CJ Is Racist

Santae's owner is racist

[santae-salt]

The Gooper design "unintentionally resembling real world cultural symbols" is some crazy bullshit. That's an almost 1:1 recreation of Tláloc (with the fangs removed for some reason!) how is that unintentional. Good that they've removed and replaced it with a placeholder and all, sure, whatever. But they clearly only did it because of the user responses. How on earth did that even end up being released???

[cjisracist]

CJ’s messages to Z

Someone reached out to me with this screenshot. While it’s not directly from Discord, it is indeed the conversation between CJ and “Z”, not including the screenshots he had sent of the conversation between him and “X”.

A recap of this part of the story, for context:

Unaware of the connection between X and Z, CJ reached out to Z, assuming their departure was related to the incident. In an attempt to discredit X, CJ shared private screenshots of his conversation with X—insisting that X must have selectively shared parts of the exchange. In truth, X had already shared the full conversation with Z. Z was deeply uncomfortable with CJ’s breach of confidentiality and appalled that he would disclose a private exchange with a user in an effort to control the narrative.

[santae-salt]

https://imgur.com/a/LFcbyKL

Courtesy of my s/o who does not play but I've been keeping well informed.

[cjisracist]

CJ Is Racist For some time, I have refrained from sharing this out of respect for my friend, who had initially believed that CJ understood the harm he caused in this situation and was willing to take accountability. However, this preceded a series of actions that made it clear his acknowledgment was not sincere, but rather an early indication of a pattern of harmful behavior that would continue to unfold.

I saved these screenshots at the time because I believed the situation was significant and that, eventually, the truth would need to be shared. While CJ has since been involved in a number of concerning behaviors, I believe it is important to highlight that his conduct has also included racism—something that reinforces existing claims of transphobia and prejudiced views toward minority communities.

This incident began when my friend—whom I will refer to as “X”—engaged in a thoughtful conversation in the Alpha General chat with admin Jitterbug. They were discussing cultural erasure in the context of a community debate about renaming an item (now known as the Ancient Elderwood Chest) to better respect Indigenous cultures. X is half Indigenous, and Jitterbug mentioned having Indigenous roots as well. Their discussion focused on the harm of cultural erasure and shared personal perspectives. X mentioned that white guilt often plays a role in how these topics are handled and expressed frustration about how Indigenous cultural expression is frequently censored online, even by those who are part of the culture.

Not long into the conversation, CJ privately messaged X and asked them not to discuss such sensitive topics on the Santae platform. While this request alone might have been understandable—given the nature of the platform and the desire to avoid serious discourse in casual or entertainment-focused spaces—CJ went further. He expressed offense at the topic and proceeded to argue that all races have experienced oppression, stated that he doesn’t “see color,” and claimed Indigenous heritage himself. This exchange left X feeling deeply uncomfortable, and they chose to leave the Santae community.

X later shared this experience with our friend group, of which I am a part. Many of us were shocked and disturbed by CJ’s comments and decided we no longer felt comfortable participating in a game led by someone who expressed such views. One of our friends, “Z,” chose to quit the game entirely and held a raffle for their items. In their farewell message, Z mentioned they were leaving due to “certain things coming to light.”

Unaware of the connection between X and Z, CJ reached out to Z, assuming their departure was related to the incident. In an attempt to discredit X, CJ shared private screenshots of his conversation with X—insisting that X must have selectively shared parts of the exchange. In truth, X had already shared the full conversation with Z. Z was deeply uncomfortable with CJ’s breach of confidentiality and appalled that he would disclose a private exchange with a user in an effort to control the narrative. (I was unable to recover these screenshots. I will post them if I manage to find them).

Z informed our friend group about CJ’s outreach, and X was understandably upset to learn that their private conversation had been shared without consent. Regardless of whether Z had already seen the messages, CJ could not have known that and should never have disclosed a private conversation with a user to anyone outside the staff team.

X decided to reach out to Jitterbug—with whom they had shared a Discord server — so they could express their concern about this breach of privacy. Jitterbug appeared surprised by CJ’s actions and promised to address the issue. X, still upset, warned that they were considering making the incident public. Jitterbug responded by saying that “canceling a site over an opinion is wrong” and that this situation was “a good learning experience for everyone.”

Following this, CJ deleted all messages sent to both X and Z, blocked them, and banned them from the Discord server.

Months later, X reached out to CJ via the site to apologize for threatening to go public and to explain how his behavior had impacted them. CJ appeared receptive, acknowledged the harm, and validated X’s feelings regarding racism. Believing that CJ had taken their concerns seriously and had grown from the experience, X decided to let the matter rest. They explained what had happened to our group and asked that the screenshots not be shared, as they wanted to give CJ the benefit of the doubt and assumed he had simply been uninformed at the time.

Unfortunately, CJ has since demonstrated a continued pattern of harmful behavior, including further instances of discrimination against marginalized groups. While many new issues have understandably taken precedence, I believe this incident is still important to share. It reflects not just a single lapse in judgment, but a broader and ongoing disregard for the well-being of others in the community.

Please respect the privacy of those involved. If you are aware of the identities of X or Z, I kindly ask that you do not reach out to them, regardless if you agree or disagree with how they handled the situation or anything they said. Thank you.