The Advocate

( Illustration: Maxime Mouysset) Well, looks like we made the papers! (Again.) Check out this investigative piece from Bloomberg / CityLab by Sarah Holder and Fola Akinnibi,  Nextdoor’s Quest to Beat Toxic Content and Make Money It still only scratches the surface. On Nextdoor in San Leandro, racial profiling, antisemitism, harassment, and abuse are rampant to the point that they've become core features of the platform. Users on Nextdoor in our city spread false kidnapping claims and call the police on innocent people, advocate for gun violence, share COVID-19 conspiracy theories, as well as attack anyone who doesn't subscribe to their brand of bigotry. People in San Leandro have been hurt because of the toxicity that congeals on Nextdoor, spilling over into real life again and again. In less than two years, we've seen the results from assaults on BIPOC participating in our local Buy Nothing group to attacks on our unhoused population just trying to find a safe place to ...

(Photo by San Diego Union-Tribune ) Content Warning: this post contains graphic discussions of bigotry and violence. Last month, a Woman of Color participating in our local Buy Nothing group was attacked in a textbook case of how social media fearmongering leads to real-world consequences. For those who don't know, Buy Nothing is a national organization made up of individual community chapters that serve as a place to share goods and services, from clothes to books, and yard work to housework, as well as almost anything else. I have included links to the full statements from the administrators of North San Leandro Buy Nothing below, but I want to directly share the series of events as reported by the victim: "On a porch pickup today (12/23) at 10:50am (to a house I have already been to) I was physically assaulted. My body is in pain and I can still feel burning where the man’s hands were wringing my arm. I was accused of stealing from the gifter’s porch which I explained to th...

(Artist and title unknown) "There is no real difference for users between a platform that has no policies against hate speech, incitement, and disinformation, and one which has such policies but does not enforce them." —V. Judah Khaykin. Take note and take care.

SWAI, the San Leandro White Antiracism Initiative (pronounced "sway") is having our next meeting on Wednesday, October 20, from 7:30 to 9:00 PM. We will be having a presentation from Neighbors for Racial Justice (N4RJ). Contact SWAI@googlegroups.com to join and get the Zoom link. Blurb by N4RJ — Confronting Racist Profiling: Committing to Safer Communities is a 90-minute presentation given by one person of color and one white person. This includes a facilitated dialogue. Learn how our conditioned racist beliefs undermine public safety efforts and drive profiling that brings devastating harm to our neighbors of color, especially those who are Black. The presentation includes personal storytelling and actions to confront racist profiling in your community. The content was created by Neighbors for Racial Justice under the guidance of a Black, women-led council.  About SWAI — We are a group of neighbors, organizers, and allies committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusio...

(Source: N4RJ) Whew! It has been a whirlwind of a year plus on Nextdoor as a user and as a lead. But regardless of the abuse, harassment, or barriers put in place to prevent constructive community building and necessary uncomfortable conversations, I remain as dedicated as ever to building a better San Leandro for everyone. A place where we can continue to have real dialogue in the new public square that forums like this have become. While Nextdoor has summarily and improperly stripped me of my lead status for the moment, I will not give up the struggle to make platforms like theirs live up to the standards they say they are dedicated to and connections between neighbors they say they wish to foster. Indeed, this isn’t the first, second, third, or even the fourth time Nextdoor has failed to consider crucial context, incorrectly removed content, wrongly suspended users, as well as engaged in other inconsistent and inappropriate behavior. In fact, Nextdoor actually violates their own gui...

There has been a lot of discussion about public safety in our city. From frenzied posts on social media of package theft caught on camera to gun violence and gun seizures to homeless encampments to substance addiction problems to police brutality, it is clear that we are all grappling with this in some way. Yet, it's unclear what most San Leandrans actually think about this, even as a number of people allege to speak on behalf of the city as a whole. Indeed, there have been unscientific Nextdoor polls as well as incomplete city surveys that have been used for exactly that purpose, despite missing critical information needed from using best practices in social science. I think it's time we correct this deficiency. There is currently a research project from CSU East Bay aiming to do just this. Here's the pertinent information: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdvgKXq5lNgMYqp-i_0W9Xh5V6_YIssB5l0NDTUZS3m6U3kwA/viewform "Data collected from this confidential survey ...

I was pleased to see this recent CNBC piece about the systemic issues with racism and related bigotry on Nextdoor: https://youtu.be/mvL5HKyw0zs. I was even more proud to have been able to support and connected with the group, Neighbors for Racial Justice (N4RJ), which was formed in Oakland, but now encompasses several allied groups around the Bay Area, including San Leandro with yours truly! As we've seen here, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nextdoor's platform has become a public square where our community members, including local businesses, can connect with each other. However, as we've also seen, it has been used as a tool for racial profiling, toxicity, misinformation spread by public officials, and even illegal activity. This is going on against a backdrop of Nextdoor's attempts to rehabilitate its image and increase ad revenue in anticipation of an IPO (initial public offering) for the company that could see it become a real competitor for social medi...