Art & Culture

Black Activists, Organizers and Journalists You Need to Follow

BYMille Team

June 4, 2020

On Tuesday your feed was likely flooded with black images—a social media movement believed by many to be a form of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. What ensued was anything but that. Instead, the black images and the hashtags attached to them (which were shared by the millions) proved themselves to be a result of a tragic level of misinformation.

As soon as the movement took momentum, black activists, organizers, writers and journalists took to their platforms to express their concerns over its effects and origins. Not long after, millions of posts wrongfully used the #BLACKLIVESMATTER hashtag, flooding it with millions of black images, ultimately burying a sea of information about the movement that has been cultivated over the course of five years, since Black Lives Matters was founded in 2014.

https://twitter.com/FeministaJones/status/1267717076246056961

The campaign’s roots were loosely traced to a blackout called #theshowmustbepaused orchestrated by members of the music industry, urging those who have been impacted by recent events to take a break.

https://twitter.com/blkwomenradical/status/1267834642062770176

Despite calls by black activists to end the campaign, expressing their disdain for it (including its questionable roots and damage) the campaign continued.

https://twitter.com/overdramatique/status/1267716155243986944

Wassup y’all. @MoeTheSudani & I put this together about #BlackoutTuesday. The solidarity is appreciated but it’s not helpful if folks are going silent when people are still on the streets. Here’s a list of orgs/funds, #DefundThePolice resources and links to black businesses. 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/putble8AI0

— Malik (@maliksquared) June 2, 2020

What wound up being dubbed #blackouttuesday, has now been undoubtably the result of misinformation, and ultimately misplaced ally-ship. It’s exemplary of the harm caused by performative activism, and what a lack of research can do. And this is exactly why it is imperative to listen to black organizers and follow their lead.

If you don’t know where to start, we’ve rounded up a list of black activists, organizers, journalists for you to follow.

Black Visions Collective

Tweets by BlackVisionsMN

Showing Up for Racial Justice

Tweets by ShowUp4RJ

Black Women Radicals

Tweets by blkwomenradical

Alicia Garza

Tweets by aliciagarza

Patrisse Cullors

https://twitter.com/OsopePatrisse

Feminista Jones

https://twitter.com/FeministaJones

Najma Sharif

Tweets by overdramatique

Ava Duvernay

https://twitter.com/ava

Black Womens Blueprint

Tweets by BlackWomensBP

Ibram X. Kendi

Tweets by Dribram

Jenna Wortham

Tweets by jennydeluxe

Black Activists, Organizers and Journalists You Need to Follow

Black Visions Collective

Showing Up for Racial Justice

Black Women Radicals

Alicia Garza

Patrisse Cullors

Feminista Jones

Najma Sharif

Ava Duvernay

Black Womens Blueprint

Ibram X. Kendi

Jenna Wortham

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Black Activists, Organizers and Journalists You Need to Follow

Black Visions Collective

Showing Up for Racial Justice

Black Women Radicals

Alicia Garza

Patrisse Cullors

Feminista Jones

Najma Sharif

Ava Duvernay

Black Womens Blueprint

Ibram X. Kendi

Jenna Wortham

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