rex-luscus:

So, I don’t know the specifics of the current situation in the reylo fandom in which racists and antisemites are once again defending their right to be racist and antisemitic – but I don’t need to know the specifics to tell you these four things:

1. Being called racist is WAY LESS BAD than experiencing racism
2. Your right to post whatever content you want is WAY LESS IMPORTANT than other people’s right to a racism-free fandom that they can enjoy as much as anyone else
3. If you don’t think racism is a pervasive problem in fandom, it’s because you’re not one of the people directly affected by it, whether in the form of harassment and anons calling you racial slurs, constantly being blindsided by racist portrayals of your fave characters in fic and art, and white fans who freak out if you so much as SUGGEST that they might have written something racist
4. People of color in fandom actually handle these incidents privately for the most part, so if you’re white, you don’t hear about the majority of them. Racist fics, racist anons – you don’t see most of that. It’s already unfair that the people directly affected end up dealing with these incidents themselves. It’s EVEN MORE unfair that on the rare occasion when such an incident becomes public, they get told to be quiet and “stop ruining fandom.” This is not some kind of reylo-specific problem, this has been going on pretty much forever

In other words: if you’re white, there’s a strong chance that fandom is way more fun and escapist for you than it is for your friends of color. You should care about that.