Blackout Tuesday is meant to interrupt daily life in order to raise awareness for racist police brutality and the protests catalyzed by the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. The day was organized by Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, current and former Atlantic Records workers, in order to reflect on the incalculable debt the music industry owes to black artists, and was promoted through the hashtag #TheShowMustBePaused.
Today, though, social media has been flooded with people marking Blackout Tuesday with “blacked out” posts tagged with the #BlackLivesMatter or #BLM hashtags, which has resulted in sites like Instagram being flooded with blank squares instead of the important organizational information and fundraising resources that hashtag is meant to mark.
Since this morning, people have been trying to stop this by sending messages informing everyone that marking these posts with #BlackLivesMatter or #BLM is, in short, extremely counterproductive.
Currently, Instagram results for the hashtag still consist largely of blank squares. In order to fix this, users are being asked to delete these posts so as to allow for actual useful information—like links to bail funds that could use donations, videos highlighting ongoing police violence, or tips for organizing and/or supporting protests—to get through instead.
Looking for ways to advocate for black lives? Check out this list of resources by our sister site Lifehacker for ways to get involved
[via Rolling Stone]
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