Performative Posting
A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I wanted to do a “What Juneteenth Means To Me” post. I responded that I “wouldn’t feel very comfortable doing this task, however, I could do so (if the one other black person) preferred not to.”
What I meant to say was “hell no”.
For starters, the only thing I knew about Juneteenth last year was that it was a holiday for black people. I had no clue what the history was until this year, and if you asked me right now, my explanation of it is still subpar. Call me an ignorant black woman all you want to, but predominantly white Christian schools don’t teach you black history, don’t stress the importance of it, and wouldn’t dare give you resources about it. (Plus with the amount of internalized racism that I developed during that period of my life, I highly doubt I would’ve been receptive to learning it. Different blog topic for a different day though.) They wouldn’t even have a Black History Month chapel when students ask because it was “too controversial”. Anyways, I tell that to say I’m still learning, and if you have some books, send them my way. I’m about to begin “The Ways of White Folks” by Langston Hughes, but it’s short so I’ll need those recommendations as soon as possible.
Secondly, I didn’t research it last year because HONESTLY it just felt like the government was giving us black folk a shitty bone, saying “Here! You happy now??!!! Will another workday off make you shut up about your people being brutally murdered by the systems we put in place in the 1800s???” You’re telling me it was a RANDOM idea to finally establish Juneteenth as a national holiday after 2020, the year of hundreds of police brutality cases, protests, rallies, & riots (started under the guise of Black Lives Matter)? It’s simply not a coincidence.
You see, the underlying issue with me doing that post, was that it would be ingenuine.
It would’ve been performative.
I’ve got to be intentional with the way I market myself, and that post would’ve been the gateway for me and those who look like me to be tokenized. I cannot in good conscious give a statement about what something means to me for an organization to maintain its “woke card”, especially when whatever it is, doesn’t actually mean that much to me.
You know what I think would make a more interesting post? A white person’s explanation of what Juneteenth means to them! Now that would be something I would be so intrigued to read.
I’ve been seeing this trend of people getting upset with influencers/content creators for them not speaking out about the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade. I honestly go back and forth with my opinion on this next statement, but as of late, I think I would rather have someone be silent about their opinions, rather than expressing their “views” out of peer pressure. Why?
It’s performative.
Silence may be complicity, but I think loud deception for a cause is just as bad.
It appears that it’s now universally preferred for companies, celebrities, or just anyone with influence or power to speak out about issues, whether or not the true intent behind them is pure.
Personally, I think intentionality, being purposeful with my actions along with how I present myself, is extremely important. I don’t want to post something if the only reason I’m posting is that I feel an obligation to prove to others that I care. I’m not even an influencer, but I’ve literally had to stop so many times to ask myself: “Am I posting this to inform, or am I posting because I want solace in the fact that people don’t think I’m on a specific side, that I’m heartless, and/or ignorant?”
It’s like you have to work overtime because you would hope that the people with which you have an affinity recognize your character, beliefs, and whatnot in person, and simultaneously, you’re having to feed into the demands of social media by sharing things to legitimize your real-life persona.
Does that make sense? I hope it did. It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these.
Anyways, I no longer go the extra mile if I’m saying “yes” to the latter question above. To me, if you find yourself taking part in any action because you’re attempting to prove yourself to another human being,
it’s performative
and, furthermore, exhausting. Because are you really being your “authentic self”, if you’re living solely for the appeasement of others?
This is not me saying that every upload, share, repost, or whatever you want to call it, is performative. That would be untrue and counterproductive. Social media can be an amazing place to learn, inform, or have discussions about prevalent issues. What I am saying though is that we need to be actively avoiding performative posting because it doesn’t allow for the growth of self, rather it promotes the continuation of practices that are potentially damaging to the individual or the people they are trying to advocate for. There’s a post called “From Informative to Performative: When Social Media Becomes Problematic” by Zuva Steven which gives some questions to consider before & after posting:
“How else are you supplementing your activism?”
“Be honest on whether you have actively tried to share power with marginalized folk.”
“Advocate for the people you seek to help.”
“After sharing something online, ask yourself what’s next.”
All I’m trying to say is let’s stay intentional in the way we market ourselves. It’s important.
Thank you so much for reading!!! I know I say this every time, but it means a ton. I love hearing y’all’s feedback, so let me know what you think! By the way, I’ve literally been writing the entire two-month-long break, but for whatever reason, I just haven’t been able to finish anything. That is until now obviously. Hopefully, you’ll hear from me again this summer sooner rather than later.
P.S. I don’t know how to add a hyperlink to blog post text yet, so the link to that article is here: https://www.verywellmind.com/when-social-media-becomes-problematic-5215859
