Black Lives Matter announced the launch of MarkYourselfUnsafe.com, a website which lets Black people mark themselves unsafe for being Black in America on social media and allows non-Black people to show their support.
The site was announced as a part of a week of action from MLK Day to Inauguration Day, so the movement could use social media to continue the conversation about how precarious living in the United States is for Black people, the release explained.
“We wanted to create an impactful campaign that would allow people to understand better how it feels to be Black in America. By sharing an ‘unsafe status’ or support message, people have the possibility to reopen the conversation and hopefully make others feel and behave differently,” Brent Choi, Chief Creative Officer, J. Walter Thompson New York told DIVERGE.
The organization was the entered a strategic and creative partnership with J. Walter Thompson New York, when they announced the beta launch of Backing Black Business, a web tool that lets users discover black-owned small businesses throughout the country.
The website offers a twist on Facebook’s “Safety Check” that allows users near a major crisis to let their friends know that they’re safe and takes a step to raise awareness of the impact of race and racism on our society.
“From slavery to Jim Crow to prejudicial and deadly policing, America has never been a safe place for Black people. We need to take action to continue to raise awareness about how racism impacts our families and communities. Mark yourself unsafe and show your support,” said Patrisse Cullors, Co-founder, Black Lives Matter, in a statement.
“We know that social media is only one way to take action on behalf of the Movement for Black Lives. After marking yourself unsafe, we ask that people take additional action by joining local organizers in demanding justice in the streets,” she added.
Throughout the week, Black Lives Matter will take action by organizing Black communities, telling Black stories, and using Mark Yourself Unsafe to recall the important conversations about racism in America.
