An Open Letter to the members of “Pagan/Wiccan Magic Tolerance In Finding Your Path” On the Occasion of my Banning

Merry Meet Brothers, Sisters, Boths and Neithers.

I know I am not entitled membership or a platform in your private group. I have enjoyed speaking with the vast majority of you, sharing ideas, celebrating victories and mourning defeats. I hope you all find value there for as long as you choose to search for it. That said, this Open Letter is something Spirit requires me to say aloud, that there be at least one account beyond the reach of deletion.

This morning, a newer (Black) member of the group posted the above picture of emancipated slaves- and Santa- being used as props by a group of hooded members of the KKK, taken in 1948. (The KKK had given the centenarian survivors a radio “to listen to the word of the Lord”.) It was clear from the context that her processing America’s racial injustice was an aspect of her Path, and this post was part of expressing her Truth about that. People are always posting about situations that cause them anger and pain in- group: family problems, health problems, bullying, mental health issues. This is natural- seeking different Paths means acknowledging different obstacles on those Paths. I posted an idea about why the year (1948) might be relevant, but beyond that I Listened.

But instead of hearing people discuss why this new member had chosen to speak about this part of herself to us in looking for her own Path, I saw them attack this person in ways I had never seen in-group before: accusations of being a “shit stirrer” for discussing something important to her, screencaps of her comments on other issues to attack and discredit her as a person, declaring discussion of racism to be “political” and illegitimate without acknowledging that racism affects Black people searching for the Path, affecting that Search. Eventually I noted that if you are too fragile to handle facts about our history, if you cannot continue scrolling down if this particular post is not For You- then you are too fragile to be on the Path. I stand by that, and a few Black members of the group saw fit to “like” it as well.

Many demanded that the post (a photo of a historical event) and our conversations about it- be erased. They refused to take responsibility for their own choices- to give this idea energy and attention instead of scrolling down, to attack the speaker instead of engage with the idea- and then demanded those same choices be taken away from every other member.

And the Admins did just that. I would love to tell you to go read the post for yourself, but it disappeared, along with our debate about the relation to searching for the Path. Ordinarily when a post disappears, there’s no evidence*- except that the Admin in question decided to post about the situation. In their telling, this anecdote is about someone who made a “racist” post, and got banned- followed by a threat to ban anyone spreading rumors about the Admins (!). Members were thankful to have been protected from… this Black person’s “racist” post.

This is the post that was, in retrospect, worth being banned for. Delete as you like in your forum, but don’t slander someone after deleting the evidence. Black people seeking the Path (speaking their own Truths, working on their own Shadows) deserve the same benefit of the doubt, same freedom to experiment, express, and refine that expression- as White people. Censoring and defaming a Black person (“racist”) because their search made you briefly uncomfortable is a double standard that exalts your own ignorance over your enlightenment- in addition to being unfair and beneath decent people.

I asked how the original post (historical photo with context) was “racist”, and they explained that our history of racial injustice is associated with racism, and therefore reference to that history is racist. They said they do that- delete historical photos of racial injustice posted by a Black person, call the post racist and ban the poster- to protect Black people.

I was banned within seconds of expressing doubt about that. (As I said above- black members voted with their “likes”, and it seemed solidly for Leave it Up.)

This happened today, and I’ve recounted it as accurately- as fairly- as I know how. This satisfies Spirit, and so must be sufficient for me.

If you have read to this point- thank you for your time and attention.

And Blessed Be.