Black Tweets Matter

Twitter has definitely taken the world by storm in the past couple of years. Since 2006, it has been a major source of news, information, entertainment, and media. I’ve chosen to create an account using this platform because it allows me to get almost an  instantaneous update on social issues that matter to me. On twitter, unlike other platforms, I can easily access past posts (or tweets) from journalists or news organizations that are related to these issues. Likewise, I am also able to access their tweets that are unrelated to specific issues, but adhere to their brand overall. It all exists in one place, and it doesn’t require much scrolling or sifting through comments like other social media sites do.

For my twitter account, I developed a “pro-black” brand. I have lived in America for all of my life, and I have constantly been exposed to the notion that black people are lesser than. This may sound dramatic, but America as an institution has a long way to go before its black citizens can feel comfortable expressing their blackness or negritude without the fear of upsetting the majority. Even with 22 years of experience, I do not claim to be an expert on the topic of racial inequalities in America. Because of this, I made my twitter name @DJ_Learns in order to express the fact that I am retweeting and commenting on post that  largely focus on black culture, black voices, and black issues; but I’m more so learning from these tweets. I’m gathering information and gaining perspectives I did not have before, as opposed to simply validating my own thoughts.

So far, this twitter account has shown me the “dance” that black journalists must do in order to get their news to be taken seriously. Journalists like Astead Wesley will share tweets that center around race issues, but will only do so with a removed tone as to not use bias. This journalistic approach works well in his favor, because there are many people on twitter that post tweets about the same race issues fueled by their own beliefs and bias which are full of emotion and can not help educate people and eradicate the system, which should be the ultimate goal.

The Guardian shared a post about Black History Month in the UK. This story discussed the Cyber-Racism that took place in England at the start of the celebration. Their website was hacked, preventing users from seeing content and getting information. This type of story made me stop and think. I’m discussing racial inequalities in America, but it certainly is not an issue that only exists here. Twitter aided me in realizing the true weight of a topic like this and opened my mind to new possibilities. I am now considering going global with the race issue and stepping out of solely America.