{"id":6915,"date":"2025-03-04T05:21:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T05:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6915"},"modified":"2025-03-04T05:21:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T05:21:28","slug":"black-men-smile-prioritizes-black-joy-in-bleak-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africanamericanvoice.net\/?p=6915","title":{"rendered":"Black Men Smile prioritizes Black joy in bleak times"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Black PR Wire) Ten years ago, Carlton Mackey, like much of the country\u2019s Black population, was overwhelmed with media images of death, anger and unrest in the wake of\u00a0Michael Brown\u2019s killing<\/a>. Ferguson, Missouri, and cities across the country erupted in protest, and social media users mourned Brown, who was killed by a police officer.<\/p>\n

Mackey waded through the social media hashtags circulating at the time: #BlackLivesMatter, #MikeBrown, #HandsUpDontShoot, all delivering hundreds of results with images exuding sadness, pain and frustration.<\/p>\n

Then, he typed in the hashtag #BlackMenSmile.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt yielded zero results. I was angry and confused,\u201d Mackey said. He decided to take action. He thought, \u201cThis is an opportunity to claim a space and make it a place where you can go and see and know there is another modality of existence. One of joy and reflections of our life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hashtag #BlackMenSmile was an opportunity to take up a space that had not been claimed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mackey made it his mission to\u00a0promote images of men smiling<\/a>\u00a0and expressing joy amid the political turmoil. It quickly grew into a mini movement. Men across the country populated the hashtag with smiling images alongside vulnerable captions about personal growth and optimism. One man\u00a0wrote<\/a>\u00a0that he smiles because he has \u201chope that my situation will change.\u201d Another\u00a0wrote<\/a>, \u201cThinking about how far I\u2019ve come from one form of life to another, but knowing that I\u2019m still the same kid that made his first playstation out of cardboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, the small team of two \u2014 Mackey and the company\u2019s director of narrative media, Jeremiah Griffin \u2014 has grown the empowerment company from the ground up. Today, the\u00a0brand\u2019s Instagram account<\/a>\u00a0has more than 100,000 followers and has expanded into apparel, with a line of sweatshirts and other items brandishing messages like \u201cBlack Joy is Revolutionary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the Black Men Smile umbrella is a pair of YouTube series, \u201cJe\u2019s Journal,\u201d which features discussions about fatherhood, relationships and faith, and \u201cGreenhouse Conversations<\/a>,\u201d a nature-themed exploration of Black mental health and spirituality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mackey\u2019s original mission was simple: \u201cIt was about celebrating the way we saw ourselves. It was about placing value and emphasis and priority on what we have to say about ourselves and not the stories that are being told about us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Their company\u2019s largest collaboration came in 2024 when\u00a0Target locations across the country<\/a>\u00a0briefly sold Black Men Smile apparel as part of Target\u2019s Black History Month collection. Nearly a year later, the collaboration is bittersweet, Mackey said, given the company\u2019s recent announcement that it will\u00a0roll back its diversity, equity and inclusion programs<\/a>, following suit with other large retailers including\u00a0Walmart<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lowe\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mackey said that although the collaboration was a major accomplishment, he likely would not work with Target again as a result of its decision. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t choose to essentially condone that behavior by putting my brand in the store at this critical time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m basing my decision on a principled argument of being in solidarity with the larger body, the larger movement, of Black people who are making conscious decisions\u201d about where to spend their money, he added.<\/p>\n

Mackey and Griffin held an Instagram Live session last month where nearly two dozen social media followers were able to voice their opinions and frustrations over the DEI rollbacks. These community discussions will likely continue as the pair works to expand their \u201cBlack joy\u201d movement under the new Trump administration.<\/p>\n

In his first weeks in office, Trump\u00a0signed an executive order<\/a>\u00a0to end all DEI initiatives in the federal government;\u00a0moved to ban observances<\/a>\u00a0of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth;\u00a0targeted gender-affirming care<\/a>, launched mass deportation efforts and more. Trump\u2019s early orders have sent shockwaves through progressive circles and grassroots organizations whose leaders say their work will be even more difficult under the new administration.<\/p>\n

This, Mackey and Griffin said, makes their work more important than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doubt, the fear, the uncertainty in our community just rises at times like this,\u201d Griffin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that being known, that\u2019s the work we do. In those times is when we come together, we rally, we use the platform we\u2019ve created to encourage, to uplift, to reflect the joy that is inside and that we have access to, to re-empower our community, re-empower ourselves. The work remains the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: NBC News<\/p>\n

Source: Published without changes from BlackPRNewsWire<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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