On the 8th day...
posted on Instagram, 8 days after many prominent bloggers and brands went mute in order to #amplifymelanatedvoices…
🖤the E I G H T H day. Today is Monday, June 8th and many of you have taken the last 7 days to “mute + listen.” In many cases that meant an “Instagram vacation.” As I have already said, I think the people that did that missed an opportunity. Maybe you really did log off to read books, and if so I would challenge you to share the things you learned now that you are back. And if you were logged off of IG for the week, let me catch you up. We had church. We gathered publicly to declare that the old days were done. There were confessions and apologies and grace and forgiveness and the holding of hands and the spreading of good news. And we regret that you missed it. No this church wasn’t rooted in theology, but it was rooted in Love and “the greatest of these is Love,” (so there’s that). We didn’t fix all the problems by any means, there is so much serious work yet to be done, as I shared a couple of posts back. But on this 8th day, when many of you have been muted for 7 days and are now returning to this platform to perhaps hopefully find us simmered down and ready to “get back to normal,” I’m letting you know that there is no going back. Those that stayed also worked, listened and lifted their fellow Black creatives. Articles were written. Lists were created and the algorithm was shaken up to reveal so much previously hidden talent. And we loved it. 🖤I’m sure one pervasive question is “where do we go from here?” Perhaps you’re thinking: “I have done my part, but I do have shelved-content to share.” I would just encourage you to unmute AND amplify, because people are listening. All those hashtags and blog hops you previously used to only share each other can be used to continue to diversify the feed (#followfriday anyone?). It’s not too late. 8 represents new and on its side it’s infinite, so you may as well get used to it. I’ll share more on this in stories. Meanwhile, I’d love for you to share your favorite moment, new account or new connection from #amplifymelanatedvoices in the comments. It’s Monday friends. Time to work.