Black Men Smile prioritizes Black joy in bleak times

Ten years ago, Carlton Mackey, like much of the country’s Black population, was overwhelmed with media images of death, anger and unrest in the wake of Michael Brown’s killing.

Ten years ago, Carlton Mackey, like much of the country’s Black population, was overwhelmed with media images of death, anger and unrest in the wake of Michael Brown’s killing. Ferguson, Missouri, and cities across the country erupted in protest, and social media users mourned Brown, who was killed by a police officer.

Mackey waded through the social media hashtags circulating at the time: #BlackLivesMatter, #MikeBrown, #HandsUpDontShoot, all delivering hundreds of results with images exuding sadness, pain and frustration.

Then, he typed in the hashtag #BlackMenSmile.

“It yielded zero results. I was angry and confused,” Mackey said. He decided to take action. He thought, “This is an opportunity to claim a space and make it a place where you can go and see and know there is another modality of existence. One of joy and reflections of our life.”

“The hashtag #BlackMenSmile was an opportunity to take up a space that had not been claimed,” he said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-men-smile-prioritizes-black-joy-bleak-rcna187632

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