It’s the Black cafeteria table in a predominantly white virtual school. And only the coolest, funniest, and wittiest get a seat. They serve up hilarious, relatable, and sometimes unhinged one-liners, clapbacks, roasts, memes and jokes. They manage to find humor in some terribly bad situations. But they can also switch to ‘serious mode’ in a minute. They’re brutally honest. And they aren’t afraid to call out racism and injustice. These are the people who stand up and tell others to sit down and listen.
Black Twitter has become the internet’s undefeated comedy club. And if you’ve ever found yourself laughing until your stomach hurts, there’s a good chance they were behind it. These guys and gals have mastered the art of effective online activism while also winning over the world with their humor. Bored Panda has gathered a hilarious list of tweets that prove that Black Twitter is the best place to be.
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When Black Twitter burst onto the scene in the early 2000s, it took the internet by storm. Not everyone was quite prepared for how impactful - and hilarious - they’d be. If you aren’t aware, Black Twitter is not a standalone app. Nor is it one specific account. It is a social media movement. And a powerful one at that...
“It represents the collection of content from Black creators on Twitter,” explains philanthropist, business leader and investor Robert Smith on his site. “Black Twitter celebrates Black voices coming together on the platform to share their experiences. Their posts may include humorous memes, their thoughts on Black culture or important topics like racial equity.”
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When they’re not being funny as hell, the members of Black Twitter are working hard and fast to bring about change. They’ve used hashtags to drum up support and awareness. They've fought social inequality, racism, and more.
Their online campaigns have led to protests that have drawn attention, made a major impact and changed lives. Think #BlackLivesMatter, #GeorgeFloyd, #BreonnaTaylor, #Black and #ICantBreathe.
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Black Twitter somehow even manages to bring humor into situations that are less than funny. I think we can all agree that slavery was no laughing matter. But in 2018, the guys and gals on Black Twitter got the topic trending in a rather hilarious way, with a series of sharp and witty tweets relating to slavery.
Using the hashtag #TweetLikeThe1600s, nothing was off-limits as Black Twitter poked fun at a time where their ancestors were treated like dirt. This generation jumped on the wagon, making jokes about anything from running away from slave plantations to the illiteracy of enslaved African Americans.
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One research paper from 2022 takes a deep dive into the #TweetLikeThe1600s trend. Titled “(It) Shouldn’t Be Funny But You Can’t Help But Laugh: Black Twitter, #TweetLikeThe1600s, and Black Humor Online,” the paper gives examples of how Black Twitter users turned past trauma into true comedy gold.
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“When you try to escape on one of Massa horses but the horse is racist too #TweetLikeThe1600s” was retweeted more than 15,000 times. The tweet was accompanied by a video of a white woman riding a horse that suddenly flips back, throwing her on the ground and crushing her under its back.
Another reads, “When you & the squad finally escape from the plantation #Tweetlikethe1600s #tweetlikethe1600s.” As the paper states, it included a video of a group of Black teenagers “energetically dancing in a parking lot, one with a stereo held above his head.”
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#Tweetlikethe1600s does not make light of this past, notes the paper, but rather, it laughs in the face of it, taking power away from the oppressor. "It deals with any anger and grief about slavery via the creative capabilities of Twitter. Each user, tweet, comment, retweet, and like coalesce to a comedic gesture that aligns with Black humor more broadly."
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When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and renamed it “X” the following year, Black app users started moving to other platforms. Even more left after the latest U.S. presidential election results were announced. The mass migration has raised fears that Black Twitter might not be around in the next few years. If that is the case, they can rest assured that they’ve left a lasting legacy, and thousands of people in stitches of laughter.
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