I’m contemplating leaving @twitter. The platform has proven to be instrumental in harming people with marginalized identities, which normally I wouldn’t blame a media platform for except that @jack has demonstrated negative interest in doing anything about it.

in the past when I’ve thought about this I’ve thought about it from the perspective of my own safety/comfort. And I’m good on that front; I can handle it. But now I’m thinking about it differently: thinking about the people who tell me they join or stay on twitter because of me.

Every time someone in the press refers to me as a “twitter celebrity” (actual phrase that I don’t fully understand or subscribe to but this is what people say) it means that my presence and voice are adding social cachet to a company that I find to be quite terrible.

People tell me that they learn a lot from what I have to say here, and sometimes that it’s their first or only exposure to certain ideas, histories, perspectives, etc. and I have to weigh that too. But I could post that stuff elsewhere.

We’ll see. I’m just thinking aloud for now but I’m watching closely to see what @twitter and @jack do in the coming days and how they respond to what we now know about Cesar Sayoc (beyond one really stupid tweet). Because we know it’s not just him. Big changes need to happen.

LORDT. two black economists i really respect, @SandyDarity and @DarrickHamilton, just published a KILLER report debunking what they call 10 commonly-held myths about the racial wealth gap and how to close it. I'm gonna tweet the highlights. (full report:

first, defining the wealth gap. Black households hold
< 7 cents on the dollar compared to white households. The white household living near the poverty line typically has about $18k in wealth. Black households in similar economic straits typically have a median wealth near zero.

"At the other end of America’s economic spectrum, black households constitute less than 2 percent of those in the top one percent of the nation’s wealth distribution; white households constitute more than 96 percent of the wealthiest Americans."

that's the racial wealth gap. it's bad. google it. onto the myths."We contend that a number of ideas frequently touted as 'solutions' will not make headway in reducing black-white wealth disparities...While these steps are not necessarily undesirable, they are wholly inadequate."

"There are no actions that black Americans can take unilaterally that will have much of an effect on reducing the racial wealth gap. For the gap to be closed, America must undergo a vast social transformation."

me reading this out loud:

Imagine a bunch of people are in a tent. It’s an awful tent. Call it the Awful Tent. why is it awful? I dunno. Uhhhh there are bears outside and maybe a bunch of mosquitoes inside. It just sucks. It’s an awful, sucky tent for everybody.

Periodically people in the Awful Tent have discussions about their circumstances. “How are we gonna get out of the Awful Tent?” “I’m sick of being bitten by mosquitoes.” “Omg the constant growling of the scary bears outside gives me anxiety.” Everyone commiserates.

But the thing is, not everyone’s position in the tent is the same. Some people have staked out a spot in the center where they can’t hear the bears. Some people are more or less prone to getting bitten by mosquitoes. Some people are allergic to the damp, mildewy, Awful Tent.

The Awful Tent has holes and some people have been stuck for a long time under the holes. Every time it rains they get wet. They’re perpetually sick and soggy as a result.

To make matters worse, some people in the tent have actually caused harm to others. Some people have pushed and shoved to make sure the people getting rained on keep getting rained on. Some people have stolen and hoarded bug spray. Some people have shoved others out to be bears.