Over policing, excessive force and the deaths of black and brown bodies at the hands of law enforcement have reached a boiling point for communities of color.
It seems there is no place safe for people of color, not even in homes, with the death of Breonna Taylor.
The passing of actor and philanthropist Chadwick Boseman was another huge blow to the black community. Boseman was a pivotal figure in the black community with roles such as: James Brown, Thurgood Marshall and possibly his most notable role as King T’Challa in “Black Panther”.
A Twitter user by the name of @phroggey attempted to create a safe space for black people to grieve without the white gaze.
like I said before there is a collective trauma that minorities have I don’t expect you to understand but black ppl uplifting black ppl nd asians uplifting asians and natives uplifting natives is so needed. it’s different for u bc yts have ALWAYS been uplifted/generally invited
— Lily says my melanin is my power (@phroggey) August 31, 2020
stop calling black people racist for making safe spaces for other black people. seriously. especially after something like this.
— Lily says my melanin is my power (@phroggey) August 29, 2020
However, the post that was meant to create a safe space for black Twitter users to talk about the collective traumatic experience garnered attention from other users and lead to an exchange with a white Twitter user that felt it was uncalled for:
Why is it important for people of color to have safe spaces that aren’t centered around whiteness or that exclude white people? For many people of color there is seemingly nowhere to go where we aren’t the minority, or without feeling the need to code switch. In America, white people don’t have to think about being white and nearly everywhere is a safe space for them but that’s a rare feeling for people of color. Often spaces created for people of color become integrated, then are taken over by our white counterparts; commonly known as gentrification.
Understand that safe spaces for people of color aren’t about being racist or divisive, but more about people of color wanting a space they can look around and not be a minority but of sea of faces that look like them and where we can feel unrestricted.
