FOLLOW on SOCIAL MEDIA

This Person Claims They Started #BoycottAmerikkka But It's Doubtful

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.

Majesty Ria @ToriNicksWho claims they started #BoycottAmerikkka
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
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
Coard: Blacks must and can legally boycott racist stores: The Philadelphia Tribune, March 16, 2020
Rantz: Black Lives Matter Seattle to boycott ‘white businesses’ but will they protest?: 770 KTTH, Nov. 16, 2018

A tweet from 2018:
A tweet from 2013:
A tweet from 2020:
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.

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