[erikpukinskis]

I'm sure if the tone of the post was milder, most of the comments here would be supportive.

Why do you believe that? Have you been in a bunch of pitch perfect productive conversations about racism? In my experience, when one tactic for derailing conversations about racism fails people just pick up another one. In this conversation you see many such strategies at play:

I see all of these as efforts to not talk about the actual structures being criticized in the post:

* Saying the tone makes the message unlistenable * Talking about the extent to which the post is effective activism ("he would be more effective if...") * Stopping conversation do to perceived insurmountable "bias" * Refocusing on other forms of racism (like the dumbwhite* comments) * Talking about whether people are "racists" and refocusing on their overall character.

It goes on and on. Pitch perfect tone doesn't get you through that wilderness.

And honestly, when someone has been through something so traumatic, demanding perfect pitch is heartless.

[bmj]

I'm not suggesting that the tone of the post determines its veracity. I am suggesting that the reaction the post has received here is due to its tone, not to its content. I'm fairly sure most commenters would agree that his ex-co-workers were racists (or, at the very least, extremely thoughtless). I'm not demanding a pitch perfect post on Tumblr at all, merely making an observation about the reactions.