Rebecca Black has yet again proved why we fucking adore her after she taught Janoskians star Jai Brooks a thing or two about the Black Lives Matter movement.
In case you missed it, Brooks fired off a series of All Lives Matter tweets yesterday, prompting Twitter to call him the fuck out for his ignorance.
But the most iconic, and perhaps the most useful response came from none other than the Friday queen herself, Rebecca Black, who sent him a helpful video response.
“I’m sure that your intentions are good, so hopefully this can give you a bit better of an understanding,” she prefaced the video.
will @JaiBrooks1 take this as a moment to further his understanding of ability to empathize with a vulnerable, actively oppressed community or will this cis white man’s fragile pride get the best of him? stay tuned to find out! https://t.co/Jy9y20kcju
— Rebecca Black (@MsRebeccaBlack) June 25, 2020
But it’s not just Jai Brooks who can learn a thing or two from this video, it’s anyone who doesn’t quite *get* why All Lives Matter just ain’t it.
Without being aggressive or rude, but also while remaining firm and educational, Black clearly explained why All Lives Matter is so problematic.
“The entire idea of All Lives Matter was created solely to try to disband the Black Lives Matter movement. And by saying All Lives Matter, you’re essentially saying to a group of oppressed people ‘mmm… you’re hungry? Well, we’re all hungry, so we’re going to eat your food.’ Or ‘it’s your birthday? Well, we all have birthdays, so shut the fuck up.’ and what this does to a group of oppressed people is only perpetuate the disparities that they’ve faced for centuries,” she explains.
The important thing to note here is that Rebecca Black isn’t just cancelling Brooks immediately. She acknowledges that he likely has good intentions and maybe just missed the mark a little here.
The video was made in response to Jai after he gave her initial tweet a frankly rude reply. Our queen, the inventor of Fridays herself, offered a helpful resource that explains why “not seeing colour” is so problematic to begin with.
Unfortunately, Jai got defensive immediately, which prompted the more-personal approach.
Rebecca honestly please don’t tell me my thoughts are careless and tell me what responsibilities I have on this platform. My thoughts are definitely thought through with honest and genuine intentions and I won’t back down on what I’m saying
— Jai Brooks (@JaiBrooks1) June 25, 2020
It’s unclear if Black and Brooks actually know each other personally, but considering they were both trying to make it in LA around the same time, you’d assume they’ve at least got a few mutual connections.
Nevertheless, Rebecca Black really tried to help educate him without guilting him for being uneducated, which seems to be a great way to discuss the BLM movement with those people you know who just don’t *quite* get it.
“I just really encourage that you listen to as many Black perspectives as you can, read that article that I sent you, it’s very helpful for a non-Black person to read. And… You can’t speak for them. You can’t speak for them because you don’t have their same experience,” she said.
“Please try harder, do better, I know that you can.”
