Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: February 10, 2018
This is the second post in a four part pancocojams series that explores the history, purposes, and content of the viral #BlackMenSmiling hashtag and related hashtags.
This pancocojams's series on #BlackMenSmiling and its related hashtags seeks to provide some context to the viral #BlackMenSmiling hashtag which trended #1 on Twitter on February 2, 2018 and according to Twitter ratings, remained strong several days after that.
This pancocojams series also provides some corrections to repeatedly cited statements about that hashtag, In addition, this pancocojams series documents selected [text only] tweets from those hashtags for historical and socio-cultural purposes.
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This post presents information about #Blackmensmiling and #BlackMenSmile prior to February 2, 2018 when the #Blackmensmiling hashtag went viral and trended to #1 on Twitter. The Addendum to this post presents a few post-February 2, 2018 #BlackMenSmile.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/02/paul-laurence-dunbars-1896-poem-we-wear.html for Part I of this series. Part I presents three spoken word/musical interpretations of Paul Laurence Dunbar's 1896 poem "We Wear The Mask". The Addendum to Part I presents an early 20th century quote about "smiling, acquiescent black people, & a 2006 quote about Black men using smiles as a survival strategy.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/02/general-information-about-descriptions.html for Part III of this series. Part III provides general information about #Blackmensmiling, #blackmensmiles, #Blackmensmilling, and #Blackwomensmiling with a focus on the purposes of those hashtags.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/02/selected-text-only-tweets-from.html for Part IV of this series. Part IV presents selected (text only) examples of tweets from #BlackMenSmiling, #BlackMenSmilling, and #BlackWomenSmiling.
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The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Carlton Mackey and Devan Dmarcus Dunson for creating and directing Black Men Smile™ and for co-creating #Blackmensmiles. Thanks also to the person/s who created the #Blackmensmiling hashtag,and thank to Dennis Banks (aka @Felonious_munk) for reactivating #Blackmensmiling on February 2, 2018. Thanks also to the person/s who created #Blackmensmilling and the person/s who created #Blackwomensmiling. And thanks to all those who have posted tweets, and embedded photographs, GIFs, and videos on those twitter threads.
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INFORMATION ABOUT #BLACKMENSMILING AND RELATED HASHTAGS
I. #Blackmensmiling
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
The hashtag #Blackmensmiling trended to #1 on Twitter on February 2, 2018 and remained strong (according to Twitter's ratings) for some days after that.
Contrary to the articles that have been published about #Blackmensmiling since it trended to #1 on Twitter on February 2, 2018, that hashtag wasn't created on that date by African American comedian Dennis Banks (aka @Felonious_munk). That said, New York comedian Dennis Banks should rightfully be credited with sparking the viral outpouring of tweets (with photographs, GIFs, and videos) that resulted in #Blackmensmiling hashtag going viral on February 2, 2018 and remaining strong (according to Twitter ratings) for some days afterwards.
Here are six examples of far more pre-February 2, 2018 #Blackmensmiling. The oldest tweet that I've found in this twitter thread is given first.)
From https://twitter.com/hashtag/blackmensmiling?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag
1.
tomauro
@mauxroh
Oct 12, 2013
#BlackMenSmiling @mxh365
-snip-
WARNING: Tomauro's twitter page includes a lot of cursing and sexually explicit references. #Blackmensmiling doesn't contain that type of content.
**
2.
JaiDaCreme
@QueenOnTop1
Oct 2, 2014
#BlackMenSmiling via Instagram #Positivity
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3.
X @XLNB
Dec 31, 2015
Replying to @XLNB
I admire the many black men I see on the TL who smile and are confident in themselves #blackmensmiling
**
4.
thebionicsix
@octobin
Apr 10, 2016
#BlackMenSmiling alls I'm sayin.
-snip-
Embedded photo of Ice Cube and 2 others
**
5.
Shawn Cureton
@mr_nozerodays
Jul 19, 2016
They say us black men need to smile more. #smile #blackmensmiling #travel #vacation #urban… (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BICfFYZDxPs/) instagram.com/p/BICfFYZDxPs/
**
6.
Jonathan H. Gray! 😃
@jongraywb
Sep 20, 2016
[with embedded photo]
#blackmensmiling Because it's needed.
-snip-
Here's a Feb. 2, 2018 tweet from this same commenter:
7.
Jonathan H. Gray! 😃
@jongraywb
[with embedded photo]
Feb 2 [2018]
Replying to @jongraywb
"I was wondering why my original tweet was trending. Didn’t realize the hashtag was active again so, here’s a new #blackmensmiling picture... also, coincidentally, taken in a Costco"
**
Here's the tweet by Dennis Banks (aka Felonious_munk) which sparked #BlackMenSmiling viral trending on February 2, 2018:
Ra'sclat Al Ghul
✔
@Felonious_munk
Today let's share some pics of #BlackMenSmiling. Like big goofy smiles. Happy (even if just for a moment) with life smiles. Normalize happy. #BlackHistoryMonth where your teeth at?
11:09 AM - Feb 2, 2018
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II. Black Men Smile™ [organization and twitter page]
From http://blackmensmile.com/about
"OUR STORY
Black Men Smile™ was created one month after Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, Missouri. After seeing 100s of images of Michael's body lying in the street and after a flurry of other painful and oppressive images of Black men in the weeks to follow, I did an experiment to explore what other images of Black men made up the landscape of social media. I entered the HASHTAG #blackmensmile on Instagram.
It yielded ZERO results.
I posted the first image with this hashtag September 30, 2014. I asked Black men to do the same. Today there are over 8000.
After some consideration of what I wanted to accomplish with this new platform, I set out to explore one seemingly basic question, WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE? After posing that question to a test group of 20 Black men, 17 of them had the same initial response:
"No one has ever asked me that."
-Carlton Mackey
(Creator, Black Men Smile™)
-snip
The other director of Black Men Smile™ is Devan Dmarcus Dunson
**
Examples of #BlackMenSmiles tweets prior to February 2, 2018
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: A number of these early tweets were text only with links to an instagram page. That instagram page might include a photograph or a drawing. The oldest example of these relatively randomly selected tweets is given first.]
From https://twitter.com/blackmensmile?lang=en
1.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Jun 25, 2015
Much love to @wah_gwaan_ for submitting images for our Father's Day Challenge! REPOST: Happy… (link: https://instagram.com/p/4Wh__DRSR_/) instagram.com/p/4Wh__DRSR_/
-snip-
This June 25, 2015 example isn't the earliest tweet on that hashtag, but I chose that tweet to document that #Blackmensmiles had (has?) calls for photographs to be submitted for time limited occasions or events. A term that is used for those types of time limited calls are "challenges".
"Challenges" are considered contests or competitions, with the online viewers deciding among themselves who are the winners. #Blackmensmile's challenges and, particularly, viral trending dance challenges on "Vines" such as "Juju On The Beat" probably help explain why a number of contributors in the #Blackmensmiling and other related hashtags (from Feb. 2, 2018 and after that date) publish a photograph or photographs with the question "Am I too late" or a statement "I know I'm late". The fact that #Blackmensmiles had (has?) photograph challenges might also help to explain why some contributors (Feb. 2, 2018 and after that date) if they qualify when they embed their photograph or photographs.
Those "challenges" probably also help explain why some of those contributors who published their photographs on the #Blacksmensmiling twitter page and related pages (from Feb 2, 2018 and subsequent early February 2018 dates) included/include captions that implied/imply that this was/is a contest/competition for the best smile/the most attractive person.
**
2.
blackmensmile
@blackmensmile
June 25, 2015
Much love to @jamaicapics for submitting images for our Father's Day Challenge! REPOST: Happy Father's Day to all the dads who are doing their part. 🌟 @dmac920@karljamaica@empressgorgeousnelly 🌴One Love 🌴 #blackmensmile #fathersday#jamaicapics #blackdadssmile
nicole.carringtonNice pic
jamaicapicsThank you 👍👋
berryberrynice28☺
**
3.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Jul 18, 2015
Smiling is something you can do when you realize "that we gone be alright!" #blackmensmile #blackmen… (link: https://instagram.com/p/5SUEs1RSQp/) instagram.com/p/5SUEs1RSQp/
**
4.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Dec 13, 2015
#Repost @only_kam7
That face you make when you know you can handle anything that life throws… (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/_PSptDxSet/) instagram.com/p/_PSptDxSet/blackmensmile#Repost @kamwithoutgram
"That face you make when you know you can handle anything that life throws your way. When you look back on all of your "worst days ever " no matter what it was …you made it through.. so in the future you learn to embrace both the good and bad...relish those challenges as they come …it's all apart of the life experience.. it's what you were put on this earth for .. so just breathe easy and smile. 📷 by @dehate #blackmensmile #blackmen #smile #breathe #inmyskiniwin #morethanmore"
-snip-
This instagram includes a photo of young Black man who is smiling. The man has a skin condition that removes the melanin from parts of his skin.
**
5.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Aug 8, 2016
RECLAMATION: Reclaiming our narrative, reclaiming our bodies, reclaiming our spirits, reclaiming… (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BI3h_JND1C9/) instagram.com/p/BI3h_JND1C9/ [tweet no longer available]
**
6.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Aug 10, 2016
Yesterday marked 2 years since Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, MO. Black Men Smile™ was… (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BI7uWWIj-9w/) instagram.com/p/BI7uWWIj-9w/
blackmensmile
"Yesterday marked 2 years since Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, MO. Black Men Smile™ was created one month later. Today we reflect on the value of his life, the tragedy of his death, and the power of the resistance it sparked. Artwork by brother @afranks3 || #michaelbrown #blacklivesmatter #ferguson #wewillwin #saytheirnames"
**
7.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Aug 23, 2015
Pure | All around the world, black men smile. Photo in Tanzania by findingpaola | #blackmensmile… (link: https://instagram.com/p/6ucOesxSVA/) instagram.com/p/6ucOesxSVA/
blackmensmile
"All around the world, black men smile. Photo in Tanzania by @findingpaola | #blackmensmile #blackmen #smile #tanzania #findingpaola
findingpaolaThanks for reposting. They were so kind. But what made my heart smile was how shy they were around me. And when I asked them to smile, they kept laughing before I caught it. So much love."
**
8.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Aug 23, 2016
[Living while Black] This is what it looks like. We must celebrate the way we see ourselves.… (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BJeW-REju_U/) instagram.com/p/BJeW-REju_U/
-snip-
This is the way that this tweet was written.
**
9.
Black Men Smile Retweeted
Black Balance
@blackbalancepod
Nov 29, 2016
@blackmensmile cool platform about representing black men in a positive way and inspiring others. We see you 👀! #blackmensmile #inspiration
**
10.
Shirleen Renea
@srrgrrl
@TheRoot #MahershalaAli smiling, brightens my day #BlackMenSmile
Reminds me of Zora Neale Hurston: "I love myself when I'm laughing..."
4:55 PM - Jul 12, 2017
**
11.
KAREEM•GENDERX•
@_TheRealKareem_
#BlackMenSmile is trending so it's time for me to show out 💁🏾♂️🌈
5:14 PM - Jul 12, 2017
**
12.
Geoffrey Preudhomme
@gpreudhommejr
2010, my freshman year of high school. Breaking stereotypes one photo at a time #BlackMenSmile
5:02 PM - Jul 12, 2017
**
Excerpt from a Roots [online magazine] article about #Blackmensmile hashtag (July 13, 2017)
From https://www.attn.com/stories/18263/viral-hashtag-shows-black-men-their-joy This Viral Hashtag Shows Black Men In Their Joy JULY 13TH 2017
By: Willie Burnley Jr.
"On Wednesday, The Root and its followers blessed us with a thread of black men smiling on Twitter that caused an accompanying hashtag, #blackMenSmiling, to blow up.*
The Root
✔
@TheRoot
Let's get it started, Twitter fam.
Share photos of your favorite Black men smiles using #BlackMenSmile for a chance to be featured!
#blackMenSmile ❤️ pic.twitter.com/k8tclvCFTZ
— sumrthymeshawtee🌻 (@ciairanicole) July 13, 2017
The pictures showed ordinary people as well as celebrities old and new rejoicing in their own personal happiness, in ways that aren’t often associated with black men.
The black Men Smile Facebook page explains the message the behind the photos.
"black Men Smile was created to celebrate the way we see ourselves as black men...not the way other people see us. We are more complex than just athletic, sexy, hyper-masculine, and entertaining. Our strength is real but can manifest in more ways than brute force or something to be feared. It may also manifest in our nurturing and caring. We are husbands, friends, fathers, sons. We are beautiful. We love...ourselves..each other...and you. We smile. Lets [sic] celebrate what makes us do so. Lets [sic] create environments where we can do it more often. Share your stories and photos and those of the men you love. When the stories are being told about us, we will need those we tell about ourselves to be our real truth."
These smiles come despite the fact that America hasn’t been great for black men recently—or ever—with its prevalence of racist hate crimes, the Trump administration’s continuation of federal private prison contracts, and ongoing acquittals of police officers who kill unarmed or otherwise law-abiding African-Americans with seeming impunity.
The reality of today’s discrimination is driven in part by racist myths and narratives about black people, their bodies, and their attitudes. The result is that, in ways large and small, black people's safety has been put at great risk of violence.
[...]
In a series of seven studies conducted the American Psychological Association in which participants were asked to compare a black man and a white man of roughly the same size, people more often found the black man was larger, more threatening, and that use of force in an altercation was more likely justified against the black man than the white one.
Research has shown that black people are more likely to be pulled over for traffic stops by police officers, more likely to be arrested in these stops, and that black people are disproportionately incarcerated in general. An analysis of police shootings by Vox showed that police officers also kill black people at disproportionate rates—rates that cannot be explained by socioeconomic conditions or crime rates.
While these studies show the impact of internalized racism, they also stand along some solid truths as well. One is that whether an individual is smiling, frowning, or even angry ultimately should not compromise their freedom or be the condition by which their right to live is judged. And another is that, as racism is fought in every corner of this country, black people will keep smiling - for themselves, first and foremost.”
-snip-
This Roots article ends with a poll asking Do you think associations of Black masculinity can change?" [You need to add email to see poll results. I chose not to add my email.]
--snip-
I'm not sure if the hashtag was #BlackMenSmiling or #Blackmensmiles.
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ADDENDUM- EXAMPLES OF POST-FEBRUARY 2, 2018 TWEETS FROM #BLACKMENSMILES
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: February 2, 2018 was the date when #BlackMenSmiling went viral and trended #1 on Twitter]
1.
Black Men Smile Retweeted
BET
@BET
Feb 2 [2018]
#BlackMenSmiling is taking the net by storm, and we couldn't be happier about it. #MancaveBET
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2.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Feb 3 [2018]
For nearly 4 years now we've been consistently advancing a conversation that has at the heart of… (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeuTIOrFAH_/) instagram.com/p/BeuTIOrFAH_/
"blackmensmile
For nearly 4 years now we've been consistently advancing a conversation that has at the heart of our movement and central to our very lives. Today @okayafrica and the whole entire Black Innanet Federation covered the virality of #blackmensmiling // It is so great to see the ways we are embracing our narrative and celebrating "us". It is also so rewarding to know that after #blackhistorymonth is over and after these tags stop trending that we will still be here doing the work...and that you will still be loving yourselves enough to fight for your spirit and your mind. Black is forever and our liberation starts now. Thank yall. Keep helping us spread JOY. #blackmensmile #blackmen #smile #blackjoy”...
**
3.
Black Men Smile
@blackmensmile
Feb 3 [2018]
Yesterday was bananas. The internet went ham in the best way possible when #blackmensmiling… (link: https://www.instagram.com/p/BewY-fUlNSp/) instagram.com/p/BewY-fUlNSp/
**
4.
Black Men Smile Retweeted
nina mosley.
@BeautyIs__Her
Feb 3 [2018]
let’s connect the trend to the movement that is a lifestyle! @blackmensmile has been capturing and highlighting #BlackMenSmiling and the reason they smile since 2014 !
sneak peek from today’s shoot, love vibing with these two black men ✨🙏🏾
#BlackMenSmile #BlackMenSmiling
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