I’m very glad to say I have had zero issues regarding my PoC-ness on Hexbear, everyone on this site is pretty cool and respectful in my experience so far.

I’m just a regular cis heterosexual dork-ass black dude. I don’t quite remember how I stumbled upon this site, but I would imagine part of the reason there aren’t many many PoC comrades on the site is that it’s kinda of a werido internet site.

I mean weirdo in a good way. Sadly Hexbear.net is not even in the same galaxy of rotation sites Katz visit, PoC or otherwise. Personally I don’t see Hexbear as unwelcoming to PoC (though I will say the 12 levels of irony posting can be abrasive at times), however I will say it is niche (but in a cool good way).

My only real suggestion would be to just engage with more PoC posts in general. I learn a lot of stuff from reading the c/latam and c/indigenous for example. I think the most welcoming thing we can do is just treat PoC stuff with the same respect we treat anything else. That’s just my opinion.

My sort of “be the change you want to see” thing is just reading and listening to other PoC posters as much as I can and trying to not to be “that guy” when black stuff comes up.

Some points:

I’m Indian, and part of me sometimes doesn’t mind the “reddit” feel of this place, since I’ve been using reddit for more than 10 years and was radicalized online, but hexbear does have this white online leftist veneer. And it does make me feel like I should be more of an observer rather than a participator, sometimes. I think another poster hit the nail on the head about trying to recruit from online spaces that aren’t reddit. I disagree with that poster about twitter tho, since I think there’s plenty of PoC communists using twitter.

The site’s culture and choice of memes (especially the wojacks, even tho I enjoy them lmao) is very white. Might be an unpopular idea but I think injecting some seriousness, education, and effortposting, and cutting back on the shitposts and chan lite culture is a good idea. I say this, because, while there’s nothing wrong with having unserious/casual culture (I personally enjoy it), we should contend with the fact that hexbear’s culture appeals to and is created predominantly by white people. So if hexbear’s point is to have like a lighthearted place to hang out, of course PoC comrades aren’t going to want to hang out since it’s not their culture! But don’t get me wrong I def don’t think the solution is to just remove or transplant hexbear’s culture.

Posting stuff from hoodcommunist.org. It’s a big communist Black/African blog and their writing has never been posted here lol (tbh I don’t mind posting them). Reposting blogs/writing/poetry from comrades in the 3rd world. Also repost PoC orgs like Black Alliance for Peace. Get real organizers and revolutionaries, or revolutionary orgs in the streets to do AMA’s here, and/or feature them in posts (while still maintaining hexbear’s independence of course).

I think it’s fine that a lot of site users are Americans and post about America, maybe because I am american as well lol, but there should be more posting and education about 3rd world liberation struggles. More emphasis, nuance, care about and for the Black and Brown world. What’s that, you don’t know anything about that? All the more reason to educate ourselves.

Sometimes it feels like when Black and Brown revolutionaries are discussed here, they are treated by people here as either just A) static tokens, where white leftists will like worship them without being able to appraise them critically or see them for their flaws and nuance or B) completely unknown, and just disregarded. An example of A is like you might have a thread about Thomas Sankara or Fred Hampton, where someone will be able to list all their accomplishments and how cool they were, but no one is really interested in, or able to criticize and see their faults. When you treat groups and people like this, it’s kinda tokenizing. there were very serious faults and flaws with these revolutionaries, and a lot of these other movements that we need to take seriously and criticize openly, not just bask in victories from decades ago. As for B, one of the largest and most advanced revolutions taking place rn is the Naxalite revolution of India. As far as Ik there’s never been any discussion on it. Here’s an hour long video covering it from Marxist Paul: https://youtu.be/exd74uNJaeQ?si=cCkpB9odCHHsGsLc There’s seriously plenty for white people to learn, study, and discuss from 3rd world liberation movements.

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Yes, I’m Latino and at times I feel that (and this could be my imagination) my opinions or viewpoints aren’t as well-regarded or listened to.

I’m also half of one other thing, but I don’t want to be doxxed as its highly specific.

I also feel that at times (and this may not have much to do with the OP) this place can be a bit echo-chamber-y but, again, the things I can think of are a bit highly specific and definitely do not apply everywhere.

One problem is that this place basically “hails” from Reddit, it got its original membership from Reddit, and Reddit has a lot of white communists. We need more non-white or BIPOC communists, as Othello implied, I believe.

This is not intended as an attack on our white users. I will say that Hexbear gives off a distinctly white vibe. Personally, I don’t have an issue with that since I spend a lot of time around white individuals and in predominantly white spaces. However, it might make other POC feel initially unwelcome. The solution could be to onboard more POC members and moderators.

great feedback everyone! im loving the discussion. im going to say something potentially controversial but i hope you will hear me out.

I do not think comparing carnism to the enslavement of black people or the holocaust is appropriate. we have lost a few poc users because of this particular issue. i must be clear. i am pro veganism 100%, and i fully understand the comparison but this specific rhetoric is more harmful to both the vegan movement and to making this a safe space for poc users. think about it, when you say this to a black carnist you are comparing them to the people that enslaved their ancestors, this will create a knee jerk reaction and STOP a conversation that could have been productive. would you really say this to poc irl? thank you for listening and to reiterate i am 100000% proveganism and enjoy many parts of the vegan culture on here this is just one line i feel should not be crossed. other black and jewish users, feel free to disagree i would appreciate your insight, thank you.

I see some users here asking for more non-english posting, and I think that would be cool. An easy way to encourage that is to just start making one non-english post a day. The post doesn’t have to be about language at all, but mere presence helps a lot with creating culture.