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Hey Charlamagne tha God! 20 Unsung Digital Platforms By and For People of Color For You to Support Too [LIST]

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Tuesday night Twitter rained a hail storm of backlash on fire-starter media personality Charlamagne the God for his twitter rant chastising women of color for being critical of his seemingly new affinity for controversial, conservative TV host Tomi Lahren.

Here’s why Black Twitter is up in arms for those who don’t get it. People of color establish platforms and spaces for themselves everyday and they’re exploited, appropriated and shut out far more often than they are publicized, praised and promoted.

It’s frustrating to people of color– no, WOMEN of color to constantly feel overlooked. Black men seem to find every way to belittle us, praise others and all but erase our existence. It’s as if our contributions not only to our community, but culture as a whole, is never enough under the gaze of black males who more readily identify with their male privilage than their own blackness.

When we hear what we “ought” to do, especially in comparison to the privlaged majorty of dominiant society, it completely negates the systematic obsticles placed in our path to be seen, heard and excell. Yet somehow, we still do! Overwhelmingly, black women are the most degreed group of American citizens. We’re starting businesses at an unprecendented rate. Yet, according to Charlamagne and his misguided followers, we’re still not doing enough to help ourselves.

Even in the space of media, we’re demonized and grouped into one of a few categories: catty, gossiping drama queens or hyper-sexualized objects of lust but undeserving of unconditional love. From the music videos we’re featured in to the reality TV shows we star in to the on-air personalities across the airwaves, this is all that we’re preceived to be. And it is so far from the truth. Black women are a mosaic of dignity, strength, resiliance, persistance, class and creativity and it’s imperative we acknowledge and exalut that diversity now more than ever.

So Charlamagne and anyone else who agrees with him that “woke” people of color should create their own platforms to be as big as a Tomi Lahren, I’ve got news for you. We have!

Here’s a list of socially concious online platforms created for and by people of color. Let’s see how many of them will be picked up, funded and supported by mainstream media outlets like Glenn Beck’s The Blaze. By the way, Charlamagne, you now have the power and influence to help the next you. Will you reach back to help create more visibility for the platforms listed below or continue to perpetuate self-hate, denial and rejection for your female coutnerparts?

  1. The Read
  2. The Friend Zone
  3. MTV Decoded
  4. For Hariet
  5. xo Necole
  6. NewsOne
  7. HelloBeautiful
  8. Things I Learned This Week
  9. Blavity
  10. Madame Noir
  11. Clutch
  12. Ebony
  13. Essence
  14. Very Smart Brothas
  15. The Root
  16. The Grio
  17. Combat Jack
  18. Tariq Nasheed Tariq Radio
  19. Friends Like Us Podcast
  20. Desus vs. Mero
  21. I Don’t Do Clubs

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