Why I Stopped Endorsing RallyPoint
In 2016, I wrote about why United States military veterans should use the RallyPoint forum and best practices for usage. By that point, I'd been a member for a few years already. I'd ignored the gradual increase of trolling, even when the Hillary versus Trump nonsense peaked with dozens, if not hundreds, of posts against each of them daily. I slowly trail-blazed a community with posts about cybersecurity, Linux, and free open-source software (FOSS). In time, those familiar names I'd regularly see in my IT forum posts disappeared from the platform because of inconsistencies and favoritism from moderators, the platform's refusal to clamp down against trolling and non-military related topics, immaturity from users, and likely boredom.
Anti-Black, Anti-Facts
These issues bothered me too, so I started to participate less and less. I'd still post some of my new blog posts, music, and YouTube videos here and there, though. In sync with my blog content, I started posting more on RallyPoint about the Black American experience, Black history, and supporting Black-owned businesses. I brought a real, honest perspective to those "Black history," "Black Lives Matter," and "Racism" categories, or tags, to level out non-Blacks' propagandized posts about slavery, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization, and anti-Black discrimination. I was hoping to provide enlightenment for Black service members on the platform. As the comments started rolling in, I was reminded of a very important fact. The more i learned about black history, read real stats, and paid attention, the more I saw how many non-black veterans think less of Blacks. Not all, but many, of these non-Black veterans are just as racist as the police officers doing terry stops, racially profiling Black men, and shooting them for no reason, and apologists justifying it. And they're comfortable with it.
‼️ R@CIST COP TORTURES BL@CK MAN
— i Expose Racist & Pedo’s (@iSeeRacist) December 5, 2023
BL@CK MAN was TORTUR3D by a R@CIST cop for changing his tire 🛞
DANA ELMORE a PATH3TIC R@CIST COP with the Reform Police Department (@City_of_Pickens) is on “ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE” after she was CAUGHT on camera using a STUN GUN on a handcuffed… pic.twitter.com/oTICqRBmxb
antiblackness //
— C:\CHISEI\⭐️ (@balisonqs) December 5, 2023
The cop is Dana Elmore from Reform, Alabama’s police department
24th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Andy Hamlin is being referred by the police to answer questions
More importantly: His phone number is listed on the Pickens County Office Phone Directory https://t.co/NXxMnWr4GQ
They Don't Really Care About Us
The most memorable thing I've heard brother Phillip Scott say is that he will not waste time trying to teach White people about anti-Black racism. Why? Because Whites debating racism usually, not always, default to gaslighting, dismissing the Black experience to project their privileged experience (or quotes from Blacks suppressing their blackness and trying to assimilate for white acceptance), and regurgitating mainstream racist propaganda. I've seen many examples of this on RallyPoint.
"Reparations for Blacks would just be another handout." This is ignorant and niggardly (conservative racist). Yet, a lot of RP folks called reparations for Blacks a hand-out. Whites use the recency bias to justify claiming that Blacks should "pull themselves up by the bootstraps."
"Racism is in your mind," a common gaslighting argument from an Air Force senior Noncommissioned officer (SNCO) on a thread where I discussed why I create content specifically for Black Americans.
Blaming the Victim: When someone blames the victim of racism for their experiences or dismisses their feelings, they are gaslighting.
— Kenny Akers (@KeneAkers) April 27, 2023
"Black Lives Matter." "It is a racist slogan," said someone on a classic BLM RP thread. I'd assume this is projection if an European American said this. "Pro-Black" is about Black consciousness and uplifting Black Americans, as proven by Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement, Malcolm X and Black Power movement, Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party, Deacons for Defense, etc. However, a lot of, not all, Whites interpret "pro-Black" as "Black supremacy" and "Blacks want to kill us Whites" because "pro-White" is appropriately aligned with:
- The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and various other Aryan Knights clubs
- US Slavery
- History of systemic anti-Black racism in America, sometimes called America's "Caste" system
- White colonialism and "Manifest Destiny"
But the 3rd Infantry Division (3 ID) veteran who wrote this looks Hispanic, Latin, Latinx, Latino, Mexican, etc. According to him, "Black Lives Matter" is racist because:
"When non blacks counter with All Lives Matter a fight starts. It seems that most people using this statement only [think?] Black Lives Matter."
My BLM Stance Has Evolved
In 2016, during the middle of my Syracuse University (SU) journey, I responded to this thread. I missed the mark. My response was about issues within the Black community instead of the external forces that affect us and those issues, similar to my "ATTN: Blacks" post. Reading it now, its admittedly borderline coon/sambo talk and absolves police, White supremacy, and systemic racism as a whole. That's likely why its the most upvoted response on that thread.
I had to fix this.
Much better.
Let me be clear. My issues are that I've seen more enemies than supporters to true equality in the US within the RP community. My gripe with the company itself is that its company leadership, advisors, and moderators have encouraged and supported such nonsense.
Tags: black-community, military
