In the back of my mind, I thought something like this might happen, especially in light of recent events with Loren Feldman and with the surprising amount of support many were showing him. What was a shock, to me, was to see the organized fashion it occurred in.
Just as Wayne Sutton and Corvida started their interview this afternoon, the chat area was bombarded with a flurry of racial slurs, bigotry, and malicious prejudice. I’ve been through this before in many past years of chat rooms, discussions boards, and such. Unfortunately, each time, I think it just desensitizes you a little bit. One positive: everyone else now has the opportunity to see that racism isn’t a myth; it isn’t just something that ended with slavery; and the neither the blogosphere nor the web are exceptions.
I applaud Wayne and Corvida for the level of class and professionalism they held during the interview. They are great role models for other Black Tech Bloggers, including myself.
Personally, I’m way too feisty to put up with that kind of stuff and it makes me tense. I never want to be desensitized to it because; unfortunately, I think many of us have — Black and White, old and young. So when folks hear stories about possible racist activity, what are the reactions? “Oh stop playing the race card”, “Aren’t you being a little sensitive?”, “That’s just how the world is *shrug*”. I’ve had all these things said to me at some point in my life.
Louis Gray has a blog post describing his experience and reactions to the interview and I’m thankful he’s speaking up about it, and not shrugging it off.
Here’s a screenshot I took after the interview was over. Yahoo Live, is this the kind of community you want representing you?
