There are all kinds of clickbait and schemes to get more followers on social media. Some are funny, entertaining and even worthy of our time. Too many, however, are based on falsehoods and misrepresentations. Some try to capitalize on fear and emotion.
Here's an example of falsehoods, misrepresentation and playing on fear and emotion. Toss the race card into the mix and you've got this tweet from "Majesty Ria" today.
Boycotts are nothing new, of course, and there have been a number of attempts by some black people to boycott non-black businesses. So when I saw this tweet by Majesty Ria ("MR" henceforth), I was immediately doubtful of its honesty. It turns out there is a lot of evidence that MR did not "start" either the hashtag "BoycottAmerikkka."
MR certainly did not create any black effort to boycott businesses owned by non-white people.
An advanced search of Twitter for the phrase "boycott amerikkka" shows that the phrase has appeared numerous times over the years.
An advanced Twitter search for the hashtag #BoycottAmerikkka reveals it's been used multiple times since at least July 2013.
MR joined Twitter in January 2008. But my Twitter search of MR's tweets showed that MR has never tweeted the hashtag "BoycottAmerikkka" before today (June 2, 2020, as of 7:30 PM ET). A search for "boycott amerikkka" brings up only one instance of MR tweeting it. Looking for MR's use of #boycottAmerikkka also shows that today is the only day MR has ever used that hashtag.
Yet "Majesty Ria" claims "I started" #BoycottAmerikkka. As shown, this is clearly false. And, again, it's also clearly untrue that MR originated the idea to boycott non-black businesses. Here are just a few examples of previous uses:
Could a boycott by black Americans end police brutality and injustice in the US? The Guardian, Sept. 30, 2016
Here's an example of falsehoods, misrepresentation and playing on fear and emotion. Toss the race card into the mix and you've got this tweet from "Majesty Ria" today.
| Majesty Ria @ToriNicksWho falsely claims they started #BoycottAmerikkka |
Boycotts are nothing new, of course, and there have been a number of attempts by some black people to boycott non-black businesses. So when I saw this tweet by Majesty Ria ("MR" henceforth), I was immediately doubtful of its honesty. It turns out there is a lot of evidence that MR did not "start" either the hashtag "BoycottAmerikkka."
| Twitter profile of Majesty Ria @ToriNicksWho |
MR certainly did not create any black effort to boycott businesses owned by non-white people.
An advanced search of Twitter for the phrase "boycott amerikkka" shows that the phrase has appeared numerous times over the years.
An advanced Twitter search for the hashtag #BoycottAmerikkka reveals it's been used multiple times since at least July 2013.
MR joined Twitter in January 2008. But my Twitter search of MR's tweets showed that MR has never tweeted the hashtag "BoycottAmerikkka" before today (June 2, 2020, as of 7:30 PM ET). A search for "boycott amerikkka" brings up only one instance of MR tweeting it. Looking for MR's use of #boycottAmerikkka also shows that today is the only day MR has ever used that hashtag.
Yet "Majesty Ria" claims "I started" #BoycottAmerikkka. As shown, this is clearly false. And, again, it's also clearly untrue that MR originated the idea to boycott non-black businesses. Here are just a few examples of previous uses:
Could a boycott by black Americans end police brutality and injustice in the US? The Guardian, Sept. 30, 2016
A tweet from 2018:
A tweet from 2013:#boycottamerikkka #boycott https://t.co/uOuTsrdvR0— Nicholas Heyward (@hspirit13) October 30, 2018
A tweet from 2020:Soooo....how it's gon be #NationalHotDog Day and #BoycottAmerikkka Day ?? I can only take part in 1 Im not that talented— Goddess2U&YoDaddyNem (@Ovo_Goddess1026) July 23, 2013
The hashtag #BoycottAmerikkka has been tweeted more since the George Floyd Riots have been destroying black and white businesses alike. Was Majesty Ria unaware of this? Highly unlikely. Did Majesty Ria decide to co-opt the hashtag and lie about "starting" it? Probably.To my people everytime someone black is unfairly taken advantage of these businesses we support stay quiet #BlackLivesMatters #boycottamerikkka— ♔ Chris West (@ChrisWest501) May 29, 2020
