Black Facebook : The Hottest Topic Among Black Twitter Essay

In his essay, “That Word Black”, reflects upon the usage of the word black. He brings attention to words such as black magic, black market, and a black heart, stating that these terms all simulate a negative meaning and asks why the opposing color, white, isn’t used instead. The writer allegedly verbalizes the coincidence that people with an African American background are seen as black, and have been labeled with pessimistic tags. Hughes also opposes the opinion that all things bad are black, by specifying physical and abstract objects that bestow optimistic views of the term otherwise seen as undesirable. Contrary to popular belief, he characterizes black as a beneficial word, which he denotes should make someone feel pleasant when uttering it during conversation.

One aspect of life for black people in the United States of America that has always remained consistent is white racial hostility. A history of slavery, segregation, unequal protection of the law, and second class citizenship inflicted by a white power structure that dominates on a national level has created a harmful reality for black people. Every aspect of black public life must either be under the control of or in opposition to white supremacy. Every state-sanctioned institution works to use black bodies as tools for the production of capital in any form, yet simultaneously exploits and maltreats black people so that they cannot fully participate in and benefit from the systems which they are indoctrinated to invest in. White America leverages its money, comfort, and tyranny on Black America. It is for this reason that separate spaces are not merely essential to the viability of black counter-publics but inherent to their existence, since black involvement in white spaces and systems typically leads to black assimilation or marginalization. Within these black counter-publics, hip hop and mass connection through new media forms direct attention and allow for personal expression which shapes black worldview and public opinion, but this simply makes black people more comfortable with their oppression and less involved in politics.

On the very first day of the class, Introduction to the Black Experience, we learned that people are defined by their culture and geography. We are also defined by the gaze of others and our own gaze. This realization led me to contemplate what the “black experience” means to me. As a first generation Haitian-American woman at Wellesley College, it has become clearer to me how important the language and culture of parents has been in shaping my identity. I have also begun to think more critically about how my identity as a woman of color separates me from black brothers as well as my white peers at Wellesley.

Before using her Facebook as a means to connect young minds about civil rights movements and issues that still plagues the nation today, Sandra Bland used her social media like every other citizen. That is until just after Christmas of 2014 when she made the decision to speak up about “the economic crisis burdening young African Americans,” trying to, in her words, inform her readers about black history, or American history as she liked to describe it (Nathan). Sandra Bland, a 28 year old African American, had just received a job interview from her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University. Her life seemed to be going smoothly, just received a job offering, rekindled her relationship with her mother, and seemed optimistic about the future to

Nikita Carney’s “All Lives Matter, but so Does Race: Black Lives Matter and the Evolving Role of Social Media” assesses the role of social media as a public sphere, capable of influencing public discourse and the evolution of social media as a platform for discussing racial injustice. Carney uses twitter as her subject and analyzes the opposing discourse surrounding hashtags “#BlackLivesMatter” and “#AllLivesMatter” occurring after the non-indictments of white police officers in the killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. These hashtags represent opposing ideology about police brutality and the persecution of black bodies. Carney begins by establishing Twitter as a place for marginalized youth of color to engage in meaningful discourse about their experiences of racial inequality. Carney notes that “different groups viewing the same media coverage interpret issues of race and police violence in drastically different ways”, proving the existence of confirmation bias on social media. Millennials have

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords detailed the dynamic history of African-American media in the United States. Newspapers created community amongst Black Americans by connecting stories of Black life across the country, and allowed Black people the freedom to express themselves politically and socially through their own words, as opposed to White people telling them how they should feel. The story of the Black press as newspaper print faded before the end of the century, but Black press as a cultural phenomenon continues today in the dawn of social media. This film adds onto the class discussions of African-Americans’ unification through Black culture, and its contradiction to White American culture throughout history.

One argument made by Structural Functionalists is that society should be a meritocracy. People should be rewarded based on their abilities. (Class notes, SOCI 201, Winter 2010)

When analyzing the role of social media in American society, several questions come to mind. What is social media and are these social media and networking sites helpful to the people of America; can these sites be used to enhance or do they intrude in the relationships people have with others, and can they be integrated into their daily lives successfully. As the world becomes more and more technology friendly, the internet has transformed into a place that nearly everyone can go to get away. With the constant click of a mouse for some is all it takes to relieve the stress of their day.

In this modern age, the majority of society has adapted to social media and the newest technology to fit around our lives. Technology provides tools that are imperative to the making and the use of other tools. It is a tool in itself. Technology is changing rapidly; so rapidly, in fact, there can be cultural gaps between generations. The construction of social media has enabled access to innovative phenomenon, broken barriers, changed our perspectives on ideas, and has even opened doors to new opportunities.

Cross’ book Shades of black: diversity in African-American identity (1991) depicts a perceived metamorphous of black identity through five stages of development—his ideologies are now termed as the Nigrescence theory. In simple terms, this philosophy refers to the process of becoming Black. It also demonstrates daily struggles that the black community may have in developing a healthy personal identity. Over the years, many authors attempt to define what the word black means. Eventually, many came to begin using the politically acceptable term widely applied today to regard black people; that word is known as Negroes. As different historical events occurred, one being the black power revolution on the 1970’s the experience called for a fresh definition of the term negro. Blacks or Africans in America began to be more conscious of their identity and more aware of the differences separating them. This is the experience that Cross (1971) illustrates and is primarily referenced in his five-stage progress including: pre-encounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, internalization, and internalization-commitment. This book highlights some very vital topics relating to mental health, which has been carefully disregarded by other researchers. Nonetheless, it has strong affiliations to the black experience and can positively explain a more normal psychological behavior through logical and very thought provoking

In Pamela Perry, “White” excerpt, she discussed what “whiteness” means in American and cultural history. This blog, will discuss how being a Black person affects my personal perspective in America. It is expressed within our food, politics, music, and dance. As a naturalized citizen, in America, from Côte d'Ivoire cultural assimilation has influenced my views on being a Black person. To begin, one must contemplate what it means to be a Black-American. There are multiple ways to define Blackness, I view it as drawing from different influences both within and outside the black community. It is expressed within our food, politics, music, clothing (ethnic & urban), and dance styles. Politically, the perceived "radical" progressive movements that

The need to create distinct human beings affected by culture and society is one of Paule Marshall’s concentrated thrust and perhaps this interest into the interrelationship between character and culture parts from her own background. In this book Paule Marshall focuses on a woman who shares similar aspects of her life, both born in New York, having its roots in the Caribbean and both bringing back to the African past. One as well as the other has struggled as a black woman living in a white society that had weakened her sense of self. The book explores the individual search for identity and also the need for integration within a community.

The assimilation of black culture is no stranger to American society. For example, society tells African Americans that their hairstyle of choice is undesirable and distasteful, but applauds that hairstyle when it appears on a white body as a “trend”. Or how the Kardashian's enhanced features are seen as new feet of beauty, while the natural features of a black woman if either fetishized over or seen as overwhelming. Some can argue that society simply “admires” these features. What these people fail to realize, however, is that when a black body is assumed or their trades “borrowed”, their black experience and struggles are erased for the sake of entertainment and pleasure of their white counterparts.

When studying the black diaspora within the United States, the story typically starts with the classic slave narratives including those of Frederick Douglass and Mary Price and ends with the affirmative action decisions of the late 1990s. History tells the story of an internal racial identity struggle through the institutions of slavery and oppression, resistance and rebellion, cultural reawakening and civil rights which evokes the question: what does it mean to be African American? Aaron McGruder’s animated series The Boondocks creates a context to consider the question of what it means to be an African American today and discusses the institutions that are now molding the African American identity. McGruder criticizes the idea of a

Now, there are several salient points that can be made about Symoné’s comments. Symoné’s concern with her inability to accurately trace her African roots is reminiscent of the Pan-Africanist point of view. In this interview, Raven is privileging the Pan- African point of view, deciding that her blackness cannot be validated unless she can show a clear connection to Africa. The Pan-Africanist point of view came about during the time of 18th century slave revolts and continued throughout the 19th century abolitionist movements and the rise of new antisystemic movements in the 1960s (Lao-Montes 311).