Hi, I’m a nonblack poc, and I’m seeing a lot of nonblack artists getting upset because of tags like Blacktober and harassing the Black artist community because they’re being asked not to participate in events that were not for them. I wanna talk about this. (1/-)

For the record, it’s the middle of December. It’s been WEEKS and this is still an issue for people. (2/-)

The first, most common, and frustrating thing I keep seeing is that an artist would simply hear about Blacktober, post in the tag, and then be caught off guard when Black artists tell them that’s not ok. (3/-)

How is it that you would claim to want to uplift Black art, and then make literally 0 effort to understand not only the purpose of the tag, but who created it, and who it is meant for. (4/-)

By not bothering to do even the bare minimum, you are telling people that you see this as little more than a trend that you can participate in at will without thinking about what Black art means to Black artists. (5/-)

You don’t get to feel bad for yourself then, when people tell you that it wasn’t right. When you don’t put the effort in to understand your peers, you’re responsible for accepting the consequences of your own actions. This is probably the most tiring part about this. (6/-)

It! Is not! About! Us! And you’d know that if you’d just bothered to ask even like 3 people. Even just 1. Hell, literally just looking at the tag, the creator is IN IT! (7/-)

This weird thing where nonblack people hurt Black artists, and then get upset that they tell you so you start acting like people holding you accountable for your behavior is damaging your mental health? Is fucking weird. (8/-)

When you fuck up, accept that you fucked up? Apologize to the people you fucked up to. “I’m sorry to everyone” is not an apology. Learn to apologize for racism. To apologize specifically to the people impacted by what you did. (9/-)

“I need a break” is a shitty scapegoat, because Black artists do not get breaks. Blacktober was supposed to be a fun and uplifting month for Black artists to showcase their talent, and they were bombarded with constant harassment. And all you did was jump in for fun. (10/-)

I need nonblack Artists of color to stop making Black artists feel bad for asking for a place to exist. I need us to be better about accepting responsibility when we do things. It’s not anyone else’s fault if we don’t bother to respect our peers and their spaces. (11/11)