Black Lives Matter @BeerAdvocate

Great! Thanks Todd and everyone on the Beer Advocate team.

 

Good to see you guys take a firm stance on this. No need to tolerate opposing views that are grounded in denying others of their humanity.


Also racism makes beer taste worse. It's science, look it up.

 

Bravo !!

 

Thank you Todd. Not enough thumbs to up with. No need to make excuses for preserving the humanity in exchanges. Change only happens when something different is done...no matter how small. Thanks again for your leadership with the readership.

 

Get in contact with the head brewer at Weathered Souls Brewing in San Antonio ASAP. He's working on a project and it aligns with your message.

 

Good stuff, Todd. You’ve guys always done a good job of keeping this kind of shit off this site and it’s comforting knowing that you guys will continue to keep this place in order.

I know you mentioned you guys were looking for Black moderators, which is great. What about other marginalized peoples (Asian, Hispanic, etc)? This Puerto Rican is curious

 

Bravo @Todd

I'm happy to read this post!

 

Todd, great post and I’m so glad you said those words. I agree with your zero-tolerance stance - there has been so much pain and hurt of late and there should be no room for racist/prejudiced posts here on BA.

As others have pointed out, in recent history, the Founders thread was partially rife with examples of inflammatory racist comments.

 

Thank you! I appreciate all of this.

 

Yup. The 'nod, nod' kind of racism in private leads to the 'I think it's OK to kneel on a black guy's neck or throw a black girl to the ground' attitudes of some in law enforcement.

And, importantly, this isn't just about black people. Fascists always come for marginalized groups first. They pit the majority against the minorities in order to grow and cement their power. But in the end, their violence comes for all of us, and we're seeing indications of that with cops this week point blank shooting rubber bullets at a news team, and kicking a girl who was sitting on the ground rubbing her tear-gassed eyes in the face.

 

All lives matter. Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight. Embrace the diversity offered throughout the world.

 

No? I understand it as the false narrative that there is some equivalent prejudice and injustice directed at white people and police personnel. It's done to take the legitimacy from the Black Lives Matter movement. The only reason one would want to act against black peoples' struggles for equal rights and an end to violence against them is... well, we all know what it is.

 

Yeah, chief, you're missing the point. The reason for the #blacklivesmatter movement is because black lives are being treated like they don't matter. No one in America is treating cops like their lives don't matter. Everyone, even the most criminal element in America, knows that going after a cop, in any fashion, will likely get you killed or your life ruined. Being a cop is not even among the most dangerous jobs in America.

https://www.ishn.com/articles/110496-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-us-the-top-20

So, that makes the Blue Lives Matter "movement," at best, a solution looking for a problem, and, at worst, intended to do nothing more than troll, demean, and diminish Black Lives Matter. In the latter usage, it clearly is racist.

 

i'm only here for the beer.

reminds me too, why i prefer to do my quaffin' at home.

 

As a black man and follower of beer advocate I applaud you. Thank you so much. We must all come together. #Cheers

 

I agree. What’s going on now is wrong. But that doesn’t change the fact that this is a community. I don’t care if you’re white . Black, green or purple. Let’s all unite over a good beer, and try to make the world a better place.

 

Beer knows no race! Thank you for aiming to keep it that way!

 

Thanks Todd, and thanks to all the mods who are working hard to make this the place we all want it to be. Some might say, hey, this is just a place to discuss beer, and that's true. But we all have to push for change in every corner of our lives. Every little bit counts in making this world a better place for everyone, regardless of their background, ethnicity, or station in life.

 

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.