In 4 things white people can do to start making the fediverse less toxic for Black people (DRAFT!) and its cross-posts, quite a few people said things like “maybe racism is a problem on Mastodon, but I don’t see it on Lemmy.” Of course, plenty of comments in the various threads were in fact examples of racism on Lemmy, so one takeaway is that at lot of people don’t see racism even when they’re looking at it. And helpful commenters pointed out some of the other patterns of racism on Lemmy. … but that wasn’t really the thrust of that discussion.

So I wanted to ask more generally, what are some of the examples you’ve seen of racism on Lemmy? Quotes and links are great, but also feel free just to describe examples or call out more general patterns!

  • wuphysics87
    3•3 months ago

    “I’m not black but”. More than black folks experience racism, but at least it wasn’t “As a color blind white man”

    • Elise
      3•3 months ago

      It would be more helpful if you gave an example of the proper way of addressing the issue.

      Thanks for the adrenaline spike.

      • wuphysics87
        2•3 months ago

        I am priveleged not to experience racism as others do. As a consequence/therefore/ etc.

        • Elise
          3•3 months ago

          Yeah it sucks big time. I dated a foreign student once and people would shout crap out of their car and drive off. And when we ate at a restaurant I could have sworn that they made their food too salty to eat on purpose.

          Personally I have sort of experienced a weaker version of it first hand when visiting Poland each time. People wouldn’t serve me at all, or charge ridiculous prices.

          • Jojo, Lady of the West
            2•3 months ago

            Possibly because “colored” is and has been used as a slur? That was the connection my brain made when I first heard it and put me off, but many POCs use the term POC comfortably, so…?

            • Elise
              2•3 months ago

              Well, I am not from the US so I don’t have that connotation. It’s more that it puts it relative to white people. And white people also get discriminated, so it isn’t an inclusive term.

              • Jojo, Lady of the West
                2•3 months ago

                They do for sure. I didn’t say POC is shorthand for “people who are discriminated against”, just “people who aren’t white”.