Hello Ndi nkem!
How are you doing? How many of you saw my last post announcing the new Podcast I’m starting with my sister? We launch on March 1st and will be available on most podcast listening platforms. Hope you are anticipating with us.
On to the topic of the day. Over the last few days, there has been a bit of commotion on twitter over an alleged kidnapping that turned out to be a scam. A black trans woman named Sai left horrid messages and videos implying that they had been kidnapped by a middle aged Hispanic man. This led to a social media wide search for them. Their friends started sharing their prior go fund me (GFM) accounts which ended up raising almost $90k across five GFMs. Their friends also bullied and doxed anyone who implied that the whole thing might have been a scam, calling them racist and transphobic. This included Sai’s sister and the police.
I have been on twitter for close to a year now and consider myself pretty new in the space. But, I’ve noticed that certain groups of people are quick to use their marginalized identity to evade responsibility and accountability for their actions. Here are steps that I have seen it happen
- Come out as a member of a marginalized identity– Let your twitter following know that you are a member of a marginalized identity. This includes but is not limited to race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, etc. it can look like this “I am a black queer femme neurodivergent trans enby”. From my observation, it seems like the more identities the better.
- Learn big social justice warrior (SJW) words– This is key because you need to be able to confuse everyone and let them no say na only you go school. Words like “social construct, privilege, bourgeoisie, capitalism, etc” are a good start. They make you sound smart regardless of if you have actual examples to back it up.
- Follow big SJW accounts– This is also important. The way I’ve seen it done in the Twitter space, following these big accounts (and hopefully them following you back) allows you access to minions that can go on the attack for you. Oftentimes, your ideas have to align with theirs. The moment you digress or have an individual thought, they will come for you. So be careful and tow the line.
- Create a GFM– Now this is the moment all your hard work starts to come through. GFMs are a symptom of how bad our system is. Many people have to resort to them as a result of our inadequate social safety net. People know this and are sympathetic to the cause. As a result, scammers have begun to capitalize on that. You can as well. Be sure to highlight all your marginalized identities and use a good story. For Sai, they used their kidnapping to push their story. Don’t go that extreme but do the needful. You can also just use cashapp.
- Blame the privileged identity for not supporting your GFM– You can do this by telling them that you are entitled to their money since they are the cause of your oppression. If they are still not donating, call them a bigot. Racist, sexist, ableist and transphobic are some hot ticket ones.
- Bonus: Evade all accountability by blaming it on your oppressed identity– If people catch on to the scam, tell them it is none of their business and you are entitled to scam since you are a member of X marginalized identity.
All these things are what I’ve seen happen over and over again. It’s not always money though. Last year, I saw people defending a man who was on death row for assaulting and killing a child and her mother. Their defense of him was that he was Black. All this while forgetting that his victims are Black too. (I don’t have a stand on the death penalty)
Sai is yet to make any statement as I write this. Many people have lost their money to this scam. Some have said it is transphobic for those people to try to get their money back. Sai’s case is an extreme example of what I see happen on twitter a lot. No room for discourse or dialogue. People evading responsibility for their actions cause they are marginalized. Yes, we can speak about the role oppression plays in the lives of marginalized people, but why do we negate individual responsibility a lot.
Anyways, I feel bad for those who have been scammed. I hope it prompts them to do their research and think critically next time. Cause how is someone missing and the first thing you do is donate to their GFM. Does that even make sense? Anyways, nobody should be angry o. I am just stating my observations. If you want to have meaningful dialogue we can do so. If not, just keep it pushing cause I don’t have your time. If you want to read more of the story, follow the #findsai or #helpsai on twitter. Till best time, Bye!
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