In Loving Memory of Black Twitter ...
... And all social media.
Dear lovely Death
That taketh all things under wing—
Never to kill—
Only to change
Into some other thing
This suffering flesh,
To make it either more or less,
But not again the same—
Dear lovely Death,
Change is thy other name.— Langston Hughes
Everything dies.
Defined as “a permanent cessation of all vital functions,” the “state of no longer being alive” or “the passing destruction of something inanimate,” death is inevitable. Whether it is the proverbial promise of heaven’s paradise, the ancestral plane or an empty, meaningless black void, filled with nothingness, where time and space cease to exist, death is both a beginning and an end. It is not just the end of life. It is what happens after life.
Black Twitter lived.
Although its date of birth is impossible to pinpoint, anyone who belonged to this informal social media community can attest to Black Twitter’s existence. Internet-based communication was invented by the descendants of the brilliant content creators who turned a Middle Eastern rabbi into a blond, blue-eyed right-wing influencer. But, like hip-hop, macaroni and cheese and Boo Boo the Fool, Black Twitter is an international phenomenon that was born in African America.
I met Black Twitter in 2007, shortly after a little-known politician joined the platform, attempting to become the first White House resident to use a washcloth bearing the presidential seal. Back then, this precocious youngster could only speak in 120-letter increments. Then it changed.
The prevailing narrative credits social media with the international uprisings that became the Arab Spring. Other scholars and experts contend that Facebook and Twitter were just outlets that chronicled and organized already existing movements. But, as a journalist who spent decades covering protest movements — from the original Million Man March to the white insurrections — and Black media, I can attest that online culture bent to the will of Black social media users, not vice versa.
Just as contraband camps, churches and barbershops served as headquarters for Black liberation movements, Black social media users built virtual gathering spots to organize and disseminate information. It was Black people — not the local media — who put Trayvon Martin’s name into the national consciousness. No one even questioned the Minneapolis Police Department’s statement about a forgery suspect dying in a “medical incident” until Darnella Frazier uploaded footage of officer Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd. And on Aug. 14, 2014, a tweet from Canfield Drive in Ferguson, Mo., thrust Black Twitter into adulthood.
While Black Twitter made the world aware of the death of Michael Brown and the Black Lives Matter movement, Black Twitter was more than an outlet for organizing and a source for democratized information. It was also an outlet for Black joy, where millions of Black people learned of their impending superpowers. It was a debate venue where African-American dietitians calculated the vibration of plates and amateur child psychologists evaluated the emotional impact of fathers who didn’t bring McDonald’s home for their stepchildren. It was a battleground for diaspora wars and a forum for political feuds. Only Black Twitter knows how many oysters are appropriate for a first date, why white people are not invited to the cookout or how Frankie Beverly became Blackfamous.
To be clear, the borders of Black Twitter expand beyond the boundaries of that bird app. The Black woman-led historically Black college known as HillmanTok is part of Black Twitter. The 85 South Show, KevOnStage, Kountry Wayne and Verzuz built their platforms, but they belong to Black Twitter. Aunties and Uncs might know Dionne Warwick as a Hall of Fame singer, actress and all-around entertainer. But among the social media generation, she is a world-class comedian who stands alongside icons such as Lil B, Jemele Hill, Phil Lewis, April Reign and (admittedly) others. One can argue that Kendrick Lamar would have never headlined the Super Bowl Halftime performance if not for Black Twitter’s cultural impact.
Just as one can pinpoint the day the platform reached the status of “grown,” it is also possible to determine the date when this beloved community contracted the terminal illness that would lead to its ultimate demise.
On the evening of October 27, 2022, Black Twitter was diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous tumor named Elon Musk. Aside from appropriating its name from the Nation of Islam, Musk’s changes were barely noticeable at first. While Caucasian social media users experienced a few outbreaks of vaccine misinformation and an uptick in the use of the n-word, Black people were accustomed to navigating a world filled with uninformed racist liars who were verified by less-informed racist liars. But as Musk determined which voices were “for you,” the streets of Black Twitter became more unrecognizable until it was impossible to ignore.
Elon Musk gentrified Black Twitter.
Musk was not alone. Inspired by the apartheid-friendly race scientist, other wealthy white media tycoons started tinkering with democracy’s algorithm. Following the election of Donald Trump, Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram would eliminate fact-checkers and content moderation. Suddenly, the accounts you had hand-selected no longer mattered. A proprietary algorithm determined the content that populated your Facebook page and X feeds. And TikTok is no better. The video platform pushes misinformation about elections, science, health and history. For every video about cleaning hacks or K-Pop, you'll see a "hood" fight footage, someone explaining why Kamala Harris is an Asian opp, or a video about why Harriet Tubman doesn't exist.
It’s not just slop. The “social” part of social media no longer exists. Now, it’s just media now — no different than Fox News or terrestrial radio. Now it’s just a bot-filled perpetual MAGA machine. It got so racist that Elon had to pause X’s artificial intelligence because the machine-learning bot was just learning racism.
I do not follow Elon Musk, so why are his tweets in my news feed along with ads for erectile dysfunction pills, online gambling and a MAGA lady lamenting about losing her job to a “woke” DEI hire? Why is a foundational Black American with an American flag in their profile beefing on my For You page with a Nigerian who has 17 followers? I don’t even fuck with accounts that have flags in their profiles.
While others have already pulled the plug on Black Twitter, many have migrated to other platforms. But, in truth, the new ones are the same – either echo chambers or possible tools for manipulation. Even the best among them are projects by well-meaning capitalists who teamed up with “people of color” to re-create something Black people built organically. They do not see themselves as gentrifiers; they are "redevelopers." When people ask, "Where are you going when you leave Twitter?" the question is based on the subconscious assumption that Black people need the spaces built and controlled by white people. We do not need social media. We need tools. We need community. We need us. The only reason they want to know our next move is that they need us, too.
Because Black Twitter is dead.
We are witnessing the cessation of all its vital functions, the passing destruction of something inanimate. Then again, all social media platforms are slowly becoming meaningless white voids, filled with nothingness, where truth and joy do not exist.
Some people believe they can still make Black Twitter great again because they have been to social media paradise and seen its promise. Still, we must accept that this once great community has been demolished. You are tweeting from Black Twitter’s ancestral plane. This online dumpster fire is not heaven; it is an afterlife.
In many ways, X is the mirror image of America — a capitalist empire felled by racism, white mediocrity and the hubris of its own infallibility. But unlike the billionaire capitalists who believe money can purchase presidents, influence and immortality, Black people are keenly aware of one great immutable truth:
Everything dies. Nothing is forever.
Except us.
So do not rest in power, Black Twitter. Just remember …
Power rests in us.
Black Twitter was murdered.
Best bookend of an essay here that I’ve read in a while. Beautiful start. Emotional finish. Thanks for that.
And thanks for this: “Aside from appropriating its name from the Nation of Islam, Musk’s changes were barely noticeable at first.” 😜👊🏾