I have been a member of Succulent Tart on WRA since roughly early 2017. My character Xepher has always been a performer and spoke well of the troupe in character. Whenever people asked me about the guild ooc, I told them to apply if interested and when events were. I partook in events whether performing, bartending or supporting and even purchased art to donate for raffles. But the reality was there was something else going on behind the scenes. From onset, I noticed the dreaded clique mentality that we all hate to see in rp communities. Especially when it comes to the elf circles. I remained quiet and watched, assuming that in time things would get better. When I did speak up, I was silenced or told that my points were irrelevant. Time went by and nothing got better.
What became increasingly frustrating for me was the guilds interaction with people of color and their cultures. The way it was erased from certain themed events they hosted or completely trampled over in other events. No one spoke up. No one said a thing. And when I looked around I saw that Succulent Tart people were everywhere, presenting this guise of pristine reputation so fans believed they could do no wrong. I recall a conversation in guild chat about why Black face references should only be used for Orcs or Trolls since there was no such thing as black elves. Meanwhile, I have ALWAYS roleplayed Xepher as a brown elf whose face reference is a black model from France. Not a single officer said anything to those people nor did someone speak up. That was just one instance of the many microaggressions that would go on in this guild. I couldn’t say or do anything about it because my point would be invalidated or I was told to be overreacting. And if I went to the public about, well then I was just a hater seeking to start drama.
What many of you don’t know is that Succulent Tart made those posts about BLM because I spoke out about it in general chat. Prior to all of this, nothing was mentioned in guild chat to let people know they were welcomed in this space. It was just assumed as white privilege has a funny way of doing that. The assumption was all felt safe in the guild from the perspective of many white members and officers. This gallery will showcase what happened in its entirety, from start to finish. The lie that so many in the guild cared and loved me when in reality they never wanted to hear my voice and never supported my endeavors. The chat images can be found here https://imgur.com/a/o12Y6NX . And the conversations after here https://imgur.com/a/JOoQM02 .
Some of you will recall I wrote a post about the new skin colors for elves and what this meant for the bigger picture. In the gallery above, a person attempted to make reference to my post as though the guild had done something so amazing for POCs in reblogging it. The irony of that reblog is that guild members spoke about it as though it was me giving them permission to roleplay black elves without guilt. They completely missed the point and did not understand at all what I was talking about. Also, I want to get something straight, that post was created as a direct response to something that occurred within the guild. Bella, an officer, stated that the lack of ducks in WOW was just as important as the new skin colors. Bella is someone who runs another guild called the Howling Owl and that wasn’t the last time she said something like this. I was provided screenshots of her response to a very real problem that is going on in the guild. All the proof can be found in this gallery. https://imgur.com/a/NhNkJwM
Furthermore, it should be understood that this presentation of understanding and support is meant to save face. This is why you all are seeing their BLM statements on the menagerie, fire fest, and guild tumblr pages. How can they speak to supporting black people and wanting to empower their voices when within their own guild they quite literally ostracized one? The post for the Fire Fest had a pride flag that didn’t have the brown and black stripes. A change that only occurred because I brought it up and it was later argued that it’s relatively new so people may not use it. If anyone looked at the menagerie post for BLM you will see there is a quote from Angela Davis. Just the day before, I posted the same quote from her as she is someone I not only follow in philosophy but met and had discussion with in real life. So not only is there a silencing problem here but there is also a lack of credit? Of all the quotes to choose from you pick Angela Davis and that one of her many? Yeah right.
On June 5 I was approached by an officer from the guild to speak about what changes could happen. This was Alastren, the only officer who made a public statement to do better. The only one who came from a place of wanting to grow rather than defensiveness and fragility. This is an officer of the guild (who has now left) that said the group’s echo chamber is problematic. I will include the gallery of our conversation because it speaks for itself. https://imgur.com/a/htamCSp
I will also include links to the guild leader Dice’s post and Alastren’s post for those of you who haven’t seen it for context. You can find Bear’s post on the twerk off and Rhillia’s post about the ‘Uldum Nights’ here for reference.
It was stated earlier that this guild shouldn’t be “condemned for a mistake”, the problem is this isn’t just one mistake. This is a deep rooted mindset that has been maintained for a very long time. The only difference is that now it is coming to light. There was an instance of someone calling the COVID-19 the Kung Flu and no other discussion was had about it after. So no, I’m not just going to sit tight and hope they change. Alot of people in that guild have privilege to not be concerned with what is going on and to try to just act like this will go away. I do not have that allowance. I never had and never will. Being in this guild was not a positive experience when all I did was give support and content to the guild’s purpose of entertainment and performances. I will not let this get pushed under a rug or forgotten. This shit is real and I’m exhausted. I will no longer have anything to do with Succulent Tart and the Menagerie Boutique. You do not deserve my support when you can’t even earnestly support the cause of many.
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