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hey this fucking sucks and i'm incredibly disappointed in all the people i know following this account, joking about it, and not calling it out as the outrageously insensitive fucking trash that it is.
[CW: A12]
at fields' preliminary hearing in december, i saw the police pictures of the car after fields was apprehended. someone's bloody sunglasses were still lodged in the broken glass of the rear windshield.
no one wants that car.
at fields' preliminary hearing in december, i saw the police pictures of the car after fields was apprehended. someone's bloody sunglasses were still lodged in the broken glass of the rear windshield.
no one wants that car.
i'm told this joke isn't even about the A12 fund fiasco. here's the thing: intent doesn't matter. impact does. given the very public failure of @DemSocialists to appropriately handle the A12 funds, tying any "joke" about aiding survivors of a car attack to DSA will invoke A12.
no one wants that smashed up, bloodied dodge. they want to heal. they want funds disbursed without jumping through hoops, turning over sensitive personal documentation, or months of waiting. they want to pay their medical bills & their rent. you can't pay for therapy with a meme.
to everyone crowding my mentions right now explaining to me that "isn't what he meant" and "it's a joke" or that "it's absurdist humor:" please take a fucking seat.
you know who thinks "hit by a car jokes" are funny? nazis. you know how i know this? because i spend an hour a day cataloging death threats against myself and my comrades. "jokes" about hitting us with cars. pictures & cartoons & songs & jokes.
[CW: car attacks]
see? this is who thinks car attack & helicopter jokes are funny. this is an advertisement from the crying nazi's website for his online store. you can get merch with a dodge challenger on it! how fun & funny, right? from a man who wants my friend
9UKHiHiq
see? this is who thinks car attack & helicopter jokes are funny. this is an advertisement from the crying nazi's website for his online store. you can get merch with a dodge challenger on it! how fun & funny, right? from a man who wants my friend
9UKHiHiqalex has apologized. i think one young dude making a mistake is one thing, but an NPC member picking up the joke & running with it is a far more serious issue. this is indicative of a larger problem, one i've been shouting from the rooftops for a while: national has forgotten us.
i want an apology from @ella_mahony. i want an apology from @banditelli. i want an apology from every single big name in left twitter who has a moment to meme but not a damn second for the people left out to dry after a terrorist attack.
don't apologize to me. apologize to them.
don't apologize to me. apologize to them.
i'm hesitant to even take it here because this complaint PALES IN COMPARISON to the struggles of folks who can't pay their medical bills, but i gotta say it: national fucked us on that fund. and it's got our name on it. charlottesville. democratic socialists of america.
again, our bureaucratic, organizational struggle with this issue is NOTHING compared to the trauma of being terrorized by nazis & living with the aftermath of being physically & emotionally changed forever by that attack... which is why folks aren't saying it, but we got fucked.
the @DemSocialists name tied to a joke about reparations for survivors of a car attack IMMEDIATELY invoked the fund fiasco for everyone who had anything to do with it. i understand a lot of y'all didn't make that connection. some of you still don't see it.
because you aren't living with it. you don't see survivors of that attack around town. you don't know people who didn't even apply for funds because the process was too confusing, traumatic, or onerous. you don't know folks who can't afford therapy. who struggle every fucking day
the fact that you didn't make the connection is an excuse, not an apology. the fact that big names in this organization saw that joke AND DID NOT THINK OF US means something. it means you forgot. it means you don't think about that fund. you don't think about those victims.
it's nice you've moved on. it's nice you've been ABLE to move on. we can't. we're still struggling to find alternatives to help those folks you've forgotten about. we don't have the organizational resources to do much, but it's on our minds & in our work every day.
give to @CvilleFund -- a local nonprofit with a PROVEN TRACK RECORD of disbursing funds to local folks. they've paid out over $200,000 to date to people here in the area for bail, medical bills, emergency housing assistance, and other needs (not all A12 related).
they are doing the work. they are connecting folks with financial resources to recover. trust local orgs to do local work. @DemSocialists & the national compassion fund have proven they can't do that.
what did i JUST SAY this morning? this organization can't afford to keep ignoring our struggle. it's getting really fucking embarrassing to work under the banner of an org that has clearly forgotten us.
we still haven't talked about this. this is all the same struggle. and you are still ignoring us. we are hurting. we are in danger. we are struggling. we are fighting like hell. and you have nothing but hurtful jokes & self congratulatip3QC
now i have to go apologize to my community on y'all's behalf. y'all fucked up again. and you keep fucking up. we cannot do work in this community & be trusted partners if we keep using the name of an org that has hurt our comrades. think about that.
if you defend the joke, you might as well defect to the altright.
i'm no longer reading replies to this. if you have a vested interest in making this right, in having a good faith conversation about how national can unfuck any of this, get in touch, but i'm not replying today.
i'm no longer reading replies to this. if you have a vested interest in making this right, in having a good faith conversation about how national can unfuck any of this, get in touch, but i'm not replying today.
being able to see that “joke” and not make the connection to the white supremacist terror attack on A12 is a privilege many do not have.
we are owed better than this.
we are owed better than this.
this tweet was still up when i checked at 6am today. it’s since been deleted.
the original creator of the account has apologized. brett banditelli has apologized. real, sincere apologies from comrades. but this member of DSA’s elected leadership can’t own her mistake?
the original creator of the account has apologized. brett banditelli has apologized. real, sincere apologies from comrades. but this member of DSA’s elected leadership can’t own her mistake?
i’m sure she was only joking, but her joke implicates the entire NPC. surely at least one member of that body would like to say she doesn’t speak for them on this matter.
so, @DemSocialists, do you stand with charlottesville & the victims of A12 or do you stand by an awful joke?
so, @DemSocialists, do you stand with charlottesville & the victims of A12 or do you stand by an awful joke?
