Two years. Over 2,150 posts. Over 3,000 regular readers.
The site itself began on March 12, 2010 with a re-blog of STFU Believers, but the idea came a little before that. I wish I'd saved the post, since my memory is now hazy, but I believe I was inspired by a re-blog of an STFU Conservatives post. It was a discussion of race, of course, and the comment a reader added was along the lines of, "I wish there were an STFU Racists!"
I agreed, then asked myself, why couldn't I do that?
It was meant to be only screen captures of troublesome Facebook discussions. The way I remember, STFU sites pretty much stuck only to that at the time. During that time, there were far less STFU blogs, and what I saw as an "STFU community" felt more tight-knit than it is now (though I still enjoy the support of the aforementioned sites, as well as the wonderful STFU Sexists). We were even all featured together in an article by the Vancouver Sun newspaper. Of course, these sites evolved, including more of our own editorial voices, and coverage and commentary of current events and news stories from other outlets.Â
Some of these sites have come and gone, some are still with us, though posting less (come on, STFU Homophobes, we still need you!), and unfortunately, some knockoffs have popped up seeking to replace the sites they're parroting, even resorting to badmouthing their predecessors. "STFU, Racists" has been imitated, but never duplicated.
Running this blog has been fun, but not easy. I never minded intelligent dialogue over disagreements, what frustrated me was those who didn't play fair. I even received death threats on my voicemail back when I made a phone number available on the site. For me, the worst feeling came with disputes between myself and other blogs. When I was wrong, I corrected course. When I felt an apology was justified or an olive branch deserved, I offered it. I am stifling the compulsion to write more in this section, as I spoke to those incidents while they were happening, and IÂ don't want to drudge up anything that dignifies dishonest people with acknowledgement. Let's leave it at this - I never lied to my readers, and not all others can make that claim.
I enjoy the work I've put in over the last 24 months and I have always appreciated the audience's efforts to contribute. But the increasing volume of reader submissions made it necessary to become more picky, especially when people ignored my policy of keeping real names and faces obscured (which was to satisfy Tumblr, who I am very grateful to - behind the scenes, they resolved any problems I had as soon as they occurred, and were very fair when I stepped over any of their guidelines). I'm sure some things worthy of being published got lost in the shuffle. I regret not answering every email and "Ask," and not finding the time to pixelate every screen capture that came in unedited.Â
However, I promise, the good outweighed the bad. I feel that for all the times the discussion became too much about the editor and not the topic, I think I still succeeded in keeping this place a community. We had a diverse set of contributors and the dialogue became richer beyond this site with each post's re-blog, and I would bet cash money that I have the most supportive audience of any Tumblr. Y'all were so kind with your messages, especially the times I needed it most. I was supposed to be just a pen name, a facilitator for your voice. But I do feel a lot of love and friendship with you, and I'm sorry to see that fade away.Â
My life offline just demands too much attention, and while I respect those internet content providers who are able to sustain from reader donations via PayPal, and I admire those who turned their passions into book deals, those options are not viable for me for a variety of reasons (much to the chagrin of my partner, who thought me a fool for pouring so much time into this with no financial compensation - so you see, there is one other person besides this blog's haters who will be happy to see me wrap up my stint with it).
Separate and apart from all that, and this blog and the other STFU-titled sites, I'm glad to see that a lot more anti-sexism, anti-homophobia, anti-transphobia, anti-racism and other political blogs have popped up. When it comes to the blogs on race, it's not only white people rightfully confronting other white people. Of course there has long been anti-racism blogs written by people of color, but now, there's many more, so valuable and worthwhile in being written from the informed perspective of folks whom the problem of racism impacts most. That's a lot of righteous anger and rebellion against our racist culture, and I couldn't be happier about that.
It makes the decision to not continue the blog a lot easier. The internet does not require an active blog called "STFU, Racists!" for the sentiment it's named after to still be communicated to the world. And besides, the material remains - just explore the archive.
I don't see racism going away any time soon. We've been a species for millions of years and we're still prone to unnecessary division and aggression. Our technology has evolved, but it doesn't always feel like WE have. I worry what the world is going to be like in the next few years and what America will be like after the next election if one of the hateful candidates we've been subjected to in the presidential race assumes the highest office in the land.
You and I don't know each other, not really, but I think we know what each other are about. Whether or not we have kids of our own, now or someday, we all can be positive influences on the generations to come. Maybe we can get past all this bullshit. So let's make an agreement - you stay out there and keep doing good, and even though you won't see or hear about it here anymore, I promise to do the same.
Sincere love and thanks to all of you... but now, it's time for me to STFU.
