Why I Think Mudcat Is Difficult for Black People and Other People Of Color etc.

[For the most part, this list focuses on threads in the BS section and generally excludes from this discussion those music and folk culture threads in which race/ethnicity is provided for demographical purposes]

1.The subject of race is difficult in and of itself.

2.Some people [regardless of their race and ethnicity] feel strongly about the subject of race and ethnicity. I happen to be one who feels strongly about this subject.

3. The subject of race comes up in Mudcat threads when you least expect it. If, for instance, you thought that in this thread the comments would be discussing politics like in this thread-
thread.cfm?threadid=108897&messages=49 "BS: Hillary Blows a Fuse"-the subject of race suddenly becomes part of the mix.

4.If you come to Mudcat to relax, and/or to engage in serious, or semi-serious, or light hearted conversation/discussion on subjects that don't have anything to do with race, when the subject of race comes up in a thread, if you are Black and/or a person who belongs to another racial or ethnic group that is lumped into the catch all category of "person of color", there goes your relaxation time. You now have choices to make and there are a number of consequences to those choices-a}You can ignore the comments and leave that thread; b} You can ignore the comments and continue posting about other things on that thread c} You can respond to those comments sharing your point of view at length or briefly, and then continue to do so if that poster and/or others continue discussing the subject of race; d} You can respond to those comments on race one time and then continue posting to that thread but limit your comments to the specific topic of that thread; e} You can private message the posters who posted to that thread and respond privately respond to the comments about race that they made on that thread; f} You can start a new thread on the subject of race;
g} you can do any combination of these thingst

5. If you are a person of color and you respond to issues of race or raise the issue of race in a thread, you do so with the recognition that no other person of color will also post to this thread. I believe that it is beneficial to know that there are other people who have your back {who will support the positions that you make on a specific topic. Having support is important as it helps you feel more confident about "going out there" with emotionally difficult statements and positions. And while there is no doubt that often there are some Mudcatters who usually lend their support to my statements about race/racial relations in the USA and elsewhere, it's not the same as having corroborating statements and statements that expand the statements that I've made from other people of color. For example, I've read a number of diaries from people of color on the political blog dailykos in which the diarist talks about her or his experiences with race and racism in the United States. What impresses me is that in the comment section of those diaries {along with comments from people who acknowledge that they are White}, there are always a number of other people of color-Latino American, Black American, Asian American, and Native American- who state their agreement with the diarist and who share their own experiences about being a person of color in a majority White nation. Unfortunately, because Mudcat has so few people of color [who publicly identify themselves etc see my preferred title] that doesn't happen. So, in this regard, when I raise these issues or respond to them when they are raised by others {and it seems to me that issues of race are raised a lot in Mudcat BS threads}, in terms of experiential first hand sharing, I'm out here all by my lone self.
        
6. If you are a person of color on Mudcat, and if race matters to you-as it does to me for a myrid number of reasons most of which are not of my choosing-when you start conversations about race or when you respond to comments that other Mudcat members and guests {who given this forums racial breakdown, the chances are 99.99% that that member or guest will be White}, you know [or believe from past experience] that some folks will label you as a person who is only or mainly interested in race. The response I believe that I receive at these times is "There she goes again." That kind of response is off-putting to me as I have shown by my postings to both the music and BS threads that I'm interested in quite a few other topics on Mudcat other than the subject of race. Mudcat is difficult for me and perhaps for other people of color because I just want to be a member of this community without regard to my race or ethnicity yet I can not be true to myself if I don't respond to comments about race when I feel the need to do so. Sometimes my comments may be seeking clarificiation about what another poster/s meant by their statements. Sometimes my comments may be corroborative from my personal perspective. At other times, my comments may be sharing information to correct what I consider to be misstatements made by other posters. And sometimes my comments may be all of that and more. Sometimes I feel blindsided by comments made about race on Mudcat threads that I didn't think were going to be about race.

7. Moving from discussing race in the BS threads to the music/folk culture threads-If you are a person of color-and particularly a Black person-the use of the n word and other [exaggerated?} Black American dialect that appears in 19th century and earlier African Americn secular and religious songs, is very off-putting. I had to learn to ignore these things in order to continue participating in those threads or in the rest of Mudcat. I did so and have learned a lot from those threads and from other Mudcat threads. But there's no doubt in my mind that the use of the n-word and Black American slavery dialect in Mudcat threads about spirituals and secular slave songs is a real turn off to many Black people.