Last week, a white guy wanted white solidarity to undermine a minoritized group's access to a safe space. I was in the group he approached.

Afterthoughts now collected.

It's story time 🧵!

Comment if you'd like with any favorite readings on safe spaces by minoritized writers.

Some quick terminology!
White solidarity - the tacit agreement that we will protect white privilege and not hold each other accountable for our racism.

This is the definition white sociologist Robin DiAngelo uses.
Safe space.

SAFE SPACES FOR BLACK FOLKS ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE; THEY ARE NECESSARY AND VITAL TO PROTECT THE MENTAL HEALTH AND SUPPORT THE MULTI-FACETED WELL-BEING OF BLACK PEOPLE. 

This and more on safe space by Black writer Cameron Glover:

https://t.co/0wYUQQrvbS
White Guy (WG) approached a white-majority community I'm part of. They were upset and distressed. Being one of the group insomniacs, I was, y'know, up.
Upon inquiring I soon learned they were upset because they were white and had been excluded because they were white from a safe space for BIPOC being used to discuss an intra-community situation.

intra- = within, inside of;
inter- = between

(I often confuse these)
BUT I'M NOT BAD WHITE PEOPLE (paraphrased from memory; it's a common white-people-shenanigans theme)

We as white & anti-racist white people have caused & do cause harm.

We get trapped trying to prove we're "good" because intentions.

📢 Focus on impact, not intent. 📢
Even if we are that white person who has miraculously never caused harm (this is mythical, but let's roll with it) we look like the white people who HAVE harmed non-white people.
It takes a long time of ongoing rock solid anti-racist praxis and plenty of mistakes to truly reduce harm.

By the time we as anti-racist white people get to a place where we're consistently reducing or avoiding harm, we already understand why we may sometimes be excluded.
I struggled then & now to articulate this. I know this is true from lived experience. I've caused harm with my whiteness while: not knowing it, being called in/out & denying it, & while catching myself in the act. 😬

Nobody needs any of that in an already stressful situation.
Having made my clumsy attempt to articulate this, WG's next point was that they are in solidarity with the community and therefore deserved solidarity in return from the community, including the non-white subset of that community.
(TBH, I'm still processing how i could've handled this part better. EXPERIENCED advice appreciated!)

Did my best to make the point that being excluded because we are white isn't personal, & that we CAN be in solidarity by respecting boundaries AND it helps build community trust.
By morning, others had chimed in with similar but better articulated responses.

I don't think any of it landed for WG because not long after this conversation, they felt the need to share themself rapping. Were they trying to prove they weren't white? (they're white.) 😬
In the following days, they undermined requests from and talked over BIPOC leadership and were eventually removed from the community.

Several of us shared additional anti-racist resources.

I always try to leave room for folks to grow.

We shall see.
About that white solidarity: when a WG approaches your white-majority group with anything that sounds even remotely like a reference to reverse racism, right then is a GREAT time to review what white solidarity is, how it functions to uphold racism, and GIVE NO QUARTER.

More from Society

A long thread on how an obsessive & violent antisemite & Holocaust denier has been embraced by the international “community of the good.”

Sarah Wilkinson has a history of Holocaust denial & anti-Jewish hatred dating back (in documented examples) to around 2015.


She is a self-proclaimed British activist for “Palestinian rights” but is more accurately a far Left neo-Nazi. Her son shares the same characteristics of violence, racism & Holocaust denial.

I first documented Sarah Wilkinson’s Holocaust denial back in July 2016. I believe I was the 1st person to do so.

Since then she has produced a long trail of written hate and abuse. See here for a good summary.


Wilkinson has recently been publicly celebrated by @XRebellionUK over her latest violent action against a Jewish owned business. Despite many people calling XR’s attention to her history, XR have chosen to remain in alliance with this neo-Nazi.

Former Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP is among those who also chose to stand with Wilkinson via a tweet.

But McDonnell is not alone.

Neo-Nazi Sarah Wilkinson is supported and encouraged by thousands of those on the Left who consider themselves “anti-racists”.
Brief thread to debunk the repeated claims we hear about transmission not happening 'within school walls', infection in school children being 'a reflection of infection from the community', and 'primary school children less likely to get infected and contribute to transmission'.

I've heard a lot of scientists claim these three - including most recently the chief advisor to the CDC, where the claim that most transmission doesn't happen within the walls of schools. There is strong evidence to rebut this claim. Let's look at


Let's look at the trends of infection in different age groups in England first- as reported by the ONS. Being a random survey of infection in the community, this doesn't suffer from the biases of symptom-based testing, particularly important in children who are often asymptomatic

A few things to note:
1. The infection rates among primary & secondary school children closely follow school openings, closures & levels of attendance. E.g. We see a dip in infections following Oct half-term, followed by a rise after school reopening.


We see steep drops in both primary & secondary school groups after end of term (18th December), but these drops plateau out in primary school children, where attendance has been >20% after re-opening in January (by contrast with 2ndary schools where this is ~5%).

You May Also Like