š¤³the revolution will be fancammed
Ā”viva la gen z!
a quick note: last week we passed the mic. Today, thereās no ābusiness as usualā. Rather, we are committed to continuing necessary conversations that call out insidious and systemic racism, white supremacy and police brutality ā while promoting and sharing platforms that that seek to amplify, protect and support the #BlackLivesMatter movement.Ā
Being a vocal ally is great, but letās put our money where our mouth is: High Tea šøāļø will be sponsoring two annual memberships to galādem. galādem is āan online and print publication committed to sharing perspectives from women and non-binary people of colourā. Please apply or nominate someone who would benefit from a subscription. Just share your/their email ā spillthehightea [at] gmail [dot] com. We will issue the two memberships on a first come first serve. Drink up!Ā
what weāve been sipping on:
ICYMI: we are witnessing what is quite possibly the largest civil rights movement in world history. So big in fact, that Al Jazeera has started mapping anti-racism solidarity protests around the world.Ā
But this mapping is happening elsewhere across the internet, through storytelling on an unprecedented scale; from audio on TikTok, the stan community on Twitter and YouTube activists manipulating the algorithm to harness its ad revenue. Whoās leading this charge, you ask? Gen Z of course.Ā
š¹no choice but to (K-pop) stan
ICYMI: fancams are short vids usually shared by the k-pop stan community, posted under unrelated threads on Twitter (thereās even a fancam for spinach now). If youāve ever logged on twitter dot com, then you know what weāre talking about. It didnāt take long for the k-pop stan communities to join forces with each other (not to mention the Barbz and Beehive stans) to troll white supremacists online by hijacking the hashtagsĀ #AllLivesMatter and #EXPOSEANTIFA on Twitter and IG. And they didnāt stop there: when Dallas PD put out a call for āillegal activity from the protestsā via their anonymous āiWatch Dallas appā, the K-pop mandem went to town and shut that shit down. The top comment on the thread is currently instructions on how to grow potatoes, enough said. Next stop for the fancams: the boogaloo bois lurking in the shadows of Facebook groups. Pls? š
from Anonymous to Jane Elliot to a ābully fancamā for the Mayor of Minneapolis, fancams and their content tell a story of their own when it comes to mapping the digital footprint of protesting online.
š¦ time for tea on Twitter
They say that time is money, so for those unable to open their purses to donate some coin, thereās a stream for that. This week, several hour-long YouTube vids emerged with the sole intention to collect the $$$$ ad revenue to donate directly to organizations that support protester bail funds, help pay for victimās funerals, and advocate for the #BLM movement. As of yesterday, the first $ numbers are in from AdSense on just *one* of the prominent streams: an estimated $31,434.67 was raised between June 1 - June 5! š„
Weāre all suckers for spilling the tea, and Zs KNOW weāre still thirsting for the gossipy goods. Enter: fake scandal threads, one of the best (and most effective) ways to turn heads on Twitter. *Tips hat* to the great work by Scottish actor Katie Leung, who earlier today tweeted that she was ready to spill the HP ā”ļø tea on Cho Chang... only to fill the thread with links of petitions to support Black Trans Women. The same goes for one clickbait tweet about Riverdale actor Lili Reinhartās THIRST for Dianna Agron (we love to see it) and another for how Jay Z ruined BeyoncĆ©ās and Rihannaās friendship, which similarly linked to prominent allyship resources to support the #BLM movement. Keep āem coming, Zs. š
š¶THIS IS AMERICA
TikTok is no stranger to scandal when it comes to allegedly silencing black creators on the app. Shadowbanned? We donāt know her. But this week, the platform pulled its overdue socks up and began to elevate content around #BlackLivesMatter, promoting the hashtag at the top of its discover page. What ensued was the reason we love to talk TikTok so much on High Tea. The BLM tag has eclipsed the most recent viral TikTok challenge (#wipeitdown), and currently sits at 7.4B views. Expect this to smash 10M before the week is out, calmly.Ā
Of greatest note, however, is the accidental, yet inevitable soundtrack to this movement: Childish Gambinoās This Is America ~ with a Post Malone twist (as is the nature of the many layered viral sounds on TikTok). The remix has been used in 491k videos, many of which document the protests as they unfold on the ground and act as visual records of police brutality. Next stop: expect Suede the Remix God and his #YouAboutToLoseYourJob to blow up on the app:
š¹interior, crocodile, algorithm
This week on TikTok saw prominent influencers and accounts on the app, such as The Washington Post and Brittany Broski (aka kombucha girl) dedicating their internet real estate to allyship, educating their large followings on systemic racism.Ā
ā...itās usually fun and games on my account, but Iām not blind to the fact I have over 4.2M followers on this platform and with that comes a certain responsibility.ā - @britanny_broski
One of Broskiās top performing posts this week at 1.4M views captioned: āCan we abolish the police?ā outlines a comprehensive argument on police reform through role-play. Kombucha girl for President? Well...
š¾virtual gatherings take the main stage
Roblox, the ultimate virtual universe for Gen Alphas and Zs and currently sitting at the #1 spot in the Adventure Games category on the iOS store and Google Play, is a force to be reckoned with. With usage up 40% during COVID-19, and the game taking up 54% of U.S. kidsā total screen time, itās only natural that a #BlackLivesMatter protest āgameā should appear in the Roblox store this week. At the time of writing the game had almost 66.7K visits and counting...
Toontown Rewritten, another free to play revival of a Disney classic (cc. Club Penguin), also saw its own fair share of protesting, but after mods shut it down, just as in real life, players staged riots on the server. Toontown then hastily released its own statement in support of the protests, however maintained the protests had to be āfamily friendly.ā š
High Tea favorite and all round dote, Tinashe, returned to WaveXR, the virtual concert streaming platform on Friday to raise money for The Bail Project. With an initial goal of raising $5K, Tinasheās performance raised the roof to bring in just under $10K, which WaveXR pledged to double by match funding the amount raised. šø
protest essentials:
šŗSnap Maps, cos aināt nobody got time for fake newsĀ
It was June 2017, when Snap introduced us to its newest creation: a map that lets you locate your pals (and everyone else) in real time with incredible accuracy. Not without its initial controversy, the feature has proven pivotal during the #BlackLivesMatter protests through its heat-map graphics for high activity areas. Want to see San Franciscoās protests through the eyes and ears of the people on the ground? Or how about seeing the cities in the North of England mobilize for the cause? Snap Maps allows everyone to see on-the-ground footage (empowering and frightening at times), anywhere, at any time. We honestly would be lost without it. TY, Snap.Ā
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āāļøCensr, to keep it anonymous
You know the drill: filming faces at protests is an absolute no-no. We do however, appreciate this is a hard task when push comes to shove (literally), yet it is such an important part of making protests safe places to demonstrate without fear of later arrest. Enter: censr, a camera app to protect your identity currently available on TestFlight. Creator Sam Loeschen, recommends the Blackout and Spectrum feature for full protection as they ācompletely overwrite any pixels identified as part of a body, making it much harder to reverse the effect.ā Please note: the app will only work with an iPhone XR+.
āHeadcount: register to vote via QR code
With the protests that followed George Floydās death already creating a surge in voter registrations, Headcount is going one step further to help capture the energy for change. Now protestors are coming armed with QR codes directly linked to register to vote and get others to do the same.Ā
š¤Branch, for education through podcasts
We know that voting matters more so than ever before. Through a series of podcasts, Branch is democratizing access to resources on a state and local level, to help inform more folks on where to place their votes. In select cities, starting with Atlanta, Branch is providing non-partisan episodes that will include the voices of candidates on the ballot in next Tuesdayās primaries.Ā
š®kettleās on: ones to watchĀ
7 things to watch on Netflix to educate yourself on racism and injustice (i-D)
Hello Somebody Podcast by Nina Turner (arriving 6/19)Ā
Black and Scottish (BBC iPlayer)Ā
Traveling While Black (VR experience)Ā
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Natives by Akala
Anything by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
How to Talk to Relatives Who Care More About Looting Than Black Lives (VICE)
Podcasts: Growing Up with gal-dem / Pod Save The People / Have You Heard George's Podcast /Hoodrat to Headwrap
This is a movement, not a moment.
ttyl,
p.s. please consider matching (or exceeding!) our donations to a bail fund of your choice, Black Minds Matter UK and the UKBLM Fund. Thanks to Tilly for sharing the reading list & podcast links with us š