Most of the posts that we present to you here at Lace on Race will elicit strong reaction.
Either strong agreement, or dismay, or anger.
Stipulated.
Having an entire comment thread of ‘that’s terrible!’ or ‘I agree’, or ‘yuck’ or ‘that’s awful’, or even ‘yes!’ is great.
For you.
One of the things here at Lace on Race that we need to keep in mind as part of our ethos is that we are not here only for ourselves.
We are here to dig deeper, and we are here to enhance understanding both for ourselves *and for our fellow community members*. Glib, easy responses thwart that.
For that reason, we ask that posts be thoughtful and mindful and complete.
If you have a strong yes, say why.
If you have a strong negative reaction say why.
And after you do that, dig deeper still and look at the underlying issues that elicit the response.
As an example, when we engage with a post that talks about inequity, we’re not just looking at that particular inequity. We’re looking at pattern and history.
We’re looking at how the current system either inhibits equity or actively exacerbates inequity.
We’re looking at why this visceral reaction is there for us, either for good or ill, and we’re looking at how it informs our Praxis on the outside.
How has viewing this post, and or reading the material, changed you?
How will it drive how you live out your commitment to racial justice in your offline life?
It is not necessary to write an entire soliloquy.
A paragraph is fine.
But just saying yes or no or awful or yay is much like hitting the react Emoji.
You get your dopamine hit, but you don’t get deeper understanding.
And that’s what we’re going for here in this space, both for ourselves and for our fellow walkers.
We know that we are asking different things of you then you see or have experienced in other online spaces.
That is by very conscious design.
That is part of being New People doing New Things in New Ways.
One of the new ways that we are encouraging you to participate in is deeply wrestling with the material presented to you.
Some people have said that they don’t comment or that they don’t comment in a deeper way because what they wanted to say has already been said.
Perhaps.
But your restating it in your own words reinforces it in your own mind, and the way you stated it may well resonate for a fellow community member in ways other comments that are similar might not have.
So commenting is part of our communal ethos, and it is also a way to trick your brain into internalizing the material, and retaining it.
Please mark ‘agree’ to indicate affirmation. Feel free to add any other comments as well.
No reacts.