Thread by @tillwefree

There is a lot of talk about the overlap between incels and white supremacists, but the alt-right has a growing group that doesn’t get a lot of attention. Let me introduce you to Divestors, Black women who represent a gendered fascism. It's a wild thread. Buckle up🧵 (1/25)

Before I get into it, let me define what the alt-right is, just so we are clear. Here are a few definitions (2/25)

“Alt-right adherents identify with a range of different ideologies, all of which center on white identity.”
Anti-defamation League (3/25)

“The Alternative Right, commonly known as the "alt-right," is a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that “white identity” is under attack by multicultural forces using “political correctness”and“social justice” to undermine white people"(4/25)

Divestors retain the set of far-right ideologies, believing that Black women are burdened by the black community, specifically black men, and should ‘divest’ as a form of ‘black women empowerment’ (5/25)

They go by a few names: Divestors, Black Women Going their own way (BWGTOW), Divested zealots, plus others. I won't be linking to people and accounts but they are not hard to find (6/25)

They present themselves as a ‘self-help’ community, recruiting women who have often experienced real trauma, “encouraging Black women to decenter male attention, prioritize health and self-care, and to broaden one’s horizons.. (7/25)

..through international travel and intentionally hypergamous relationships — often leading to the promotion of interracial relationships as a form of hypergamy."(8/25)

Doesn’t sound that bad, but here is where the fascism and femcel parts kick in (9/25)

Where incels have created “an elaborate sociopolitical explanation for their sexual failures” with women, these women have also created an elaborate sociopolitical ideology, centering on the idea that black men are worthless,.. (10/25)

...and hypergamy through interracial relationships is the best form of social mobility. This is combined with their ideology that black men have abandoned and rejected them, which gives them justification for their anti-black misandry. (11/25)

They are really just sharing good old fascist talking points though. This is how the alt right pulls people in. (12/25)

It sounds reasonable in the beginning, responding to the ways a particular community has been disaffected. Then it begins to devolve, syncing up with other alt right beliefs and behaviors. (13/25)

Here are some of the terms that they use for black men: nakers, bullet bags, felony fairy, conquered male, apes, gorillas, dindu nuffins, Tyrone (calling all black men that), and ‘mamm’es', ‘pick me’s’, and ‘guard dogs’for the women that defend them. (14/25)

They use terms and phrases like “blackistan” “struggle love” “burn the cape” “holding black men accountable” and use hashtags like #notyourmule #divest #burnthecape #divestordie. This is more than Black women venting, its next level (15/25)

The biggest problem with divestors is that they market racist ideas as black womens empowerment. Writers, bloggers, youtubers and influencers who are divestors plus people parroting divestor talking points for engagement stopping just short of being explicitly racist (16/25)

During the BLM movement, divestor rhetoric began to infiltrate progressive spaces, shifting the focus from the leadership of black women to divestor rhetoric of ‘women wearing capes for Black men’ (17/25)

I can list examples for days, but you can see it where advocacy for black men is combined with a general disdain for them. It starts to flow into divestor ideology (18/25)

Phrases like “black men are the weakest links” and “black women are tired of caping for black men” moved from simple statements of frustration to calling cards and viral trends on social media, often instigated by divestors (19/25)

These takes often come with the glorification of white men as the alternative to black men, rather than directly stating white identity is under attack, divestors say they are being attacked for seeking to “date out” into white identity through hypergamy (20/25)

Diverstors will continually create points of antagonism in discourse, taking any instance of violence by black men, or a viral interracial couple (BW and WM) as encouragement for black women to “go their own way”,.. (21/25)

..or attempting to convince people that their fascism is reactionary, because ‘Black men hate black women’. (22/25)

They practice the same tactics as many fascist: making fake accounts antagonizing black women, creating youtubes, blogging on alt right sites, creating groups on reddit, making tik tocs, etc.,engaging in all forms of disinformation (23/25)

Unlike other forms of fascism, they aren’t separate from the black community. They are more likely to operate under the guise of black feminism, whereas other women on the alt-right are specifically anti-feminist (24/25)

Some might say divestors are a brand of radical black feminism. I don’t know, but my inability to tell where one ends and the other begins speaks to how ingrained divestors have become. (25/25)