Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Blackout Tuesday

Today is Blackout Tuesday.

I debated if I should even post about it, but after some consideration, I decided that by not posting anything, I'm not acknowledging it here on my blog.  I've already posted on my personal Facebook account, both Happily Ever Hatter's Instagram and Facebook, and my blog's Facebook and Instagram.  But, that didn't feel like enough, so here I am.


If you've seen a sea of black photos posted on social media today, you're probably aware that it's for Blackout Tuesday.  But you might not know the meaning behind it.

To my knowledge, the initiative was started by two black women who are music industry leaders, Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang.  The movement was meant to pause business as usual in the music industry for today.  The music industry has capitalized off of black artists and at the same time benefitted from white supremacy.  It was originally promoted as a day to put a pause on your "regular" social media posts (vacation, food, etc.) under the original hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused.

That initiative has taken on a life of it's own and turned into a social media movement to use today to reflect on our own thoughts and actions and to pause and "mute" our own voices in order to amplify black voices.  Most importantly, it's a day for those of us who will never fully understand the struggles black people face, to stop and to listen.

Sadly, many people have been using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter accompanying their Blackout Tuesday posts and that's flooded Instagram with black images on the hashtag.  This is in fact, doing the very thing we're trying to prevent by unintentionally silencing the Black Lives Matter protest organizers.  If you're going to join the initiative and post something online today, please use the hashtag #BlackoutTuesday instead.

Be well friends.  Sending you all love.  For the rest of today, I'll be reflecting and learning about what I can do to make the world a better place.  °o°

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