#this community isnt safe. it hasnt ever veen and it's rooted in so much bad shit

[matchbet-allofthetime]

I'm a poor white punk with a poor white punk for a mother, and let me say this:

You're right. Entirely so. In every aspect.

There's no community, no actual helping others, no nothing. There's a lot of danger in this community.

It's so rarely the actually good, genuine, safe people, just like any other scene, but so many in this one target people or pretend or hurt others.

It isn't safe.

I grew up in punk-ass ATL, stodgy NoLa where you go two miles this way and get shot and two blocks the other way and there's a parade of people on a normal weekday. I grew up in the deep South Bible belt where every gas station has two-inch reinforced glass, flickering lights, broken roads that haven't been redone in 20+ years, and security bars on every door and window.

I grew up in this shit. And it's great for the music and SOMETIMES the open-mindedness, but not often enough. Never often enough.

I'm a punk born and bred and raised, and I hate the punk "community" because it's a fucking illusion, and not a very good one.

I'm poor white trash punk that learned to sew out of necessity to have nice clothes without holes and I grew up scared of everyone except my mama because I knew how bad people in the community were and mama kept me away from them.

But she also raised me in a lot of important ways:

-you cannot be "not racist"- you bust be explicitly ANTI-racist and must actively defend others.

-you mustn't be anti-Semitic, never trust cops, never trust that people will help you, always be independent when you can to keep yourself safe, never go alone, HELP ALL MARGINALIZED GROUPS YOU CAN.

-use your white privilege to uplift others and keep people safe.

-you must be ANTI-fascist, ANTI-nazi, and anti ALL bigotries. You must support lgbtqia+ and you must support all BIPOC + AAPI because they ARE targeted. Always.

-growing up, every year, when we have enough money, during certain nights (such as New Year's Eve or New Year's Day or Christmas or Halloween), we get pizzas for the hospital workers and EMTs locally because they work nonstop and often don't eat.

-we give our clothes and blankets and jackets and other things away in good condition when we no longer use them to people around who need them for FREE because they are poor or need them or whatever else.

-we give our food or money when we can, even if we're often too poor ourselves to do so.

-etcetc

There's so much and it's so complex and this "community" is riddled with, as you stated, abusers. People who will drag others down with them. People who actively hurt others. People who target others for one reason or another. People who don't care. People who are creeps in all the wrong ways. People who will coerce you to use again or do what they want you to. People who are neo-nazis. People who are anti-Semitic, anti-BIPOC, anti-AAPI, anti-non-white, anti-lgbt, and so fucking much more.

I am a punk who has actively worked to help whoever I could, even when I couldn't necessarily afford to monetarily or emotionally or mentally or whatever (which, take care of yourselves, please. You cannot help others if you yourself are not also taken care of)

I am a punk who has been calling local, state, and federal levels or emailing to get laws changed. To beg them to give one group or another these rights or to not overturn vital protective laws.

I am a punk who grew up with rare nights with drunk men banging on the door and my mama holding me close, telling me to stay with her and cover my ears because some "punk" drunk followed her home.

I am a white, non-christian, enby trans faggot punk who local cops actively avoid because they know my mom doesn't fuckin' play and they know I'm her kid.

And I HAVE to, I cannot stress this enough- as a white punk, I NEED to uplift others and protect within the community. We ALL need to, more and more. Because if we don't, more recovering folks will get dragged down and addicted again or overdose, more folks will be hurt and abused in a variety of horrible ways. We CANNOT allow terrible people into our spaces. We can't.

And just because they don't show you who they are, doesn't mean they haven't done it. Not to say trust blindly what you're told, but try to find out all sides when you can and come to your own healthy conclusions, taking everything at face-value.

It is a dangerous group of people. Of all of us, so many are accepting. But it is dominated by white folk and fascists and Nazis and worse people still. And they aren't real punks- they're horrible people trying to be different because they're pissed at some issue that often gets fixed or they grow out of with time OR they are using the community as a way to a) cope with their own issues in unhealthy ways or b) targeting people they KNOW are vulnerable.

KEEP EACH OTHER FUCKING SAFE. SUPPORT PEOPLE. UPLIFT VOICES. PROTECT ONE ANOTHER. NEVER OFFER UNLESS YOU KNOW THEY'RE FINE WITH ABC-XYZ THEY'RE BEING GIVEN. IF YOU SEE SOMEONE TERRIBLE DOING TERRIBLE THINGS OR HEAR ABOUT IT FROM MULTIPLE PEOPLE, AVOID THE TERRIBLE PERSON OR KICK THEM OUT IF YOU'RE ABLE. DO NOT LET THEM IN YOUR GROUP. NEVER GO ALONE.

Please- actually be safe and careful.

i guess it's scary to me when white leftists say that the punk scene is the scene where you wanna go if you're trans or a person of color or a drug addict or someone else who's been kicked down in life. cuz like, if you've lived in this scene, is it really where you wanna send people?

i got involved in my local punk scene and the problem is that people aren't actually focused on looking out for each other. punk is heavily white. punk is heavily abled. punk is heavily cis. i know everyone says "real" punk is this and that, but the problem is: i live in a punk house venue. i live in a house where punks throw punk rock shows weekly and invite other punks into our home to throw music and art shows. the DIY scene is a mess. it's full of abusers. it's full of enablers. it's full of queerphobes and tranny chasers. it's full of people who collect vulnerable traumatized people. it's full of people who will hand beers to recovering alcoholics and pass lines to recovering addicts.

this scene is full of people who scribble "this machine kills fascists" on every object they own and turn around and cower and say "I'm scared, can you come pick me up, there's some scary guys outside." because some black dudes listening to some rap posted up outside of the punk show. this scene is full of virtue signaling assholes who put antisemitic symbols on their "battle vests". this scene is full of half-assed "communists" who just want to brag about the big scary words they learned like "praxis" and "proletariat" and "bourgeoisie".

this scene is full of fake socialists who won't lift a finger to help each other, but will drag each other into hell instead.

the problem with punk as we know it is that it's whitewashed to hell and back, and the spaces created by these individuals are not centered around safety, but violence. yeah, you kill fascists, but do you provide meals for the hungry, shelter for the homeless, and harm reduction for the addicted? do you pass out extra blankets and clothes? do you help people get to the hospital? do you pat someone on the back when they turn down that beer? do you remember to not offer a baggie to the person who just got out of recovery?

no? then you aren't a safe person to be around, and you ain't punk. you are the reason this scene is unsafe.