This is when underground courses can take place. A communal giving for resources and perhaps a meal or stipend. Most historians who give a damn & aren’t struggling want ppl to know what we do, especially now. There is no safety in ignorance, at least not for long.
Plus and it’s purely my opinion…echo chambers are not healthy. I often play devils advocate in discussions simply to challenge my own beliefs let alone others. So far on this platform, no one NO ONE will allow themselves to be challenged they immediately block. It’s not a healthy trend.
I think, for Black people, our everyday existence means navigating beliefs, principles, and theologies that run counter to our own and often are even harmful for us. We don't need it on social media, too. White folks can go their whole lives without having to confront another perspective.
It's not that people aren't opened to being challenged - they didn't COME TO THIS PLATFORM for that. That is emotional and mental labor. We have to have enclaves where we don't have to work, or debate, or fight, against our lived experiences.
This is "social" media. Not a think tank. Not an idea exchange. Not a consortium. Not everybody enjoys being asked to explain their point of view to complete strangers they weren't addressing in the first place. And that's ok. We curate our experiences.
I see that you voted for Trump. I have no interest in your why. I don't need you to explain it. I don't want to debate it with you. Nobody owes anyone that.
That’s completely fair. But I think when you post about a particular topic as factual & someone comes along and challenges it, your first instinct shouldn’t be to block them. I don’t block anyone unless they are just being a jerk. I enjoy having what I think I believe challenged, that’s how we grow.
I see stuff on your timeline that's not factual, but I can just choose to go about my business. If you saw somebody talking on the street would you just walk up to them and jump in? Probably not. But people barge into social convos out of context loudly and confidently. To some that's being a jerk
Plenty of other people are there and documenting. If its not good for your mental health to be there, do not go there. Everyone doesn't have to do everything. Self-care first. You can't resist if you are a burned out mess.
And I said OUTSIDE OF INSTITUTIONS because we currently can't trust a government who is actively giving instructions right now to stop work in preserving Black history ( bc I'm talking to BLACK PEOPLE, be clear).
Now that the API costs money under new ownership it's actually much more expensive to archive. Many open source web archiving tools no longer support archiving the platform. It's actually gotten harder to archive since that article was published.
I’m a lighthearted optimist so regardless of this shitstorm, my cute pastel themed office and I are going to produce cutesy art and illustrations to make this world a cuter place regardless
Judges can't work outside of the system, and we're pretty fcked at state and SCOTUS levels already bc they're both lifetime appointments. I'm talking about people who can operate separate from the whims of elected officials
Thank you for this - my 17 year old daughter is interested in becoming a historian/archivist and was afraid the job prospects weren’t great. She does a lot of writing/research just for “fun”. I just sent this whole thread to her :)
Yes, but they must keep in mind that the NYT and WaPo are vigorously normalizing Trump’s actions. For the sake of history, they should not considered primary sources, as they are compromised.
I started a diary of current events on 01/19/2025. It's nothing in comparison to professionals, but still. The more documentation citizens do, the better. They are rewriting history. 1984 is here.
Looking for suggestions on safe, reputable programs for documents. I use Google docs for most, but am leery of using that right now. I'm tempted to just use Notepad circa 1999.
Completely agree. This is the time to record what Trump is trying to obliterate. Historians, archivists, never more relevant. Record them, keep records of the past that they are trying to rewrite. Above all, be purposeful. Speak truth to power.
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https://demwriter.substack.com
What do I need to know? Someone point me in a direction.
We are all Anne Frank now.
By all means, disseminate important *true* information, but, for goodness sake, protect your archives.
Also I was talking specifically to Black people for the preservation of Black archives, items, and stories