Remember, a few years ago, when President Barack Obama and many newspaper editorial boards and pundits called on the nation to discuss race? Remember, about a decade before that, when President Bill Clinton called for a “national conversation on race“?
On Twitter, without a lot of fanfare or media attention, such conversations occur every day.
Case in point: Right now #WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont is the #2 trending topic in the United States, meaning it is one of the most tweeted-about topics in the country (second only to #AddictedTo).
Today, Twitter users (mostly black, but also whites and other races) are discussing differences in behavior between black people and white people. Most people using the #WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont hashtag are tweeting with candor, humor, and civility:
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont : tell their kids if they ever gt into a fight they must tell the teacher. Black ppl tell their kids to win!!
— untitled unmastered. (@Lithening_) July 25, 2012
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont walk around stores with their children on leashes like they're mutts.
— G The Genius (@GGenius330) July 25, 2012
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont always end up falling in a scary movie when they running
— DasANiggaOnAHorse? (@teko242kid) July 25, 2012
Talk back to their parents #WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont
— Hugh G. Rection (@JayyM_Tee13) July 25, 2012
https://twitter.com/KEN_AN_Barbie/status/228109124775317504
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont give there kids timeouts
— DasANiggaOnAHorse? (@teko242kid) July 25, 2012
-* #WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont: let their daughter's boyfriend come over and spend the night
— BabyHarlem (@DalayahSaidIt) July 25, 2012
Swimmin wit sharks like they lil fish #WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont
— toni lorraine (@tonithegoat) July 25, 2012
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont listen to country music ???
— DJ ⚓ (@Im_So_Real) July 25, 2012
#whitepplDoItButBlackpplDont wear shorts all year round
— Stewey Griffn (@SteweyGriffn) July 25, 2012
https://twitter.com/GarrettAle/status/228108211004264449
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont be really spoilt and take everything for granted!
— ♔ Earl Sweatshirt ♔ (@FunkyyFredd) July 25, 2012
https://twitter.com/DeMarko_Gage/status/228108070792855553
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont wear flip flops even when its snowing
— Scar (@EvGawd) July 25, 2012
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont Extreme sports.. basically everything on Jackass. But I do surf and snow board though…
— Maverick™♛ (@FrescoPrincipe) July 25, 2012
https://twitter.com/TEDInRealLife/status/228107725639401472
In a nutshell: white people are overprotective of their kids, underdress in the winter, and engage in dangerous stunts. Black people don’t follow the directions on Kool-Aid packets and get killed in horror movies.
Well, OK, then!
Race is a controversial topic, so it comes as no surprise that not everyone is happy with the #WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont hashtag:
https://twitter.com/kelseyhasfaith/status/228109342149320704
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont and i thought i wouldn't have anything #racist to read today
— Miguel Negron (@OfficialMiguelN) July 25, 2012
At least one Twitter user felt left out:
#WhitePplDoItButBlackPplDont is a trend this morning? What if you are not Black or White like me? #ImKorean
— MO® (@LeChiMo) July 25, 2012
Fair enough. But if we are going to listen to people talk about race, we’d rather listen to the conversation on Twitter, where real people participate, as opposed to newspaper editorial boardrooms, universities, and Foundation-sponsored conferences dominated by well-to-do Manhattan and Beltway elites.
