When Black people get too uppity online, we’re told to STFU.

Image work of a U.S. employee as part of their duties. Public domain.

Yesterday, one of the many white “Christians” in the professional photography community—a man who is notorious for silencing black voices in the online communities he runs—said he would pay up to $3,000 to have me tear-gassed. Now, in total disclosure, I did buy the URL assholeracistphotog.com and point it to his website for about half a day. But what else do you call a man who publicly states he would pay up to $1,000/night to tear-gas “those Yahoos in Portland” as he put it. “Yahoos” who were protesting and uprising in Portland in the wake of yet ANOTHER killing of an unarmed Black man.

I did that little joke to prove a point. This individual was accusing ANTIFA as supporting Joe Biden, and as his proof, he commented on how Antifa.com forwards to Joe Biden’s website (which, as of this writing, it does). A number of this individual’s followers were commenting on how crazy these Marxist “lefties” are, and how this proves it. Once again utterly amazed at how seemingly ignorant Trump supporters are, I was cynically making what most people should have seen was an obvious point—that anyone can buy a domain and point it anywhere they like.

Was my action immature? Maybe? But it made my point. (In fact, he took it in stride and thanked me for giving him the SEO “juice” and to keep sending people his way. As a content marketing consultant, I promptly let him know that SEO doesn’t work like that. But, you know, whatever.)

Yet another friendship bites the Trump-supporting dust

This was a man I’ve known for 13 years. I was once friends with him in real life. I had spoken on stage with him at international photography conventions. I was part of a nationwide tour he once put on. I had him on my various photography podcasts, and even did a short video series on him. I even defended him online a while back when hundreds of photographers riled against some “photo system” he was selling that they felt was hurting the art of photography.

After pointing the aforementioned URL to his site, he said it was sad to see me adapt the “hate” tactics of the Left. I commented on how it was ironic he accused me of being hateful in light of his desire to pay $1,000/night to tear-gas protesters. He then, in yet another act of absolute cognitive dissonance, said he’d pay up to $2,000/night if I was in the crowd. (In a later comment, he upped it to $3,000. Should I feel proud that the value was going up? I’m not sure.)

Let me repeat: this man is a professed Christian. I make a point of this only because he has made it a point to be very vocal about his faith publicly. It ostensibly was the motivation for the kinds of work he did and the kinds of choices he made and the businesses he created. He literally used to use words like “love” and “freedom” in his marketing (as of this writing, his Twitter account simply read “Freedom• Love • Grace.” Not quite sure how paying $1,000/night for the opportunity to tear-gas “Yahoos” in Portland represents any of those things.) He currently owns a company called “Warm Welcome.” This Christian brand of his was something that, on the surface, seemed to align with true Christian values.

But he—and many other self-proclaimed Christians in the visual arts community who over the years made their “witness” by publicly proclaiming the goodness and power of Jesus Christ—is a die-hard, card-carrying, MAGA-hat-wearing Trump supporter.

And as I have, with a heavy heart, engaged with these people over the past four years, calling them on their privilege, and exposing how hurtful and hateful their comments are (not to mention, being horrible witnesses for the faith they publicly proclaim), I’ve been told to stop being so mad, calm down, go back to being “positive Ron”, stop being the moral police, why am I so “hateful,” etc. And by “these people,” I mean white men (most of whom just happen to be Christian.)

You should know, that I too am a self-professed Christian, so this isn’t about attacking the faith. From my POV it’s about trying to save and redeem it. The irony is, many of these right-wing conservative Christians denigrate the #BlackLivesMatter movement due to the actions of a few, without realizing the hypocrisy considering the over 1500 years of rape, torture, murder, misogyny, pedophilia, and even terrorism that has come from those in “the church” to this very day. Oh, and let’s not forget that “Christian” organization the KKK. Cognitive dissonance abounds among these people.

Uppity niggers won’t be tolerated

In an interview with Dick Cavett, writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin said:

When any white man in the world says “give me liberty, or give me death,” the entire white world applauds. When a black man says exactly the same thing, word for word, he is judged a criminal and treated like one and everything possible is done to make an example of this bad nigger so there won’t be any more like him.

Let me start by saying I am NO James Baldwin, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, or any number of civil rights luminaries. In fact, until only a few years ago, I was half as “woke” as I am today, and have been absent from the “fight” for justice. But, like many neophytes in any movement, my passion for the cause has been on overdrive ever since taking up my social justice “cross.” I’ve been writing Medium articles ad nauseum, I wrote a political satire/memoir, I’ve been vlogging, and my personal Facebook page has been a proverbial “street corner” where I’ve been using my “bullhorn” of the written word.

As I’ve used social media as an outlet for justice and equality for all marginalized people, I’ve run up against the kind of vitriol I alluded to above. But in the four years that I’ve been vocal, not even the most obnoxious and hateful people I’ve encountered online have threatened me with any kind of physical harm. Was this guy joking about tear-gassing me? I don’t know.

And therein lies the reason Black people have fear. His mindset is one that millions of people in this country have. And I’m seeing more and more of it online. In one of his online communities, I’ve been told he banned some Black women because they were speaking out against racism they were seeing in the community. This toxicity is rampant in the visual arts community, so much so that whole Facebook Groups are springing up with the expressed purpose of exposing racist remarks in other private communities—to bring into the light the darkness of the racists (both overt and the ones in denial of their racism).

And the responses from these people are no different than the kinds of things white men told Black men during the height of Jim Crow—when we dared to sit at their tables, drink their water, or ride in their bus seats. The message is clear—you don’t belong here nigger. Get out. I apologize for the use of the full N-word. But it’s necessary to get the full weight of what’s happening.

I’m sure all of these white men have perfectly reasonable explanations as to why their comments to me and others are warranted.

• They’re not racist, they just believe in “law and order,” so of course they’d want to pay up to $3,000 to tear-gas me if I joined protesters.
• They’re not racist, they just believe that ALL lives matter (note: they have no issue with the hashtag #BlueLivesMatter).
• They’re not racist, they spend an hour a week feeding the poor black people on the other side of the tracks with their (white) church every week.
• They’re not racist, they know a Black Republican and really like him. He’s so eloquent even!

Don’t get me wrong; in no way am I saying that the vitriol and ignorance that I and others get on social media is anywhere near what the brave men and women withstood during protests and sit-in of the 60s.

But it is, in essence, the social media equivalent. And in my latest example, it’s escalated to written threats. No matter how innocuous it may seem, as a Black man in this country, when a rich white man who supports Trump says he’ll pay $3,000 for the opportunity to tear-gas me, how do I not take that seriously?

What’s a Black man to do?

So I am left with a hard choice. Do I continue speaking out, even in the face of hatred and intimidation by white men who don’t like what I have to say? Or do I mellow out, cognizant of the fact that I have a son, daughter, brother, sister, father, and other loved ones in my life who care about my well-being?

With the spirits of those who came before me looking down, I think the answer is clear—my little MacBook Air will remain out and busy as ever, online racists be damned. And whenever I get a chance, I will attend another protest to proclaim that #BlackLivesMatter.

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