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#BlackOutDay: A selfie with a cause

 

Every February, America comes together to celebrate Black History Month and the amazing contributions of African-Americans to art, literature, history and more. But for Tumblr user Y.R.N., that one month just didn't seem like enough.

So he created #BlackOutDay, a movement to encourage black Americans to share more selfies, vids and gifs on social media with the designated hashtag. The goal of this movement, he says, is to bring more African-American faces to the Internet to show how beautiful and important they are: “One month isn’t long enough to celebrate our heritage. No matter what your skin tone is, you’re beautiful.” He continued, "All black people are beautiful and worthy of praise and admiration, and Blackout day is a step towards that."

Tumblr user Nukia and co-creator of BlackOutDay also weighed in, adding, "Originally I thought the idea was, like, just a fun thing, but as I got into it, I sort of realised it also backs up the ideals I talk about: seeing more diversity in our media. Because even though our culture is curated, they are not our narratives. And this is our chance to use this media to take back the narrative and to diversify it.” 

The post is really trending–on Twitter alone, over 50 tweets are being added every minute with the BlackOutDay hashtag, and the campaign is only going to continue to grow. BlackOutDay pics have completely taken over the social media sphere, and black people of all sexualities, sizes, religions and ages have shared their selfies to celebrate their own and each other's beauty. People were also quick to shut down criticism and took to Twitter to explain exactly why BlackOutDay is important. 

 

 

Check out some of the most popular selfies below for just a taste of how awesome this trend is. We hope today's movement encourages everyone to take a minute and appreciate just how gorgeous they are! 

What do you girls think about this idea? Are there other issues that make you want to start a movement?

Photos courtesy of: twitter.com/desourire_, twitter.com/beyond_fame, twitter.com/rosewiththorns3

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by Alexa Matthews | 2/1/2016
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