests today and the protests in the 60s because this time the black community isn't alone in their fight. 

They weren't alone in the 60s. There just weren't nearly as many whites in support as there are now. 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Selene Gregoire

[Gatogateau]

2 minutes ago, Beth Macbain said:

That's exactly it, and she's still who I see in my mind when I picture you. 

Huh. Interesting. Well there are several photos of her/me/whatever on my Flickr. You picture an assured, self-confident person posting? Yikes. That's weird. Wussy, definitely wussy.

[Beth Macbain]

Just now, Gatogateau said:

Wussy, definitely wussy.

Nope... not the person I've gotten to know. ❤️

[Gatogateau]

Just now, Beth Macbain said:

Nope... not the person I've gotten to know. ❤️

Well most folks on the Forum don't get that I'm shy either.

Or a perv.

Or a few other things.

So I guess I get that.

Boy, then, this thread must have blown your socks off at the beginning. Kinda would have liked to have seen your expression then... :p

[Beth Macbain]

4 minutes ago, Gatogateau said:

Boy, then, this thread must have blown your socks off at the beginning.

I had wondered why you switched to a white avatar, but I've known several black women in SL that use a white avatar so I didn't question it.