RE: On LinkedIn, White-Leaning Double Standards, and the Reverse Racism Defense

Image description: A screenshot of a private direct message sent to me by LinkedIn’s support team in reference to the removal of one of my posts. The message:

"Your LinkedIn Inquiry

Hello Pharoah - I am reaching out to you regarding your recent post: https://lnkd.in/gHPUE_ZK

I can understand the frustrations the removal of this post has caused. Can you tell me if you have taken action to ask our Trust and Safety team for a second look on the post through the link provided in their notice? -DZ"

Yesterday, I posted about my experience on LinkedIn dealing with having my posts reported for "hate speech" and "bullying" by white "professionals" who can't deal with the discomfort of a Black person setting boundaries and calling out white supremacy. The short version of the story is that LinkedIn allowed a white "professional" or two who were uncomfortable with my post to report said post as hate speech. Yesterday's posting removal was the third in two months. You can read the full post here.

Well, my blog post about LinkedIn removing my post went viral. Viral to the point where other folx on LinkedIn started tagging LinkedIn's Help Team and Trust and Safety team in the comments. With the post going viral the way it has, I expected to receive a message from someone working for LinkedIn, hoping to quell the situation. These things usually take a few days. Lo and behold, this morning, I woke up to the following direct message from a member of the LinkedIn Help team in my inbox:

"Your LinkedIn Inquiry

Hello Pharoah - I am reaching out to you regarding your recent post: https://lnkd.in/gHPUE_ZK

I can understand the frustrations the removal of this post has caused. Can you tell me if you have taken action to ask our Trust and Safety team for a second look on the post through the link provided in their notice? -DZ"

My response?

"DZ,

No, you do not understand my frustration. And no, I did not ask the Trust and Safety team for a second look. I did not ask because the last few times I've had my post taken down for alleged "bullying" and "hate speech," the Trust and Safety team declined my appeals. Those other posts were similar in vein and tone to the post y'all took down this week after some white "professionals" reported that my post on setting a boundary for me on your platform was somehow "hate speech." I find it intriguing that most of the Black women and Global Majority professionals on this platform have had similar experiences as my own, yet white "professionals" on this platform get to intimidate and spew vitriol that y'all do nothing about.

I refuse to waste time and energy defending myself on a platform that does not care about Black women, Black and Brown professionals, and professionals of color. I've wasted time and energy in the past defending my post only to receive confirmation that the LinkedIn platform is white-centered and does not care about melanated professionals and their experiences on here. Besides, you're only reaching out to me this morning because my post went viral and someone in the comments tagged your team. Your help isn't wanted because you and your team don't want to help - you want to make this disappear.

Don't bother reinstating my previous post. You'd only be doing so to feel like "good" people. Reinstating my post does not change the fact that thousands of Black women, Black and Brown folx, people of color, and queer-identifying folx face hatred and vitriol on your platform and have learned that you will not stop that harm from happening. Put your energy into making LinkedIn a welcoming environment for more than hateful white "professionals" who know you're their protectors.

Here's to y'all doing something more than reactive damage control.

-Pharoah"

LinkedIn Help and Trust and Safety suddenly only caring about their actions and inactions after they've been outed and gone viral? Not a good look. And not a look I support.

I'm not here to make LinkedIn or any white supremacist-driven platform feel like they're doing the right things when they're not. I don't play those games.

Real talk? They can keep that post hidden. Them hiding the post ultimately made it go viral accidentally. They gave the post 8,000+ more hits and reshares than it would've if they let it be. LinkedIn hides or limits the audience reach of 90% of the posts Black women, Black and Brown folx, Global Majority folx, and queer-identifying folx post on their platform, calling out patriarchal, heteronormative white supremacist workplace culture as it is. They silence melanated and queer voices for white comfort all the time. That's their bread and butter: be a good little "professional," and we'll let you keep playing in our sandbox. But their actions in this situation did the opposite. Technically, my post was another drop in a big bucket for them.

They just don't like that this drop caused ripples they can't soothe or quickly quell.

On LinkedIn, White-Leaning Double Standards, and the Reverse Racism Defense

This morning, I posted one of my self-appointed three weekly posts on LinkedIn, the networking platform best known for supporting hate speech from white “professionals” while acting like taking a stance and banning hateful white people is hard to do. Why only three posts per week on LinkedIn? You can read more about that here.

Anyhoo, one of my three posts this week was focused on why I would no longer be accepting connection requests from white “professionals” on LinkedIn.

It took less than thirty minutes for some white “professional” to report my post as hate speech.

Image description: a screenshot of an email from the LinkedIn Trust and Safety department. The post reads as follows:

”Your post doesn't comply with our policies

Your post goes against our policy on hate speech. It has been removed and only you can access it.

If you've reviewed our policy and believe we made a mistake, you can ask us to take a second look.

Repeatedly creating content that doesn't comply with our Professional Community Policies could lead to your LinkedIn account being restricted.

Thank you for being part of the LinkedIn community.”

Hey! A new record!

I can’t even get mad about this. It’s hilarious. Legitimate hate speech runs rampant on LinkedIn every day. It’s wild how many Black women, Black and Brown folx, femmes, queer folx, and Global Majority folx get inundated with hateful rhetoric and messages by white “professionals” on the LinkedIn platform every day with no repercussions for those doling out the harm. We report these hateful people, and LinkedIn’s Trust and Safety team tells us they “investigated” the matter, and it doesn’t violate their terms of usage. Yet white “professionals” report any and every post Black folx, Black women, and Global Majority folx make that call out white supremacist ideology, and we’re flagged for “hate speech” because white “professionals” know that the platform will side with them.

It’s so obvious and transparent that it would be hilarious if it weren’t so dangerous for many professionals of color and queer professionals trying to use the platform to build or cultivate their careers.

This nonsense is why I only post on LinkedIn 2-3 times per week.

This is why I use this website as the central hub for everything I speak about and my work.

The email you see above is the third “violation” email I’ve received from LinkedIn in two months. I’m not going to dispute the post they took down this morning because I disputed the last two removals, and they held firm that my posts were “hate speech” and did not repost them. Why expend the energy to dispute a decision that you know a white-centric social media networking platform will uphold to ensure the comfort of whiteness? It’s just a social media platform. It ain’t worth my time. LinkedIn doesn’t want people of color, Black folx, and Black women on their platform unless they comply, assimilate, and prioritize white comfort.

That’s a no for me, dawg.

We’re just going to start posting to LinkedIn 1-2 times per week.

The following wall of text is the banned post in its entirety. I’ll let you decide where the hate speech is located. I’m not finding it, but I’ve never been good at Where’s Waldo? puzzles.

Hey, white people. I hope y'all are having an OK week and haven't been on some white supremacist nonsense at work and in the community this week. The likelihood that you have been on some white supremacist nonsense somewhere this week is high, so I suppose wishful thinking?

I digress.

I'm sending a message out to white "professionals" today because I've been getting a lot of connection requests from y'all over the past few weeks. Some of y'all are probably wondering why your request has been sitting in limbo. The truth is, it's not in limbo. Your request was either declined or ignored. Your request wasn't accepted.

I'm sure some of y'all read that and went to all of the usual arguments:

Why wouldn't he want to connect? I know people whom I can share his work with.

You're just limiting your reach by declining [white] professionals.

OK. And?

Real talk? I don't have to or need to give you an explanation. But it's Thursday, and I'm feeling damn good this morning after having a solid week, so I'm going to be clear on one thing we're doing around here: I'm accepting no new white connections.

The truth is, I'm a grown-ass man who picks where his energy goes and who gets to partake in that energy. And I don't think that white "professionals" on LinkedIn deserve to partake in my energy and bask in my glory as a connection. My interactions with you on this platform are more negative than positive. I block people all the time on LinkedIn. Whom do I block the most? White "professionals." Y'all send me connections because y'all have decided to follow Black and Brown folx and collect us like networking Pokemon. You end up having like eight or more connections with Black and Brown folx I am connected with, but y'all aren't here to contribute or grow. You want free "learning opportunities." Y'all want to feel like "good" white people. Y'all want to play devil's advocate. You want to drain the energy of those Global Majority folx out here putting in the work to make workplaces better while doing nothing to be better yourself. Many of you post something heinous on a Black woman's page, then turn around and send me a connection request. Many of y'all say something heinous on my page or send me a racist DM, then wonder why you've been blocked.

Y'all are not worth the energy and time, white "professionals." I get nothing from adding y'all as connections.

Y'all are succubi, and you'll continue to be succubi until you reach a critical mass of whiteness that does not want to feast on the energy of the melanated.

Will it limit my reach on this platform? I don't care. But also? No. Y'all share my posts all the time to impress other "professionals." I doubt y'all will stop doing that. I'm sure one or two of you will share this one. And that's hilarious to me.

In short: I don't need any new white "professional" friends. Save yourself the trouble of a connection request.

Watch one of y'all send me a connection request right after reading this. Face. Palm.

Again, you be the judge. LinkedIn’s already levied out their judgment. And my side-eye is judging their judgment like a motherfucker, so I guess we will all be judgy as hell together.

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