One of our members received an anonymous harassing email, and it has been forwarded to the East Kingdom seneschal according to the society’s anti-harassment policies.
They have released the following statement:
On May 5th there was an attack on an Eastern citizen. The perpetrator of this attack framed themselves as a “Real SCA Knight” and unprovoked cast down a member of our populace with ignorant vitriol disparaging the efforts of civility, justice, and mere empathy with their statement that “We’re taking the SCA back from DEI nonsense,” as if we, the SCA, were not students of history, as if we were not a collective of individuals driven by exploration and seeking understanding.
A mere 3 days after our kingdom and society unveiled the first-ever crowns inspired by the arts and royalty of Africa, a hateful, oblivious coward tried to cast down and disparage the nation of Mali as “cave men.” Mali, for those who may be unfamiliar with its history, is famous for its rich music traditions, the historical city of Timbuktu, and its diverse cultural heritage and developments in education. Mali was prolific in trade networks and held great wealth in gold and salt. The Mali Empire created the Trans-Saharan trade and, at one time, its Ruler Mansa Musa was the richest man in the world if not all of history.
Why am I telling you this? Because Racism, Bigotry, Prejudice, Bias are defeated in the presence of education.
As for the person who perpetuated themselves a “Real Knight,” there are many possibilities of who they are and many questions regarding the validity of the guise they chose. What we do know for sure is they are a coward clutching desperately to their ignorance for fear that knowledge of history and solid education will remove the delusions they have of the world and they will be forced to the reality of their own inferior mettle.
With that said, if this person is a knight, a fraud, a troll, or something else entirely, it ultimately does not matter. In our society, we have to wrestle with the unfortunate reality that there have been and tragically still may be members of the chivalry or other peerages who are capable of thinking like this and are, in fact, despicable enough to perpetuate such behavior. The anonymous email is this era’s version of the white hood.
It is the service of the knight to defend the people of the realm, to speak out against cruelty and injustice. To act with kindness and courtesy. To detect, root out, and expose such malice in candidates and members for the integrity of our order and safety of our society.
What I, my Queen and Our Heirs consider to be the crucial mission and most appropriate response to this abhorrent behavior is that we, as members of the chivalry, as peers of the society, as citizens of our kingdoms, and as decent human beings, make a conscious, consistent, and deliberate effort in all things and at all times to draw our line in the sand. We must declare in our LOUDEST VOICE that we condemn this style of thinking, making a unilateral statement that this manner of behavior will not be tolerated.
Whoever did this is and remains unworthy of the trappings, vestments, and accolade of peerage.
And should you have been insidious enough to hide amongst us and remain, we say this to you: Fall on your sword and resign.
~The Royal Family of the East Kingdom
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