The Black Voices You Need To Follow On Twitter

For every Yara Shahidi post, I just hope we’re celebrating a loud, poor, not Harvard-bound, non-respectable, darker skinned Black girl who just wants to twerk with her friends, have fun, and get money. One who wants that community college degree. One taking care of her kids at 18

— Francisco-Luis White (@FranciscoLWhite) February 11, 2018

the amount of homophobia I see on my timeline. yikes. in 2018. the year of Rihanna’s thighs. sad.

hey guys. people be gay. you’re actually late, out of style, and probably bad at sex.

— quinta b. (@quintabrunson) February 7, 2018

As long as this country treats wealthy people as if being rich is the same as doing good, we will continue to treat people living in poverty as if they are worthless.

— Ashley C. Ford (@iSmashFizzle) February 13, 2018

One day, everyone on Twitter is a lawyer. The next day, everyone is an economist. And y’all find time to dabble in critical race theory while moonlighting as skincare experts. It’s incredible.

I’m just so proud of everyone.

— Saeed Jones (@theferocity) February 6, 2018

judy blume and her white ass books are just like all the white teen movies. wahh i have everything, but not every single person likes me, im not popular, so that’s the worlds biggest tragedy. ignore marginalized kids.

— zahira kelly-cabrera (@bad_dominicana) February 13, 2018

Dear John Kelly: undocumented immigrants are anything but lazy. They work hard every day with no promise of citizenship or a return on their taxes when they get old. If they were afraid to sign up for DACA, perhaps it’s bc many feared that one day someone like you would run DHS.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) February 6, 2018

It isn’t enough to merely be poor in Trump’s America. This @WhiteHouse also wants you to feel poor. From housing to education to food stamps, their policies seem engineered to not only ensure maximum awareness of one’s indigence, but to infer that one should be humiliated by it.

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) February 13, 2018

The thing that this political moment has continued to illuminate is that people will do absolutely anything to maintain power. It manifests itself through racism & sexism & xenophobia & callous indifference, but it’s all predicated on a desire to preserve & expand control.

— Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) February 9, 2018

How immoral & mean can you be, @SpeakerRyan? You use DACA students & sick children who need CHIP as leverage to fund a racist wall & to push brown people out of the country. Our problem is not just Trump, but a moral deficit in the mind, soul & agenda of far too many politicians.

— Rev. Dr. Barber (@RevDrBarber) January 17, 2018

Let’s examine the use of the word ‘un-American’ when speaking of injustice/inhumanity. It may be comforting to label something as such, but some evils have possessed this nation for hundreds of years, from Plymouth Rock-now. Is it ‘un-American’ or do we need to change ‘America?’

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) February 9, 2018

I guess this works if you think whole scale legal segregation began before Plessy (it didn’t) and ended before 1968 (it didn’t). It erases the history of black dissent and the history of the effectiveness of white supremacist massive resistance after Brown. But yeah… https://t.co/gPHf1BcSz4

— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) February 12, 2018

We must let go of the idea that prisoners deserve whatever happens to them. Being incarcerated doesn’t make you disposable.

— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) August 4, 2017

109.

That’s the final number for how many people American police killed in January alone.

Staggering.

That’s more than police in many developed nations kill in a decade.

And because Trump has sucked the wind out of the news cycle, most of us cannot name a single  person.

— Shaun King (@ShaunKing) February 2, 2018

White sports fans damaging property after a game is a *RIOT*. Black people damaging property after centuries of oppression & yet another racist police killing is an *UPRISING* against white supremacist capitalism 1/

— Bree Newsome (@BreeNewsome) February 5, 2018

The response of white people that they “work(ed) hard” as a way to dismiss every aspect of systemic and structural racism is one of the few things that pushes me over the edge.

— deray (@deray) February 10, 2018

I wrote an open letter to incoming students at @UVA. Give it a read here. #Charlottesville #UVA21 #HoosAgainstHate https://t.co/RC7KIjBPPf

— Martese Johnson (@martesejohnson_) August 16, 2017

The white man wishes that Blackness was not a thing. Should we discuss that race is really a social construct invented by white folks to look down upon & discriminate against non-whites? Or is that too much for you, Jeryl? https://t.co/EHp77tImEQ

— April (@ReignOfApril) February 6, 2018

Press release: (Insert mainstream publication) announces their new (site/vertical/channel) called (BVE-inspired name), where they will cover lifestyle, culture (capitalizing off of the protest movement/blackgirlmagic) and (take all the ad money from actual Black-owned brands)

— Jamilah Lemieux (@JamilahLemieux) February 8, 2018

Seems like a good time for my periodic reminder that 80% of public school teachers are white even though just under half of public school students are white. https://t.co/pR8s3mxiBP

— wikipedia “Killmonger, But Make It Feminist” brown (@eveewing) February 10, 2018

In 2018, let’s resolve to speak the truths we have been reminded of too often over the last year. Racism is real in this country. Sexism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism are real in this country. Unless we speak that truth, we will not confront it honestly.

— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) January 2, 2018

African American unemployment has been declining for a decade yet it’s still double white unemployment. Would POTUS be celebrating if this stat were the other way around? #ThingsTrumpWontTalkAbout

— Alma S. Adams (@RepAdams) January 31, 2018

If MLK was alive today, he’d be marching not only for civil rights & protecting voting rights, but to urge Members of Congress to accept their responsibility to save the U.S. from a dangerous man who has no respect for our Constitution & no concern for strengthening our democracy

— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) January 15, 2018

There is no sound more powerful than the marching feet of a determined people. #goodtrouble

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) January 20, 2018

She made the decision to end the pregnancy at almost 22 weeks. We must stop playing politics w/ women’s private, personal health decisions.

— Eleanor H. Norton (@EleanorNorton) October 3, 2017

A better use of @POTUS‘ twitter fingers: Urging support for millions of Americans in #PuertoRico & #VI w/o electricity, running water & food

— Rep. Marc Veasey (@RepVeasey) September 25, 2017

Can someone in TrumpLand let their puppet-master know that Obstruction of Justice is an impeachable offense?

— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) February 2, 2018

“If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.”

Zora Neale Hurston

Let your voice be heard.

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) January 30, 2018

Dear @realDonaldTrump, hire some new lawyers if you think banning muslims is constitutional and funding black colleges is unconstitutional.

— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) May 6, 2017

.@realDonaldTrump says, “Working with the Senate, we are appointing judges who will interpret the Constitution as written and more circuit court judges than any new administration in the history of our country,” yet none of them have been Black. #WhatTrumpWontSay

— Bennie G. Thompson (@BennieGThompson) January 31, 2018

“My button is bigger than your button” isn’t presidential. America needs a President who understands the global consequences of foreign policy and does not engage in irrational, petty, schoolyard antics with foreign leaders that may result in nuclear war. #RepealandReplaceTrump

— Congressman Al Green (@RepAlGreen) January 3, 2018

Women across America are horrified by treatment of brilliant astronaut Dr. Jeanette Epps who was slated to become first black crew member to live on International Space Station. NASA has replaced her with no reason given. SHAME. This must be rectified IMMEDIATELY!  #RepJacksonLee

— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) January 29, 2018

Thread: Africa is the cradle of civilization that’s beauty/vitality has been revealed to me in new ways each time I visit. And take it from someone who saw it firsthand: If you’re looking for a remarkable example of resilience/hospitality, look no further than the Haitian people.

— Rep. Gwen Moore (@RepGwenMoore) January 12, 2018

Here’s an idea — don’t buy a house from a guy who thinks South LA needs to be “cleaned out”. Gentrification does not need to be inevitable. We need to continue to make an effort to make affordable housing available to those that need it.https://t.co/ZZrq2bExXQ

— Congressmember Bass (@RepKarenBass) December 14, 2017

#BlackHistoryMadeToday – @RepBarbaraLee has never been afraid to stand alone. In high school, she integrated her cheerleading squad and in 2001, she cast the lone vote against surrendering Congress’ power over matters of war to the President. #BlackHistoryFact #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/lE00qOMkUF

— Robin Kelly (@RepRobinKelly) February 8, 2018

In state after state, in school after school, it was women and girls who put their bodies on the line to desegregate our education system. Today, I’m honoring Autherine Lucy Foster for her courage and her fight for justice. #BlackHistoryMonth

— Rep. Terri A. Sewell (@RepTerriSewell) February 6, 2018

Ohioan Toni Morrison was the first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. #OH #BlackHERstoryMonth pic.twitter.com/VI0MeAJxX5

— Joyce Beatty (@RepBeatty) February 11, 2018

“I’ll tell you what freedom is to me. No fear.”

North Carolina native, Nina Simone was one of the most extraordinary artists of the twentieth century. Today, she’s titled as one of the greatest Black musicians of all time. #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/j8yVftTE0p

— G. K. Butterfield (@GKButterfield) February 13, 2018