Black Lives Matter @BeerAdvocate

I agree. Love for beer should be all about embracing your fellow human beings. I have no problem with parting ways with anyone who deviates from that principle, be it an online idiot, or a brewer who injects divisive political messages in his communications

 

Good. Racism runs wide and deep in this country. Time to label it for what it is, and call it out. And if you take objection to the statement "racism runs wide and deep in this country" then you're probably a racist, and have been walking around with your eyes closed, and your mind shut, your entire life.

 

I applaud the intent.

I wish you luck with the execution.

 

Amen Todd! Thanks for this.

 

Nope. That is not what this is about right now. Black lives matter right now. Black. Your kids aren't at risk, your life isn't at risk, you will never have a knee in your neck just for being black. I can't post the screen grab but this is all the perspective you will ever need.

@NikkiPoney Via Twitter:
"Saying 'All Lives Matter' as a response to 'Black Lives matter is like saying the fire department should spray down all the houses in houses in a neighborhood even though only one house is on fire... because all houses matter. Yes, your house matter too, BUT YOUR HOUSE IS NOT ON FIRE???"

We respect women, asian, gay, straight, black, white, anybody. But the respect in the forums needs to be reciprocated and not coded. And when the time comes for that solidarity to be addressed or cleaned up in our forums for other people, we'll take that on too. But today, this time, this moment, it's about black lives. And our users need to respect that or move along. That's that on that.

 

Just the thought that fighting racism could be seen as political or politically correct makes me angry.

As it says in the meme I recently posted: "Freedom is not the right to do whatever you want but rather the right to do what's right."

Good on ya!

 

This just makes me sad. Not that you're shutting down racists - that's awesome - but just that this needed to be said here. I know that douchebags like beer too, but aren't there already enough other forums for that garbage?

 

Whether or not this one thing "changes the world" isn't the point as it doesn't need to be the end goal. It's one of ten thousand necessary steps that are being taken across many different platforms and cultural contexts to ensure bigoted ideas and speech are again stigmatized to the point where the people making them need to feel fear and shame over it. They need to understand that there will be consequences for speaking like that publicly which will go a long way to deter them from doing so again.

Hate speech has been on the rise these past few years and it takes a (global) village to tamp it back down. Glad to see BA is doing its part.

 

People have the right to protest but not the right to loot and burn buildings , destroy historic sites and harm police, national guard and secret service agents.

 

Uh oh. Cue all the dumb people who think this infringes in their freedom of speech.

 

We're all here for the beer. There's no excuse for racism. Cheers from the UK

 

Stouts and Blonde Ales are good. Am I doing this right?

Cheers and good luck! You already know this, but it won't be fun or easy

 

As Todd asks: "If you see racism, bigotry, or other forms of hate on the site, DO NOT take the bait by engaging. Instead, report the user/content or send me a direct message. Let our moderators handle it."

 

Thanks for this, Todd! Shouted you and BA out on Twitter, but, peace!

 

Todd,
I could not agree with you more. Racism needs to be confronted every time it rears it's ugly head or peeks out from under a rock. Anything less is to be compliant. There's no such thing as "a little racist". It's black & white. Period. (Pun intended...Got your attention?...then please remember this.) It's complicated. It takes thought to strike the proper balance of showing tolerance to people racially, but intolerance to those that don't get it. Silence is compliance.

In my experience (yes, I live in NYC which is about as cosmopolitan as it gets) people of many ethnicities, races & religions live in pretty close quarters & our lives are better for it. If you have a problem with that, please explain why so many people want to live here? It's noisy, the cost of keeping one over your head is through the roof (yep, at it again). Please don't assume that my opinion puts me in league with those that destroy property while hiding among legitimate demonstrators, it does not & I'm sure 99% of those demonstrating would agree. (Is breaking into a cellphone store or liquor store a choice based on politics or someone taking advantage of chaos? A discussion for another time & place.)

In the end I'd like to think that coinciding with the COVID lock down, the lock down of watering holes has exacerbated problems, but I digress.

Thanks again to Todd & the BA crew,
A toast to better times
CD
NYC

 

Well done, Todd. The key statement in your post: “This is a human rights issue.”

Exactly. Certainly racism is a hefty component in this entire debacle, but this is about humanity. How does any human being kneel on another human being’s neck - with their full weight - for 8-1/2 minutes and not realize that is inhumane? I mean, literally, WTF???

Again, very well done.

 

I’m fully supportive and appreciative of the stance. I grew up in an area of the south where racial tension was the norm and hoped over the last 40-50 years we would’ve made more progressive as a country, and world, to be past this evil. Unfortunately, this is more of a people issue than it is a racial issue we clearly have so far to go. Again, thank you for taking a stance and acting!

 

Thank you @Todd!! I have always enjoyed the BA community and I love seeing this message coming down from the top. I will be raising glass to this later tonight!

 

Thank you for this. It's not enough anymore to be "not racist", we have to be ANTI- racist.