…and I’m so confused. I’ve read it, and at the end all I could say was, “Why?” and “What?”
This is how this piece of work starts off (via MSN News):
That was the calling card of Black Twitter, a small corner of the social media giant where an unabashedly black spin on life gets served up 140 characters at a time.
Black Twitter holds court on pretty much everything from President Barack Obama to the latest TV reality show antics. But Black Twitter can also turn activist quickly. When it does, things happen — like the cancellation of a book deal for a juror in the George Zimmerman trial, or the demise of Zimmerman’s subsequent attempt to star at celebrity boxing.
Catchy hashtags give clues that the tweeting in question is a Black Twitter thing.
“It’s kind of like the black table in the lunchroom, sort of, where people with like interests and experiences, and ways of talking and communication, lump together and talk among themselves,” said Tracy Clayton, a blogger and editor at Buzzfeed known on Twitter as @brokeymcpoverty.
“Black Twitter brings the fullness of black humanity into the social network and that is why it has become so fascinating,” said Kimberly C. Ellis, who has a doctorate in American and Africana Studies, tweets as @drgoddess and is studying Black Twitter for her upcoming book, “The Bombastic Brilliance of Black Twitter.”
According to a Pew Research Center report, while similar numbers of blacks and whites use the Internet — 80 percent and 87 percent, respectively — 22 percent of those blacks who were online used Twitter in 2013, compared with 16 percent of online whites.
What? Research? Doctorates? WHAT!?
Now, don’t get me wrong, Black Twitter IS a thing. But…what is this? Why is this happening? What is the point?
Meredith Clark, a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who is writing her dissertation on Black Twitter, likened it to “Freedom’s Journal,” the first African-American newspaper in the United States. On that publication’s first front page in 1827, it declared: “We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us.”
“If you are from a particularly marginalized community or one where others have spoken for you, but you have not had the agency to really speak for yourself or make your truth known, then it is absolutely necessary that in any instance you can take on that agency that you do so,” said Clark, who tweets from @meredithclark. “And so that is what you see happening in Black Twitter.”
Hold up hold up HOLD. UP. Wayment. Did I just read that someone at an institution of higher education is writing their DISSERTATION on Black Twitter?
Mainstream U.S. media first took serious notice of Black Twitter last year, when it abruptly rose up to scuttle a book deal for a juror in the trial of Zimmerman, who was acquitted of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin. That was the first time that blacks used Twitter “in a very powerful and political way,” said Houston black social media consultant Crystal Washington.
Most recently, Black Twitter reared its head through hashtags like #stopthefight, to protest a proposed celebrity boxing match supposedly between Zimmerman and rapper DMX. The promoter quickly canceled after a flood of Twitter complaints.
“Black social media consultant” <— ??????????
Okay, it is true that social media has been used in a major way as of late for certain injustices, etc. I fully believe that it is social media that drove any type of charges being brought against that piece of trash George Zimmerman in the first place. But…WHAT IS THIS?
Black Twitter arguably had its biggest field day last year with embattled celebrity cook Paula Deen, whose admission that she used racial slurs in the past inspired the #paulasbestdishes hashtag, featuring recipe titles such as “Massa-Roni and Cheese” and “We Shall Over-Crumb Cake.”
Washington said Black Twitter’s playful take on the Deen controversy may have been a dry run to the Zimmerman juror takedown.
“I’m not sure that Twitter users, especially African-Americans, would have zeroed in on the juror’s book deal had it not been for the aftermath of #paulasbestdishes just weeks before,” Washington said.
Black Twitter is not only political commentary.
“Can’t really explain #BlackTwitter other than 2 say, it’s one big barbershop/beautysalon with a mix of church & the black table at HS lunch,” tweeted blogger and actress Reagan Gomez.
Okay, so that Paula Deen dish list was HILARIOUS. It’s true. One of the funniest hashtags I have ever witnessed.
What’s next for Black Twitter? No one is sure, although Clayton argues that it’s not likely to vanish as soon as mainstream America finds something else to obsess over.
“I don’t think we can know what’s next for Black Twitter any more than we can know what’s next for black people,” Clayton said. “We’ll just go with it, roll with it and see what the trends of the day are. It’s a crazy ride and we’re all on it together.”
Is anybody else feeling like this is a stretch? Like, they tried to make this sooooo deep. Was today a slow news day or something? I would expect this on some kind of blog that was meant to be somewhat humorous, but this is being “reported” as if it’s some type of phenomenon or something. Yes, black people use twitter. Yes, at times, a nice amount of us blacks who are on Twitter end up feeling similarly about certain issues. But….research worthy? Dissertation worthy? Come on, man.
WHAT. IS. THE. POINT!?
P.S. So I was looking for an image to attach to this post, so I typed in “black twitter” and searched the images. BRUH…
I can’t. I’m so dead. Bye.
