1/An interesting thing happened tonight. I was scrolling through clubhouse and found WileyCEO, Godfather of Grime (kicked off Twitter in July for antisemitic tweets) speaking. So I tweeted this (and included a screen shot, later deleted as I found out TOS don't allow it ...

2/ ... and several folks also asked me to remove it which I promptly did afterwards).... Coming into the CH room, I fully intended to confront him about how hurtful his comments in July were. But as I listened to the folks in the room, I decided to go a different direction ....

3/ the conversation jumped around, covered many topics and there were between 8-14 people up on stage. But a recurring thread was discussion of racism, bigotry, comparison of it in the US vs UK vs elsewhere.

4/ when I got a chance to speak, I had 5 bullets written down: a) we should harness technology and capitalism to make reparations for what America did to Black people. I gave http://the100kpledge.com  (a project a couple friends co-started) as an example) ...

5/ b) capitalism and product know-how and technology can be harnessed for social justice c) historically oppressed minorities need to stick together and lastly, d) "Wiley, how could you say such hurtful things about Jews as a people?" That's what I had ready to say, anyway.

6/ just as I finished the first point and mentioned the 100Kpledge, there were furious interruptions in the room - some folks looked me up and saw my tweet. They thought I came to the room with bad intentions. That I was being dishonest.

7/ what happened next was surprising and made me again believe in the power of dialogue. Wiley asked everyone to let me speak, and he said (without getting into details) that he had had a very hard time during that period due to business issues.

8/ because this was clubhouse, not Twitter - neither he nor I needed to "win" or slay the other. We were to human beings talking about something painful. I told him I appreciated him saying that. He suggested we continue to conversation on a podcast or another clubhouse.

9/ Folks in the room kept kicking me into the audience so I couldn't answer them. Some said I wanted to make money off Wiley. Or that I was chasing clout. One person even asked "why are all prison companies owned by Jews?" But Wiley shut that down.

10/ he repeatedly - and I mean 8 -10 times - told folks to let me speak and respond. Told them to get me back in the room. And we managed to have a brief conversation despite many people's anger at me and suspicion.

11/ after I left the CH room, he DMed me and shared his contact details. Said to contact him any time I am free. And once again called me his brother (he did it earlier on CH to much objection).

So what do I make of all this? 1/ I think he's sincere 2/ there can be no growth without dialogue (but you also need the learning) 3/ I will follow up and we can get into it more next time when we're not interrupted as much. I think it is a good conversation to have.

@threadreaderapp unroll please