This is a guest post by TampaBayScene’s Ta’ri B.
Assimilation has built the free world. The more comfortable society becomes to our blended reality, the more it facilitates the occurrence of blatant disrespect in the melting pot that makes our world great.
Introducing #BlackTwitter. Think of it as the B.E.T. of the social media world. Where you can go get the latest going-on of social media with relative information to black culture. Like the sit-ins of the 1960s, Black Twitter is nothing more than a civil rights movement in our ever-changing world.
In a world where inner cities have become gentrified, interracial relationships are the norm, schools don’t reek of lingering segregation and the twice-elected leader of the free world is black, you would think our social media would be more “I have a dream” and not so Jim Crow, right?
To the common social media user, Twitter’s 140-character limit wouldn’t be enough to stage a revolution dynamic enough to garner its own subsidiary. However, Black Twitter has come about to carve out a place for a particular group of the world’s population.
“Black Twitter”: a cultural identity on the Twitter social network focused on issues of interest to the black community, particularly in the United States.
Why the need for #BlackTwitter you ask? Well, my friend, it’s really no different than having ethnic-specific aisles in grocery stores or listening to a particular radio station for the type of music you enjoy.
Via: eastjerseytech.com
As a black person I can’t speak for the masses, but in my experience #BlackTwiter has been a positive catalyst in keeping up with latest slang, music and even sociopolitical events.
Black Twitter’s age demographic falls somewhere between 18 to 29 and users are typically educated. #BlackTwitter can sometimes be very blunt in its approach, but this community’s intensity has really helped those clueless Twitter users watch their figurative mouths. So much blatant ignorance can be found on social media platforms due to the ability to hide behind a screen, but the same ignorance hides behind smiles in our day to day.
#BlackTwtter is the girl with her earrings off and face all Vaseline’d up, staring at you saying “I wish a motherfucker would!” It’s more awareness than it is a “down with the man” attitude. It’s a unified front, made up by a continually misrepresented and sometimes disrespected sect of the population.
This community doesn’t normally pick a fight, but they won’t hesitate to defend itself. They have been very vocal in matters regarding Trayvon Martin and his killer George Zimmerman, Paula Deen’s racist ideas and even on the stupidity of so many others who just simply have bad cases of foot-in-the-mouth.
Via: nbcbayarea.com
As a member of this community I can say it’s less about race and more about respect. Even the name #BlackTwitter I feel is something more tongue-in-cheek than something meant to intimidate. Having asked a caucasian friend of mine on their feelings on Black Twitter, I was jokingly met with the answer “White people own everything, so why not?” As I let that sink in, I was proud to know my circle of friends actually got the idea. “Why not?” is correct!
So many of us have to struggle on a daily basis with feeling pressure to assimilate to a particular ideal of “normal,” so much so that it can sometimes harbor unspoken ignorance and hatred in the way we approach one another. Black Twitter is a subculture not afraid to let you know when you are being a quintessential asshole, and how could you be mad at someone telling you like it is?
Featured photo courtesy of: Icon Finder
