From way before the primaries,

His intelligent and articulate posts have helped me think a little differently about a few things.

Usually that takes a billy club and/or stick of dynamite.

He doesn't deserve this.

I had no idea he had been sidelined. The petty stalking needs to STOP.

We know who has been doing this all along, and thankfully most of them are now squatting on another site. Unfortunately some of them are still trolling here too.

If you're seeing this, Skinner, please lift his FFR ASAP. We need his voice here.

.... and intelligent.

He challenges you to think ... that may be the "issue"

Hoped that shit would be a thing of the once new rules were put in place. Obviously some folks must still feel threatened when they hear uncomfortable truths.

May the review be speedy and his return be quick.

decent and thoughtful. It makes him a powerful force on DU. Hoping to see you soon, 1SBM.

stalking was behind us.

Whether it be simple food for thought, or a brand new dish, exactly the kind of poster that encourages dialogue.

Dammit.

What happened to this group and many of the regular posters in this group under the old jury system was not ok. I hope they find a way to stop more abuse. Discussing systemic racism IS uncomfortable, but it is also incredibly important.

well said

yes indeed

I do know what PPR is and even its predecessor, tombstoning.

The trolls have figured out quick fixes to silence us when we point out their ignorance.

Oh, ripe for abuse.

Alert stalking 101.

I like 1SBM and generally don't consider his posts problematic.

I didn't realize the alert stalkers had figured out the new system yet but perhaps they have.

While I have been reading for more than a decade, haven't been active in recent years - and thus miss things like this. Appreciate the question (which I was about to ask, but scrolled through first), and those who answered/explained.

Every one I've appealed has been turned over. There are some closet racists & bigots here that really don't like being addressed by anyone that would fall into the category of minority.

Be strong 1SBM

I'm sticking up for 1StrongBlackMan because I know he's become the focus of some awful people here.

Free 1StrongBlackMan!

This is getting ridiculous. It is stalking!

Free 1strongblackman.
JPR doesn't exist here any longer.

As I said last year, alert stalking STILL exists and under-the-radar discrimination still exists at DU amongst some.

We all need to strongly support 1SBM and the AA community!

even in real life. perhaps ironically in real life that's a topic that rarely comes up. maybe that's on me....

in any event, 1sbm tells it like it is, and does so with passion.

i understand how that can be off-putting to some, but i've always found the passion to be genuine and appropriate to the topic at hand, not personal. and i think it's an important part of communicating the intensity of the feelings behind the topic at hand.

in short, that's exactly what white people like me need to be willing to hear.

Looking forward to 1SBM returning after a quick review.

I've been busier than usual the last week or so since one of the cats went missing, my brother was away house-sitting and I was taking care of some health related issues. I'm hoping to get back to posting more frequently since those events are out of the way.

Those qualities piss off racists every time.

Bring back 1SBM.

I'm too new to the site to appreciate 1SBM, but I will make a point of looking up some of his old posts. I hope he is allowed to return because it sure sounds like he's a valuable member of this forum.

There is sh*t that goes down on this site that shouldn't and it's sickening.

Thoughtful, powerful contributors like 1SBM and Bravenak have been doxed, harassed and otherwise been hounded by a small contingent of sexist, racist malcontents... and it's been allowed to happen repeatedly.

It is up to administrators to make a stand against abuse on this site. You run it. You choose the rules. You enforce them. I hoped that this electoral cycle would teach everyone to be cognizant of who they chose to associate themselves with. By allowing this to go on, admins give the appearance of siding with the trolls.

It's well past time to take a frakin stand against hate.

I don't throw around the word "love" lightly but inasfar as we can believe our lives are made better by having contact with certain people and you're glad to have their experience to help you hone your thoughts and ideas, I truly am glad 1SBM is here.

the best posters here?

He's too smart for them, and it makes them mad.

It is pretty noticeable. They do a tag team game.

So whose doing it?

Thank you, 1SBM. Out.

Bring him back plz.

I was an active member of DU early during its inception. I posted sporadically in the mid-20-aughts, but let my account expire after grad school, and have not posted for years. However, I am a VORACIOUS lurker. Hourly.

1StrongBlackMan is among the best. His insight, passion, and eloquence form an outstanding contribution to this site. Seeing him TS'd (I'm old school) again breaks my heart, and I felt that I needed to reactivate to say this. Disagree, if you must, but I argue that his voice is often at the core of what true progressiveness requires- an unflinching, squirmily uncomfortable expression of the _struggle_ that is yet unsecured. While it is altogether satisfying to pat one another's back, to congratulate ourselves and fellow progressives on our 'post-racial' society, 1SBM remained a pea under the mattress AND cookie crumbs between the sheet. As uncomfortable as that may be, the alternative of a delusional belief in which we ignore the real, palpable threats plaguing black members of our society, simply to advance a convenient narrative of progressive solidarity, is unacceptable.

OTOH, it warms my heart to see voices that I have come to (silently, lurkingly) see and respect over many years rally for him. I can scroll up and read a literal who's who of the posters that I will automatically read, because I know that even disagreeing with them will make me a more informed and enlightened lurker.

Finally, it pains me to see that this thread isn't longer. DU has unfortunately lost some brilliant voices, due in large to the Bernie/Clinton split. While I understand, to a degree, the need to coalesce behind a 'unifying' candidate, it is a fearsome irony that 'too far' progressive voices have become muted testaments to the progress we have yet to achieve.

-OTL

I have kept reading (often daily - often multiple times daily) in the intervening time.

I, too, have found 1StrongBlackMan to be insightful, passionate, and seeking to sow empathy with those of use whose life experience does not include the same realities (white privilege). I have grown as a person from reading his posts, and having exchanges, I would find the loss of his voice here as a tremendous loss.

Never afraid to speak his mind and usually better than anyone else on the same issues. He set me straight on a lot of issues - I'm white - but never with rancor, blame, condescension or anger. I've learned a lot from him that I didn't learn earlier (no, not in a multi-racial neighborhood, which I love, and have for 40 years), he supplied a perspective I hadn't heard.

He represents DU at its best, and we need him here fighting against racism and bigotry.

Ridiculous. He may say things that some don't like, but they are things that need to be said.

Great points you make, that most of hides came at a time when this site had many jury panels comprised of a majority of right wing trolls.

I read all his posts and like them very much.

Dear Skinner,

What many of us want from DU is to have a place for thought provoking political conversation as well as sharing of ideas and news regarding politics in America as well as internationally. Lately, I personally have been getting more of that here and have finally started to post more frequently. For the past year however, I have kept my head low and only posted occasionally and I've also self-censored much of what I would like to really say. To be blunt, I've been afraid to post much for fear of being attacked, stalked and silenced.

To log in here this morning and see that once again, one of the best discussion initiators has yet again been silenced is dis-heartening and discouraging. I had hoped that these sorts of incidences were on the wain here.

I am asking respectfully that you please reinstate my friend 1Strongblackman and let him re-join those of us that want nothing more than to journey together to see a Democrat sit in the White House in 2017 and to with perseverance watch the Democrats take back our government and continue the fight for Democratic values that we all believe in.

Sincerely,

BooScout

His points were salient and spot on. Obama easily won reelection and 1 SBM's points were dead accurate. Since that time I have always read his posts, and while we have never interacted, he stepped in a few months ago to back up a comment I made that another poster was responding to without reading critically. His response, I am sure, quieted the comments. It also made me feel that DU still had those members that were looked up to and whose posts garnered respect.

While I am mostly a lurker here, I have noticed, and commented under the old site, how sometimes DU sounds like a non-progressive site on some hot button topics; namely race, unions, education, and gun control. While some of these commenters are mostly trolls, there are some long term DUers with tens of thousands of post that always seem to be coming from the other perspective.

DU needs posters like 1SBM, otherwise we are not a community but a group of faceless individuals shouting into the wind.

Love you, my friend!

Skinner, at a certain point, you need to recognize that a people of color getting silenced here by alerts over and over isn't simply a roll of the dice.

Of course we support 1SBM. He's one of my favorite people on this site or any of the sites I read.

It is straight bullshit that this keeps happening to him.

As I said in a similar post 10 damn months ago it is because of posters to the AA group like 1SBM, and so many others that;

"I come to this group knowing that at the end of the day I may have been corrected but I had never been attacked"

Sooner or later 1SBM will just say fuck it, it's just not worth it anymore.

And when that happens, the people responsible will have "won" by making this site less than it was.

It's a wonderful place, this AA group.

it seems the nazi trump culture has infected the DU forum also and like those in the general culture who now feel it is okay to lets their racism, bigotry and ignorance show, we seem to have to fight it here also. May 1SBM return unscathed.

I have nothing but respect for the guy, even if we used to disagree-- I hope he comes back.

He should be back by now.

Heck, heck, heck, heck.

So irritating

When my favorite members don't post I experience abandonment issues.

I wonder why it's taking so long.

Are any other prominent group members also FFR?