When you're exhausted from debating race with strangers, they step in
By Cassandra Santiago and AJ Willingham, CNN
Updated 9:27 AM ET, Wed December 6, 2017
(CNN)Social media conversations on race typically take one of two routes.
The first, and the one less traveled, leads to a thoughtful, fact-driven exchange of ideas. The second (more popular) route leads to bitter back-and-forth filled with tired stereotypes or racially inflammatory barbs.
But now, when discussion swerves in the second direction, there's a group of white allies prepared to do the rerouting.
White Nonsense Roundup is a social media watchdog group with about 100 white volunteers. Its goal: to relieve people of color from the emotional labor of engaging with a person's racist or racially insensitive thoughts.
Say, a person of color makes a post about Black Lives Matter. Then others respond with ignorant or offensive comments. That person can tag
White Nonsense RoundUp to snatch some edges -- or, better put, to educate people with context and fact-based views.
Think of it like roadside assistance for social media debates you're tired of having.
"It's really unfair that we expect people of color to experience racism, but then also explain it to us," the group's co-founder Terri Kempton, a book editor and college instructor, told CNN.
How it started
After Philando Castile's killing in 2016, Kempton saw a need for proactive involvement by white people like herself in conversations about race.
"I think, as white people, we are taught that intentions are all that matters," Kempton said. "We think that if our hearts are in the right places and we consciously doubt racism, we're good to go. So that was a light-bulb moment to me, where I didn't think intentions are enough."
So, she approached another white friend, Layla Tromble, and together they launched White Nonsense Roundup on Facebook, Twitter and later Instagram.
"I thought, 'What about if we take on some of that emotional labor or burden?'" Kempton said. "Because white people are responsible for talking to other white people about racism."
Their idea worked. Since its launch, White Nonsense RoundUp has gained more than 138,000 followers across its different accounts.
Kevin Tillman of Oakland, California, is a frequent user of White Nonsense RoundUp.
One of them is Kevin Tillman, an educator in Oakland, California, who says he uses the service almost every day. Tillman, 40, is a leader in the vegan hip-hop movement and often encounters trolls online.
Rest of the article:
http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/06/health/social-media-race-debate-allies-trnd/index.html