#BlackoutTuesday is an initiative taking place today as call to action for the music industry to get involved amid the ongoing protests and rallies in the name of Black lives.
As part of the initiative, users began taking to Instagram to post pictures of black squares as an attempt to show solidarity — however the message of the movement got mixed up and resulted in pure confusion.
People have hashtagged their squares with #BlackLivesMatter, #BLM, and other hashtags effectively drowning out posts sharing relevant information related to petitions, donations, and what’s happening on the ground with protests.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, several people — including Kehlani and Lil Nas X — took to social media to point out the negative effects of the initiative in an attempt to get people to redirect.
my initial thought is it feels dangerous… because once you click on the blm hashtag you’re directed to an overflow of black images, instead of other more useful content people could look at for information. pic.twitter.com/QiaHPeoWGP
— A (@atothebed) June 2, 2020
It has come to my attention that many allies are using #BlackLivesMatter hashtag w black image on insta. We know that’s it no intent to harm but to be frank, this essentially does harm the message. We use hashtag to keep ppl updated. PLS stop using the hashtag for black images!! pic.twitter.com/eG2fPaybNW
— Kenidra4Humanity (@KenidraRWoods_) June 2, 2020
this is not helping us. bro who the hell thought of this?? ppl need to see what’s going on https://t.co/fN492qsxaa
— ? (@LilNasX) June 2, 2020
Originally, the campaign was started by two Black women in the music industry — Jamila Thomas, senior director of marketing at Atlantic Records, and Brianna Agyemang, a former Atlantic executive who is now a senior artist campaign manager at Platoon.
The hashtag began as #TheShowMustBePaused, as an effort to convince the music industry to “take a beat for an honest reflective, and productive conversation about what actions we need to collectively take to support the black community.”
As per TheShowMustBePaused.com, here are a few things you can do today instead of simply posting a black square.
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Help the family of George Floyd HERE.
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Fight for Breonna Taylor HERE.
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Help the family of Ahmaud Arbery HERE.
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Want to help protesters? Donate to one or more community bail funds HERE.
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Visit Movement For Black Lives for additional ways you can help the cause.
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Want to connect with leaders building grass roots campaigns? Click HERE.
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Are you an ally and want to learn more? Here are some anti-racism resources.
