 |
| You can join, but not your spouse. Sorry. |
I have received some urgent emails and messages from people letting
me know that someone using my name and photo has started a racist group on
Meetup: White Women Yoga, a group that declines all requests from POC (People
of Color) to join the group.
No one is using my name and photo to run this group. I,
myself, have started this group along with White Women Walkers and Caucasian
Camera Buffs. Horrified? So are many others who are outraged - Black and White
and Asian and Hispanic – the hate mail pours in and the angry mob is telling
Meetup to take down these racist groups and even contacting the NAACP and CNN
and MSNBC and television stations local to DC to inform them of these hate
groups, especially White Women Yoga which seems to be getting people the most
upset (after all, yoga was started in India by Brown people).
So, why, WHY, did I do this? As the hate mail poured in
about the White Women Yoga group, I was finishing up a month in India, touring
schools with my Indian friends who run a charity which I support and sponsor
poor children’s education. I am a mother of two biracial children and one black
son. What gives?
 |
| India 2019 |
What gives is Meetup is an organization that promotes
separatism and racism and has been doing so for over a decade. There are more
than 800 one-race-only groups that Meetup supports and promotes. In fact, Meetup
kept sending me emails about joining these groups and when I tried, my
membership was declined solely based on my photo. I tweeted to Meetup about
this problem as I live in Prince George’s County, Maryland where my race (White)
is a minority (13%). Most community groups (not Meetup) near to me that I join
are mostly Black which is fine with me because of the demographics. I even am
part of a line dance group in which I am the only White because the group uses
soul and R&B music and happens to be in a predominately Black area. Because
this group is county run, it is not allowed to discriminate against Whites and
so I can be a part of it. This is the music I love to dance to and I am happy
to be cheerfully accepted as a member of this line dance group.
But, Meetup, not so much. Based on my photo, I am not
allowed in. One group that declined me specifically said the group was only for
people of African/African American descent. I asked what was the percentage of
African descent I would need to be to join. I got no answer. What would happen
to my 3/4 White, 1/4 Black granddaughter? Would she not be allowed to join a
group with women who look like her mother, relatives and friends? Would my biracial
son not be allowed to join because someone thought from his photo he was Hispanic?
Maybe my biracial daughter might pass muster and my black son but why would
they want to join a group which would not allow their PONEC (People of Not
Enough Color) spouses, family and friends to join? For that matter, why would any
nonracist Black person want to be part of a group that denies membership based
on color? Interestingly, many of the Black persons who requested membership in
White Women Yoga (obviously to see what would happen and to send me a
blistering message that I was a racist) were themselves members of several Black-Only
Meetup groups. I, myself, find any one-race-only group appalling and would
never join a group that would refuse membership to someone who didn’t match the
chosen color.
So, after being declined membership in these groups, I
tweeted Meetup.
I am a White woman who
lives in the DC area (Prince George’s County, Maryland) and I have found I am
locked of many dozens of groups in my area because the organizers label the
groups as Black, African-American, Mahogany, People of Color, etc. This seems
to be a way of keeping White people from joining. These are women’s groups,
travel groups, photography groups, etc, which should have no need to attach
race to joining requirements. I’d like to know why Meetup is allowing this
blatant racism which is against policy. {or so I thought}
Meetup replied:
Meetup fosters
communities of people centered on shared interests or common identities. Meetup
is a diverse community and group identities can be centered around gender,
race, religion, political affiliations, or language, among many other things.
We believe there is a
Meetup group for everyone, Pat. We’d love to help you find one that works for
you. Let us know if we can help?
I responded:
So, you will help me
find a group that accepts white people?
No response from Meetup.
I further tweeted:
So, what you are
saying, since I cannot join groups that require me to be a POC (Person of
Color), I can start White Photographers, White Women Travel, and White DC
Socializers?
No response.
I wanted to be sure I was understanding that Meetup was
actually permitting one-race-only groups who could discriminate and refuse
members of another race (like the White golf clubs of the old days who refused
Black members and this was eventually outlawed). So I wrote Meetup for clarification.
I received this response from the Meetup Integrity Team (yes, their INTEGRITY
team).
“We allow groups to
come together based on a common identity. If a member wants to create a group
to connect with their ethnicity, be it Black, Asian, or what have you, they are
more than welcome to do so.
There is nothing wrong
with people wanting to meet with other people and create a private space with
others who share the same culture or identity.
This includes you. If
you feel the need to have a private space to connect with other white folks,
you are allowed to do so.
Now bear in mind, and
this applies to all groups regardless of their identities, within your description
we recommend refraining from mentioning who
you do not allow (bolding Meetup’s). Rather, we recommend focusing on who you do allow (bolding Meetup’s).
Regarding members who
complain against you, I highly recommend refraining from engaging them, and
instead remove them from your group.
Best,
Dwayne
Senior Integrity Specialist
Meetup HQ
Wow! I was shocked! In this day and age, one-race-only
groups should be a thing of the past. There is quite a difference between a
group that happens to be one race because of the neighborhood it exists in (like
a Black church which might be 100% Black because that is who lives nearby but
if a White person moved into the neighborhood, they might attend as well) or a
country line dance group that was 100% White because of the neighborhood being predominately
White and White people being the biggest fans of country music (but if there
was a Black person in the area who loved country line dance, they might join as
well). And there is nothing wrong with having a group of friends of one color
you go golfing with or picnicking with or party with at your home. But to
specifically permit and promote one-race-only groups like Meetup does should be
abhorrent and illegal, but it has been going on for over a decade and no one is
saying anything. So, I started three White-Only groups with the blessing of Meetup
and all hell has broken loose, especially with the White Women Yoga group I
based on a Black-Only Yoga Group with more than 300 members called Yoga is 4 Black Girls. I cut and pasted
their description changed Black to White for my group.
Their description:
This Meetup group is
to allow space for Black women to gather in the name of yoga, surrounded by the
supportive community of Black people, Black yoga instructors, and all around
safe Black spaces.
My description:
This Meetup group is
to allow space for White women to gather in the name of yoga, surrounded by the
supportive community of White people, White yoga instructors, and all around
safe White spaces.
Here are just a sample of the many, many angry messages I
have received:
You’re a dumb racist.
I hope you feel unsafe outside of your ignorant Klan meetup.
You racist POS.
This is a group for
only one race? You’ve GOT to be joking!
You cannot establish a
group based n race, color or ethnicity and restrict “everyone”… that’s called
Racism and it should not be allowed on this platform.
Your racist group is
disgusting.
Just read about your
group online. Shame on you for being so racist and hateful. It’s people like
you who are destroying our country.
What is wrong with
you? This is the most racist hateful thing and it goes against the principles
of yoga. It is black history month for god’s sake! Educate yourself!
An all-White meeting
condemning others is “not safe” has gotta be one of the most racist things I’ve
ever seen.
This is absolutely disgusting.
White women don’t need a “safe” space.
I’m half white. Can I
join?
Considering that yoga
as a traditional and spiritual practice comes from the common Indian community,
it feels concerning, in the least, to take this practice and then refuse to
allow the exact people it culturally comes
from any access to the community. It’s racist. Please delete the group.
Where have these people been for the past decade of Meetup allowing
one-race only groups? Is it because people don’t care, accept, or are afraid to
speak out against Black-only groups? Is it the problem that only Whites can be
racists and reverse discrimination isn’t a real thing? Or doesn’t matter? I
spent years being concerned that my non-White children would have to suffer
discrimination and racism and I did my best to raise them to appreciate all cultures
(as each has so much to offer) and all colors (as I have always felt the melanin-
based race stuff is garbage). With a Jamaican father, a White mother, German
-born Jewish grandfather, a Cuban-born grandmother and friends from many countries
and cultures like Mexico (their father’s usual soccer team) and The Gambia
(long-term friend…I developed an interest in Africa when I visited there at the
age of 19) and friends of various religions as well, my children grew up liking
people for who they were and accepting them as their friends regardless of
race, culture, religion, or sexual orientation.
 |
| Washington DC 1981 |
As my children grew to
adulthood I was relieved to see racism dying down or at least POC (People of
Color) making great strides in business and politics, even to the point where a
biracial man attained the presidency of the United States.
Then, everything changed and went downhill. Without getting
into the politics of it all, we are seeing George Orwell’s “Animal Farm coming
true. Where there used to be oppressors of one race, now we are seeing a rise
in oppressors of another race and we see support from all races that this is
acceptable. “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others” was what
the pigs claimed after they ousted the humans and then became just like them. We can love our country, protect our borders, work for intelligent immigration, love our citizens of all races, religions, cultures and birthplaces as long as they too love America and work for the betterment of our country. We may not all agree as to how it should be accomplished, we may discuss and even argue, but we should not hate one another and exclude one another from our lives and communities.
 |
| Mexico 2019 |
It’s 2019 and I fear for the future of my PONEC (Person of
Not Enough Color) grandchild. I fear for all my future grandchildren if my non-White
children “err” and marry White persons instead of POC (People of Color). I
worry about my children and my grandchildren and my friends, Black and White
and Asian and Hispanic, having to choose which group to belong to and who they
dare not associate with. I worry about people hating each other for being Republican
or Democrat or Independent or Trump Supporters or Trump Haters. I fear hate,
tribalism, and separatism are taking over the United States. There is even a new
acronym – ADOS – that is becoming popular. ADOS stands for Americans Descendants
of Slaves. Now two of my three children are not accepted by that group because
their father is from Jamaica (and it must be American slaves); my adopted black
son is the only one in the family entitled to claim to be an ADOS. I am sure ADOS
groups will soon show up on Meetup and then black people from the Caribbean or
Africa or the Dominican Republic or Cuba or their children will have their
membership declined. Maybe then there will be outrage over blacks getting
discriminated against by other blacks.
Meetup is both the disease and the symptom of what is
happening to our country.
Ramping up racism, refusing to associate with people of a
different color, and claiming to need “safe spaces” because even being near a
person of another race is emotionally destructive….this should not be happening
in America
Organizations like Meetup who institutionalize racism and
separatism in our country, this kind of organization should be shut-down if
they do not remove their one-race-only discriminative groups. The same should
apply to the separatism that is growing on college campuses. We are one people,
Americans, and we need to remember that when we start thinking of ourselves as
separate groups, we stop caring for others:
First they came for
the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the
trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the
Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me –
and there was no one left to speak for me
Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
February 16, 2019
