White Women Yoga: Meetup, Racism and the Growing Separatism in the United States of America

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

 Martin Niemöller

NEW POST in response to comments on this blog: SAFE SPACES: THE NEW APARTHEID 

https://patbrownprofiling.blogspot.com/2019/02/safe-spaces-new-apartheid.html

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

February 16, 2019