Black people, in case you haven’t noticed, Whitelandia is imploding right before our eyes. Whitelandia isn’t just imploding here in America, but it’s imploding all over the world. It’s time we start preparing for impact. Part of that preparation for Black people is navigating to darker (Blacker) pastures, technological pastures that is. The most popular platforms used by most Black people are owned and operated by members of the dominant society, which means whenever they say so, we can be silenced, removed, or banned.
Because we don’t own or control most of the communications and technologies we use today, we don’t get to make the rules on how those things work, nor do we have any say in the racism and discrimination we experience as a result of them that equates to justice. When we continue using those platforms despite the racism and discrimination we experience, we’re saying we’re okay with how we’re treated. We’ve shown the world time and time again we will tolerate abuse from the dominant society just to belong. It’s insanity.
Even with all the evidence and we research on the bias, we continue consuming and supporting our open enemies.
Many of us complain about the biased ways platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok treat us, but we continue using them because we’re either (1) too lazy to seek out alternatives, (2) too in love with White Supremacy to remove ourselves from white gazes, (3) too cowardly to move because we’re concerned about what others may think, (4) a member of the groupthink community, (5) we’re willfully ignorant about the dangers posed by not having our own tools and technologies we control, (6) we are addicted to abusers, or maybe it’s all of the above. Whatever the reason, Black folks need to realize we’re in danger. The day is coming when these technologies are going to be used against us. It’s already happening. We already know people who have had strikes against their accounts, been suspended, or had their accounts closed altogether for having the audacity to counter White Supremacy.
What’s your Plan B for when Black folks are routed suddenly? Do you even have one? Where will you go if Mr. Charlie begins censoring and banning Black thought and Black joy in mass? Most don’t have any plans outside of joining another white-owned, white-operated space like we’re some kind of beggars. And we wonder why so many different groups have so little respect for us.
Black folks need Plan Bs, and those Plan Bs need to be Black-Owed and Black-Operated (BOBO).
As things get worse, only certain voices and faces are going to be able to speak. If you’re not one of the dominant society’s chosen few or on the payroll of them folks, you’re not going to be able to speak. I’m already experiencing this on every social media platform I use. Truth tellers are not wanted. Black enlightenment is not welcomed on white-owned platforms. That’s why we need to head for our own pastures ASAP.
It’s getting tough out here on these social media streets for Black people. More and more of us are being censored, shadowbanned, and having our accounts suspended or canceled on white-owned social media platforms because per usual, we’ve found ways to use Mr. Charlie’s tools and toys to liberate ourselves, entertain ourselves, expose his lies, and to counter dominant society narratives meant to oppress, dismiss, and exterminate us.
Yeah, we dem people.
Recognize your power. The dominant society already does.
And while all that is fine and well, we all know all good things must come to an end. We’re going along every day still accessing the dominant society’s social media tools and toys as if this privilege extended to us is going to last forever. Let me be the bearer of bad news… it’s not.
When Mr. Charlie gets ready to deny our Black butts the right and privilege to access his stuff, most of us will have nowhere else to go because we’ve been taught to divest from Black stuff and invest in white folks' stuff. It’s time to break this self-sabotaging cycle and move over to BOBO websites, social media platforms, and apps made for us by us. We’re going to need safe spaces and underground railroads to navigate what’s coming over the next few years.
Black folks should be investing time and energy in the coming months and years using, sharing, and building up Black-owned, Black-operated platforms the same way they’ve helped to build up white-owned and Asian-owned mediums such as Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Black techies have built it, but Black people aren’t coming because we love Mr. Charlie’s cold, toxic waters instead of our own. It’s time for Black folks to navigate to BOBO alternatives and flee to mass white-owned social media before it’s too late.
6 Reasons We Need To Ditch White-Owned Platforms
There are six core reasons I believe Black folks should be ditching white-owned social media as the primary communication and entertainment tools. The main reason we need to ditch Mr. Charlie's media is that white folks control ALL mainstream media, music, television, and other such communication mediums we use and consume each day which means they control what you see, what you think, how you think, which in turn means they control our speech and behavior. The choice is an illusion. I’m not even getting into all the revenue generated by these multi-national conglomerates.They have too much power over Black folks. It’s time we take that power back. Let’s get into the reasons we need to be fleeing white-owned media.
1. We can’t speak freely. Mr. Charlie is never going to allow you to have discussions about liberation on his platforms without sabotaging them. Where there is Black unity, there must also be white conflict. It’s the world we live in. White people hate to see Black people doing anything without them, especially when we’re discussing freeing ourselves from their subjugation when we’re working on ex-communicating the coon classes, and seeking workarounds to Miss Ann’s subjugation tactics. Anytime you download an app or use a website not created by Black people solely for Black people, you‘re almost guaranteed to not have the freedom and liberty to use it as you please. Just look at the way Black folks countering white narratives and white domestic terrorism are censored on white-owned, white-operated social media platforms.
We can’t be free on Mr. Charlie’s social media just like you can’t be free on the streets of this failed white settler state called America. Using white-owned, white-operated apps and social media to discuss Black liberation means we’re basically being spied on. It’s time to move on.
2. They aren’t OUR safe spaces. Black people have made Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse, and other White social media platforms their safe spaces to talk about all sorts of things such as politics, racism, police violence, social issues, and other Black family issues. As long as we use anything created by the dominant society, we’re not safe because they are able to conduct research on us for free with our permission. They know how to stop us before we even get started because we’ve given them access and permission to monitor us. This is how they know what types of chaos and destruction to import into our communities. They use the same old tactics and we seem to never get hip to it. It’s time for Black people to stop relying on white table scraps and all the limitations that come with those scraps to sustain us.
We deserve better. Not only that, WE need to be responsible for developing our own platforms and mediums to conduct our business.
It’s our responsibility to make and protect our safe spaces for our people. The dominant society is never going to provide a safe space for us to talk about the things they do to us, nor are they going to continue being restrained on existing platforms. If you haven’t been paying attention to the energy the dominant society is giving and the direction things are headed towards with the creation of the new Disinformation Governance Board, you’re going to have another thing coming. Your days of espousing Black truth are numbered. It’s time for Black folks to navigate away from the platforms in bed with the dominant society.
3. Too much racism & white supremacy. The one thing I absolutely love about Black-owned, Black-operated social media such as 6zeros.net is the respect for Blackness. I don’t have to deal with White people telling me I’m misinterpreting something. There is no one policing my Black thought. I can speak freely in my Black American tongue, and we can have cultural, social, political, and safety discussions without being interrupted by Karen and her legions of anti-Black special interest groups. Moving to BOBO platforms immediately removed the White Supremacy energy from my social media and communication experience. It’s not toxic. No one is performing trying to go viral. There are no hidden White Supremacist agendas.
We have a right to spend time in our lives not dealing with racism and White Supremacy. Using BOBO social media and apps designed with us in mind will eliminate most of the negative and nefarious social media experiences almost immediately. Black man and Black woman, you don’t have to tolerate that abuse and neglect on white-owned social media platforms. We have fantastic alternatives.
4. We can’t protect OUR culture. One thing I noticed when I started using white-owned social media (I admit I was really late to the party) was that Black culture and language influence everything. White folks love using our slang, stealing our mannerisms, and colonizing the culture to capitalize on it. When I was on Twitter, Black folks kept things trending and when we did, the colonizers did what they do best, they took our stuff for free and made it their own. When we use white-owned social media platforms, we give away our intellectual property and they capitalize on it.
We share aspects of our culture the world shouldn’t be privy to. Nobody else is doing that. Utilizing BOBO better protects the culture from the culture vultures. Remember, they need us to survive although they’d have us believe it’s the other way around.
5. We are making White folks rich. Each time we log onto Mr. Charlie’s apps or websites, just know they’ve found a way to capitalize on our callous consumption. Data brokers are collecting, analyzing, and selling our most intimate, private, and sensitive information collected from our computers, phones, and tablets and selling it as a commodity. Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and other social media companies sell our info to each other, advertisers, and even the government. Why can’t we make our own people wealthy instead?
Mr. Charlie nem collects and sells our info, then after profiting, does nothing for our communities. When is the last time you saw Mark Zuckerberg donate to the hood being that so many poor Black Americans use his ole dusty sites? He’s made billions of dollars from selling our pictures to predictive policing entities and even to the government. Voyager Labs is one of the dozens of US companies that uses technology to collect social media to help solve and predict crime. When you sign up for white-owned social media experiences, you get shenanigans like this. It’s time to put away childish things and navigate to BOBO social media. Check out Lifelog too.
Anywho, not only are white people getting rich off of us, we’re wilfully harming ourselves and our youth by allowing white-owned social media sites to sell our images for predictive policing technologies that will be used against us specifically. We are aiding and abetting our future subjugation. Why do you think they keep offering us free stuff? We’re the product. Aren’t you tired of being pimped and skimped by the dominant society?
6. We can’t mobilize properly. Algorithms are set to ensnare Black speak and Black thought on most dominant society-owned and operated communication mediums. Black-First (B1) thinkers such as Professor Black Truth, The Black Authority, and writers like myself struggle to fight with artificial intelligence (AI) in an effort to try to reach Black eyeballs. The dominant society is heavily vested in keeping us misinformed, misled, censored, and blocked so that we can’t unify. Trying to share important mobilization messages with Black people is getting tougher by the day. Black people who love Black people shouldn't have to go through white people to reach large populations of Black people to empower, mobilize, and strategize.
It’s embarrassing.
Black people are going to have to do better about supporting and using BOBO technologies, apps, and websites. Soon, your very freedom and safety may depend on it. Black people need to be mobilizing and strategizing on BOBO technologies and communications, periodt!
When we use the dominant society’s tools and toys, we relinquish our power.
In Closing
I left Twitter almost 2 months ago and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time. I don’t miss the toxic takes, the White woman tears blowing up my timelines, the Black man misandry, the vote blue no matter who bs, nor do I miss the swarms of racists attacking my posts for my pro-Black views. I love not being bombarded by ads, I’m thankful I don’t have to be bothered with bots. I appreciate not seeing things not associated with my culture, and I’m appreciative of the mutual respect and camaraderie I find on Black platforms like 6zeros.net. I am thankful to be in a pro-Black safe space.If we don’t support our stuff and build it, no one else will.
Sometimes engaging your open enemy means picking up and leaving his or her battlefield and setting up shop on your own while developing new bases, boot camps, creating your own think tanks, prepping your own battlefields, and preparing for battle on your own terms. Navigating onto BOBO social media is the equivalent of leaving the enemy's camp.
Black people have a habit of being a day late and a dollar short when it comes to making moves that benefit us as a collective. We’re behind enemy lines when we’re using white social media, apps, and communications. Ever wondered why we’re going backward and spinning our wheels in the sand instead of moving forward? Hopefully, you can see why now.
Time is running out for us to exodus all the anti-Black platforms we’ve helped to make famous and valuable. Once the collapse happens, we’re going to be heavily censored if we’re allowed to partake at all. Black folks need to be fleeing white-owned social media as if it’s on fire and headed to BOBO sites. Our open enemies are watching us. They’re plotting against us as we speak. And because we use their stuff, they know our every move, thought, feeling, and emotion. It’s simply more ammunition to keep the chaos in the community.
We have Black social media, Black apps, and Black websites. Use them. We need to use them religiously. Why can’t we build up Black platforms the way we build up Mr. Charlie’s? Free thinkers wanna know.
If we don’t soon start removing ourselves from those white-owned, white-operated social sites, apps, and websites we love to use to socialize, inform, educate, and entertain the masses with soon, we may find ourselves locked out of mass communication altogether. If we don’t support our people, they fail.
Their failure is a reflection of us and I’m tired of watching us help Mr. Charlie and nem win. Navigate away from white-owned social media today.
Build Better Black.
Marley K., 2022 on 6zeros.net. All rights reserved.
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