This past Friday, a trend took over the Internet in a matter of a few hours known as #Blackout. On Friday, social media was filled with selfies and photo-sets of black men, women, and children. This day was brought up to give black people a chance to embrace one another’s beauty by posting pictures of themselves. Not only was this a beautiful thing to see, but it gave many insecure black people an extreme confidence boost.

It all started on Tumblr when Tumblr user expect-the-greatest, decided to make an official day to appreciate black beauty. He felt as though black people were not shown off enough on social media, according to his posts on Tumblr. After his post, many people felt exactly the same and #Blackout blew up, instantly going from Tumblr to Twitter and to Instagram as well.

Sadly, some people were angered by this, saying statements like “They have they’re own month, why do they need a day like this?” One thing these people don’t realize is that social media is prominently white, and black people just wanted a day to show the world that they are just as beautiful. In my opinion, black people simply aren’t respected as much as white people, and this day is so important because it shows black people that they do not have to feel inferior because they are black. It encourages them to embrace their looks, and that is exactly what they did.

The timing was perfect for this, because it was just in time for the 50th anniversary of Selma. The Selma era was a time for blacks to unite and #Blackout was basically another time for this to happen. The tag #Blackout has inspired so many and I strongly believe it was well needed.