What Is “Blackout Tuesday” And How You Can Participate

Today you may notice a lot more silence or just a black screen when you go to some social media pages today, it may seem confusing but here's what it's all about.

Now look, I am not going to "preach" at anyone here, all I will say is that we all know what is going on in our country right now and we should all understand that by saying "Black Lives Matter" it is not taking away from ANYONE ELSE.

By saying "Black Lives Matter" you are saying they matter TOO. When you respond with "well all lives matter" it's not that you are wrong to say that but it just looks like you are being defensive. In reality all lives do not matter until black ones matter just as much as everyone else's.

So, today, you may see a lot of people participating in #BlackoutTuesday.

What it means is people are posting just a black screen to disrupt your feed so when you get to a post it is one that is amplifying black voices. When everyone's screen is black and the only posts you are actually seeing are ones with important messages and important things the black community would like to be heard, there is something powerful in that.

It is a time for white people to take a step back from the screen (or even the spotlight, depending on followers and all that jazz) and let black people get their messages across, uninterrupted. During this period you can do the same by muting your own opinions for a while and just listen.

Also, this will really show you which friends of yours don't know how to "read the room" and are still just continuing on posting their bikini pictures. I just sit there and think "Okay Brittany, nobody cares about your boobs right now."

I am participating and will be using this time to reach out to my black friends and ask them how we can help and how we can be better. I will also be following more black voices and more black stories and hopefully if enough of us do this, this world will be a lot kinder and more tolerating.

If you do nothing else today, try to just mute yourself and listen. It's something this wounded community has wanted us to do for centuries...the least we can do is listen.