Black and White Twitter go to war over a rental Citi bike
The danger of racializing negative interactions
Very few battles are as bloody and devastating with innumerable casualties as social media race wars. Recently, I’ve suffered losses, or at least my Twitter account has. Trying to take a nuanced position on any issue on Twitter is like navigating a minefield, as any movement to the right or the left can result in a deadly explosion. My Twitter following has taken a hit and continues to bleed every time I comment on the ongoing virtual race war.
A very wise man once said, “Social media is the worst thing ever invented” Scrap that, it was Barrington the un-cucked who said that not some wise old sage of bygone years. Even though I disagree with the statement that social media is the worst thing ever invented, I understand the sentiment. Social media sure seems poisonous to human society and in no way has this manifested itself recently than in the virtual civil war going on on Twitter between white and black people over a rental Citi bike.
A few days ago, black Twitter posted a video showing a black teen with his friends arguing with a white woman over who rented a particular Citi bike. After a while, the woman burst into what seemed to be fake tears as a white man entered the scene, she stopped crying when it was apparent she wouldn’t get her away. And that folks was how a virtual racial civil war started on Twitter.
Black Twitter accused the woman of being a white supremacist who tried to steal a bike from a black boy while trying to manipulate people into thinking she was being harmed by young black men. They compared it to the central park five incident where five innocent black males were accused of raping a white woman. As a result of this narrative, the white woman was hounded and harassed online, so much so that her employer put her on leave with the possibility that she might be fired.
Interestingly at the early stage, White Twitter was silent. But all that changed a few days later when the lawyer representing the white woman came out to announce that the woman had a receipt for the bike, that she had actually booked the bike and was right to claim it. After this information came to light, the ire of white Twitter was unleashed.
Armed with this new information, white Twitter went on the offensive, now the predator became the prey. White Twitter framed the black boys as thugs who assaulted an innocent pregnant woman for no reason. They were painted as criminals and thugs who behaved despicably towards an innocent woman.
Interesting responses, but unsurprising for Americans. I mean everything in America has to be racialized, it seems almost impossible for Americans to exist outside a racial framework. Black Twitter started out stereotyping the white woman as a racist white supremacist who wanted the boys to get into trouble. White Twitter stereotyped the Black boys as criminals and thugs. Both sides lay claim to being right. Well, they are all wrong and I’ll explain.
First off, I don’t know how many times I’ll say this, but not every negative interaction between people of different races is driven by racism or racial animus, this seems self-evident, that’s why it surprises me that Americans almost always default to racism. It’s weird, frankly.
When people interact with one another, tensions arise, it’s a natural part of human social interaction, it’s not always the case that one is looking to be racist, or looking to be a thug or criminal, it could be one is simply being an asshole. So, here’s my take. I don’t think the woman is a white supremacist. Yes, her fake crying could be interpreted as manipulative, but that has more to do with her being a woman—yes, I’m stereotyping women some will say—than being white.
She wanted sympathy and help, and she thought her tears could help her out, and they could. I mean it’s easier for women to have their way when they break down crying. People are naturally sympathetic to a crying woman, adding to the fact that she genuinely believed she had a right to the bike.
For the young black men, there was nothing in their behaviour that could be interpreted as thuggish in any sense, not in the least, they believed they had rented that particular bike the woman was laying claim to, and as a result, a dispute unfolded. What were they supposed to do? just give up and walk away because some white woman lay claim to a bike they thought they had rented? As humans they hash it out and those disagreements are not always pretty.
From the interaction, you could hear the young man saying, "This is not your bike," stating that he just rented that Citi Bike as his friends stand beside him.
"This is my bike on my account, please move," he tells the woman, to which she says, "Get off me."
While the video doesn’t show the young man touching her, it does show her grabbing the young man’s phone. He immediately reaches for it and demands she returns it — which is when she tells him he’s hurting her fetus.
“My unborn child," she yells.
“I’m not touching you," the unidentified man replied.
They never got physical with her, they didn’t push or shove her. In fact, she was the one who took the young man’s phone. People ignored all that and came out from watching that video with the interpretation that the boys were thugs ganging up on a helpless woman.
This is consistent with the need to stereotype black men as thugs such that quarrelling with a white woman is enough to have that label applied, as much as it is consistent with the need to stereotype white people as racist such that any negative interaction with a black person is interpreted as being racist. This is all so exhausting and boring, but it seems there is no end to this truly American tragedy.
My good friend Stanley once said, “Racism is as American as apple pie, and everybody, white and black are involved in the business of racism.” Finally, I wish the racial combatants on Twitter would simply get a life and stop being triggered by any negative interaction by people with different levels of melanin content.
Charles Ekokotu (Pharm. D.) is a bibliophile, prose fiction writer, poet, and playwright. His first self-published novel, Hotel Shendam—a crime fiction novel featuring a debate on race and colonialism—is available on Amazon. A very fun read! Grab a copy now!
Follow Charles Ekokotu on
Pregnant white girl snatches bike from 4 black guys in public.
That would have been an historical event. Something that time would have been measured from.
Where were you when Pearl Harbor happened? Where were you when 9-11 happened?
“Not every negative interaction between people of different races is driven by racism or racial animus” - this is something that the social media hive mind routinely fails to consider. This isn’t an argument to say racial motives do not exist, but we often get 1 minute videos which completely do not provide complex nuance of the incident. The default to suspicion of racism has done too much harm.