I spoke out against Alice Keeler (VICTORIA THE TECH), my identity was stolen ALICE Remains SILENT
UPDATED TO INCLUDE VICTORIA THE TECH’S ROLE
Update: I learned that this blog post was part of a what I suspect was larger agenda that involved trying to take down Alice Keeler by Victoria Thompson (Victoria the Tech) at Microsoft. I have since learned that Victoria Thompson was encouraging me to speak out against Alice Keeler and once I did she befriended and worked with Alice Keeler. She continued to encourage me to speak out against Alice and appears to have worked with Alice after I did so to ensure she was reaping the benefits. Upon learning the truth they both appear to have worked together to get me to retract this blog and others. I learned Alice Keeler and Victoria Thompson (Victoria the Tech) are willing to work with orders, plot, and orchestra takedowns firsthand. When it is convenient they will work with people they previously labeled as harmful to ensure their brand stays intact. There was immeasurable harm I am leaving this up to warn people against these bad actors
This is a warning. If you speak out against Alice Keeler there may be consequences for you and your brand.
I know this because I spoke out against Alice Keeler, my identity was stolen. A fake account, jenthetutorr, was started in my name by either Alice or one of her supporters. I’ve asked Alice Keeler to speak out and help me get my name, Jenn the Tutor, back. She has ignored me and appears to have deleted a post of hers where I explicitly asked for help.
I tagged her on twitter, which she has updated multiple times since, she has refused to speak out or assist.
When she posted “my pastor put out a challenge to order from a black owned business. Done. Take the challenge.” I replied with “why not take the challenge of acknowledging your role in the theft of my identity yesterday by one of your supporters or you in your defense… can you take that challenge. Allyship is more than just ordering takeout Alice.” She deleted that post from what I can tell. I can no longer find that post.
Let me spell out the significance if that post was deleted as I suspect.
She is only willing to support the Black community if she is not criticized
She is aware of the situation and is now taking active steps to hide it from those who follower her
Her allyship feels performative. I also don’t understand how she can claim to be supportive of the Black community while ignoring the issues she created for Black people, blocking some of my Black educator friends who spoke out against her, and possibly deleting posts where I ask for her to take accountability and help me reclaim my identity.
I have explicitly asked her to help me restore my identity for days and she has ignored my request. She is either behind my fake account or complicit in her silence and refusal to denounce it.
So here is a public letter. Shut down the account or tell your fan who is running it that you don’t condone it, PUBLICLY, by tagging the account. Assist me in helping getting my name back that was stolen to defend you.
I am not writing this because I want to write it. If I could shut down the account myself, I would. I am writing this because you, Alice Keeler, are the only person who truly has the power to possibly end the burner anonymous account in my brand name, Jenn the Tutor. You have that power and are choosing not to use it despite being tagged multiple times now.
Alice Keeler’s antics
Alice Keeler and her fans have attempted to take that away from me by creating a fake account using my name.
I was informed that Alice Keeler was promoting masks during the pandemic then blocking those who said please don’t use a tragedy where over 100k people have died to promote your email list. Don’t use the tragedy where disproportionate amounts of Black people are dying to gain subscribers. Please be more considerate.
Some people who spoke out on her thread were blocked. Some of them educators of color and Black educators. You would think now more than ever we would want to hear from Black educators not silence them and remove them from our feed.
Others who spoke out elsewhere were blocked despite not tagging her.
I was informed Alice Keeler was a education celebrity, has been heavily promoted during this pandemic, and some people did not feel comfortable speaking out due to her influence, others who did experienced harassment. I knew if I spoke up I would experience harassment, I did not care. I spoke out knowing I would be harassed but never anticipating that my identity would be stolen. I’ve never had a twitter fight escalate to my identity being stolen.
I thought Alice Keeler was wrong. I still think that. If she believes promoting masks while people die to gain subscribers off a pandemic is what’s best for her brand, okay. Her choice.
She has the right to make the choice, I have the right to speak out.
I noticed a pattern emerge once I and others spoke out. All the sudden, friends of Alice Keeler were posting how much they loved the masks. One post by a person who claims to be “best friend of Alice Keeler” ended with “people talk about racism and yet on twitter they attack people for the smallest thing. #BeKind” and then used a Kobe Bryant image, black icon as a prop. It felt like coordinated response. I responded (for the record this individual who posted #BeKind this later issued an apology and committed to be better, I acknowledge that- at least one educator is trying to be better).
Just as Alice has the right to message friends for support, if that is what she did, I have the right to support those who thought this choice was abhorrent but had been blocked from saying anything else.
Alice supporters started searching for her name, from what I could tell, and initiating conversations with something to the effect of I’m a friend of Alice and or I support Alice or telling us how inherently good Alice. I was sent some of these posts, I responded. I was tagged by individuals, I responded. Her supporters told us how much good she creates in the world and how she is a good person.
We never said she was a bad person, we discussed her choice to use a pandemic to promote her list. We were told we attacked her. She became the victim. I called out the fragility narrative forming around her.
To me this was just another day. I am outspoken, I deal with this almost daily. There is always a cycle of individuals being problematic, people calling them out, defenders of the problematic person saying those calling out the problematic behavior are the “real” problem.
We are told to be kind and acknowledge the inherent goodness of those who were problematic. This happens all the time on twitter, I am not surprised. If that was the end of that, I would not be writing this blog.
Alice Keeler’s ACTION Resulted in the Stealing of My Identity
What I did not expect and did not appreciate was my identity being stolen as a result of criticizing Alice Keeler. I started to notice burner accounts being created to argue with individuals who were opposed to Alice Keeler’s position.
It is not clear if those accounts are created by Alice Keeler or a crazy supporter. However, it is hard to believe that someone besides Alice Keeler has such an invested interest in her and the interest is so strong they are willing to make burner accounts to defend her.
These accounts started disparaging those speaking out against Alice Keeler, they only engaged with those conversations involving Alice, no other conversation. Some of the accounts were deleted.
When I blocked one of those accounts, my identity was stolen. “@Jenthetutorr” emerged and started commenting on my post. I think I am the only person that was targeted individually.
I cannot tell you what it is like to see someone steal the identity you worked hard to create. To have a petty fight over ill-fitted masks to turn into a takeover of my identity. I especially can’t tell you what it is like to deal with that as a Black woman after this week where people’s lives were reduced to hashtags. I had already gone through a LOT this week, to see my identity be taken over for a fragility narrative to benefit Alice Keeler…
To have my identity stolen to protect Alice Keeler hit hard, especially after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony Mcdade. I am very aware that my name holds more weight after seeing the power in the lives and legacies of the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony Mcdade and countless others.
All week I have chanted the words of Maya Angelou to remind myself that my people have endured worse. I have said repeatedly, “I am the hope and the dream of a slave" to remind myself someone had to live and survive to get me to this moment and I can live and survive to for the future generation. When I saw my name be stolen, my identity taken, for the benefit of Alice Keeler, I felt betrayed and I felt my ancestors who survived so I could have this name were betrayed.
It felt like my work and brand no longer mattered. I was reduced for the sake of Alice Keeler.
When we say “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” we mean ALL ASPECTS. We don’t just mean do not kill us. We mean, do not reduce us, do not make us inferior, value our lives and work. It was clear that my life and my work was not valued, it was co-opted for Alice Keeler’s benefit.
The account still exists at the time I wrote this post, it has only been used so far to target me on Alice Keeler posts, it exists only for the purposes of harassment on Alice Keeler’s behalf.
I am lucky that others have reported it and I have reported it, but it is still out there. Looming. I don’t know what is the plan. I don’t know the next step. I am not scared, I am just on edge knowing it is not over.
Alice Keeler’s Complicit behavior
Despite asking Alice Keeler for help by tagging her multiple times, asking her to speak out and say whoever is creating fake accounts to defend me please stop or closing down the burner accounts she has possibly created, she has refused to take action to help me restore my identity.
In the last couple of days she’s bragged about ordering takeout from black owned restaurants to show solitary as we mourn those lost to police violence, retweeted ways to be a better as a white ally, and discussed going to trainings to learn how to be about culturally responsive educator, but she’s refused to acknowledge or address the actual harm she’s done to a Black educator or why she blocked some Black educators who spoke out against her.
I have also not been able to find a single post where Alice specifically acknowledges George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony Mcdade or says Black Lives Matter. She is willing to post ways to be a better ally but I cannot find any allyship that I would not classify as performative.
Allyship for Alice from what I can see does not include saying Black Lives Matter, mourning and acknowledging those lost by name, being accountable for the harm she’s caused for a Black educator or the Black identity that was stolen for her benefit. She can order takeout and post about coffee but not tell the individual who stole my identity to close down the account.
Why I can’t let this go
My name and my brand matters to me. While I found some of The Crucible to not align with my vision of the world, this quote always stood out,
“Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies!… have given you my soul; leave me my name!” The Crucible
My sister and I are the last people who will carry our last name. My father’s entire family died when he was a child, he is an orphan. We were taught our name matters and to never let anyone take it. My commitment to name will always be a strong one.
I am writing this today because I worked hard to get to where I am today and become Jenn the Tutor.
To become Jenn the Tutor, I had to reteach and teach myself a majority of the SAT and ACT math to become an effective teacher.
To become Jenn the Tutor, I bought hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars in books and asked my old company to buy books on my behalf. I spent hours teaching myself how to teach each math problem 2-3 ways.
To become Jenn the Tutor, I taught SAT and ACT math to 3rd graders to ensure it was broken down to a level I felt would be accessible for all levels. Despite being upset right now I am smiling remembering how many ran home and told their parents they know how to solve a coefficient problem. We we all so proud!
To become Jenn the Tutor, I had to pick myself back up when I was discriminated, retaliated against, humiliated and harassed at tutoring agencies.
To become Jenn the Tutor, I had to cry in parking lots and break down when students did not reach their score goals.
To become Jenn The Tutor, I have had to deliver 50-150 SAT points or 2-5 ACT points in a week to ensure students did not lose scholarship offers.
To become Jenn the Tutor, I had to unlearn the lies College Board and ACT fed me and speak out on behalf of test optional, even though that means I might not have a job.
To become Jenn the Tutor, say if I believe in access, I need to prove it. I started pro bono tutoring groups, created flexible pricing models, guaranteed services even if parents lost the ability to pay, spent money I barely had buying calculators, buying books and online subscriptions, paying for test fees when fee waivers ran out, buying snacks for the groups because my students CAN EAT.
To become Jenn the Tutor, I have to actively prevent myself and others from turing my work into a savior narrative. I remind myself constantly:
MY STUDENTS ARE THE HEROES OF THEIR OWN STORIES AND I GET TO BE THEIR SHURI TO THEIR T'CHALLA. .
To remain Jenn the Tutor, I have to currently survive. I lost my entire business in less than 2 weeks to coronavirus because I choose to be honest and say, “I will not tutor your student when I do not believe there is a going to be a test this summer” or “I think you should hold off on investing tutoring.”
To remain Jenn the Tutor, I have to survive with integrity and tell parents, “I would not invest in tutoring right now, we don’t know if these tests will exist.”
To remain Jenn the Tutor, I had to get out of bed after the 3 loan rejection request even though I felt defeated, I did not want to get out of bed.
To remain Jenn the Tutor, I have to protect my mental sanity as the world shifts to address Coronavirus, that is disproportionately killing my community, killing people I know, as my community also endures police brutality.
This is not a cry for help. I am not a victim. This is a demand for accountability.
I EARNED JENN THE TUTOR. I AM JENN THE TUTOR. I don’t mind there being other Jennifers or Jenns or Jens or Jennys who tutor. I do mind my identity being stolen to ensure Alice Keeler can avoid accountability.
So today, like yesterday and the day before, I will stand up to Alice. I should not have to take on a battle with Alice, as a Black woman I should be able to focus my own inner peace at this time and checking in on others. But Alice’s actions impact me and as a result, I have to continue to fight for what is mine.
I want the world to know that if you speak out against Alice Keeler expect retaliation. She probably will not take accountability, she probably will use her influence and may call on her friends to ensure you face consequences. Her supporters may disparage you and steal your identity in the process.
I personally believe she created this account. That is what I personally think happened. I was told she possibly searched for conversations with her name in it and engaged despite not being tagged, she blocked people who never tagged her, she possibly contacted friends, she’s clearly invested in keeping her name untarnished. I personally don’t believe anyone else is so invested in Alice Keeler that they would steal my identity and create fake accounts to defend her.
If she did not personally create it, I personally believe her actions that may have resulted in others getting involved created the climate where my identity was stolen. Her silence is complicity and her silence has allowed this account to continue to exist.
This is a public letter to Alice. I want this to be over, I want the account shut down. I want you to take accountability for the role you played in this. I want you to stop being a performative ally and start taking real steps to become one. Buying takeout from black owned restaurants makes you feel good, publicly apologizing for the harm you caused to a Black educator whose identity was stolen as a result of you and calling on your fans to stop would requires commitment.
If you want to be a good ally, start with undoing the harm you caused to a Black educator.