I
am new to Twitter. The “It’s 2015 and I just opened an account two months ago
to further promote articles that I write” type of new. Crazy, right? How could
I have survived so many years without being connected to thousands of people
out in the world who are traveling similar paths to me? Well, trust me it was
not hard at all to avoid Twitter when it first premiered.
See,
back in my high school days (which ended only three long years ago), Twitter
was not used in the same manner that it is utilized now. Back then, it was the
go-to place to share all the random thoughts my peers had. The tweets ranged
from what they had to breakfast to how bored everyone was in study hall to
thoughts about the latest reality show. I heard of this type of commentary from
being around my friends every day. This is not to say that their thoughts were
not valid at the time. I mean, my peers were sharing the true sentiments of what
it meant to be a high school senior on the brink of graduation. It is a
stressful time to know that in a matter of weeks your life will be transformed
into one filled with a great deal of more responsibility. However, I certainly
did not need another dose of the anxiousness and excitement added into the
already melting pot of life that I was trying to navigate through.
In
my opinion, Twitter was nothing more than another social platform for people to
expose their most intimate feelings to complete strangers. For that reason, I
chose not to make one. Yet, despite not having an account of my own, I always
found myself immersed in a conversation about the crazy trending topics and
Twitter chats that took place within the online community of thoughts.
But
no matter how many conversations, I joined in on I came to the realization that
I was an outsider. An outsider finding herself more intrigued with the world of
a social media platform that I ignored for so long. This is when I realized
that I no longer wanted to be the girl that could not share a Twitter name when
networking with professionals and peers or the girl who understood Twitter, but
did not have a page to validate my knowledge. So with that sentiment in mind, I
created an account.
Woo.
That was a lot, right? All that to pat myself on the back and say that I
finally joined the world of 140 characters. I was the newest member on Twitter
and I damn sure was proud of it. I found myself promoting articles, finding
like-minded people and those with different views, tweeting, retweeting,
sharing, DM’ing, networking, participating in chats and so much more! The
possibilities were and still are endless.
The
world of Twitter expanded even more when I came across the flyer for a chat
with Nia (@GlamSavvy) of The
GlamSavvy Life and Neosha (@NeoshaLatrice) of CreateHER
Stock. I have had the fortunate opportunity to collaborate
and/or speak with these two women and there was no way that I was going to miss
out on their discussion! So with my laptop charged and hair products
sprawled across the floor around me, I prepared to tune in. The things
that I experienced during sixty minutes of non-stop conversation was
that like no other, but what I can say is that it was a welcoming,
thought-provoking, loving and safe environment.
Because of the space that was created, I felt that it was
necessary for me to not let the dialogue stop at the end of the last tweet.
Instead, I thought it was best for me to share my takeaway points from the
conversation surrounding the image of African-American women in today’s society
within the popular culture realm.
We Are Aware
What are we aware of exactly? The response to that is simple:
we are aware of everything. From the power of strength that we have to endure
many obstacles to the images portrayed in the media to the racial injustice
taking place across the nation, we have a hand in it. We understand that the
stereotypes put out against are not the whole truth and that the script needs
to written again. We are aware that we no longer have others tell stories of
our journey. Only we know the true feeling and experiences to be a Black woman
in America. We are the genuine, authentic answer to change the numerous
misconceptions.
We Are The Change
During the chat, it was asked why it
was essential for us to take back control of the image in popular control. My
response was simply that history is repeating and we cannot sit back. At this
point, we as women (and Black Twitter) as whole have not rested on the issues
that have been taken place. I love that! We are a making a mark through
writing, photography, interviews and so much more! The fact that a group of
strangers could ban together to have a conversation was amazing.
We Are Supportive
Pop culture describes us as bickering, angry and defensive
women, who cannot do more than fight on national reality television shows. This
is far from the truth. One aspect of the media should not define every Black
woman in America and this chat was one way to dispel that idea. The environment
was like that of one big family with ideas shared and opinions voiced. We
recognized that although people expect us to butt heads, the true answer is
collaboration. We are such a force to be reckoned with when we work together.
At the end of the chat, I saw a ton of conversations taking place and a lot of
following. Even today, I saw encouraging dialogue taking place.
Before the chat, I never thought that Twitter could open up a
space where I instantly connect to people in an hour. I found myself feeling a
greater sense to reach out and connect with the women in the chat. I am sure
that the chat will take place again because we all have much more to continue
to talk about. The conversation started last week and I am sure that with the
amount of happiness at the end, the #CreateHERS chat will only grow. I
challenge everyone to reach out to someone new each week on Twitter, join chats
and go out to create yours!
For
those who have not yet had the opportunity to come across Neosha’s
CreateHER Stock venture, I’ll provide you with a brief overview. Neosha saw the
lack of resources portraying Black women doing extraordinary things and took
the initiative to create a community website geared to providing stock images
of these things. Yes, images made by her for us! It is exactly what we needed
and the timing could not have been more perfect. Be sure to explore her site
and subscribe so that the path of support can continue to get stronger.
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