Image via Lovebox PR
Social media can be ugly at the best of times. But for the last few days, in the wake of the Charlottesville, Virginia white supremacist rally, counter-protest, and terror attack that killed 32-year-old anti-fascist protestor Heather Heyer (not to mention the US President's failure to properly condemn white nationalists), to call it a hellscape would kind of be an understatement.This said, though #online is tough for everyone at the minute, it's certainly the case that black people and other people of colour are disproportionately negatively affected by the constant scroll of seemingly unending bad news about race that's ticking down the timeline right now. So it makes sense that someone as politically vocal as Solange might need some down time. On Tuesday night, the musician tweeted that she'd soon be deleting her Twitter account – though she did take a moment to namecheck the heroic Takiyah Thompson, who was involved in the toppling of a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina, and has since been arrested and placed in police custody:
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After deleting the account, Solange posted an Instagram story detailing her motives, noting the need for "self-preservation," and the fact that she wouldn't be letting "racist ugly ass fuck bois" sap her energy. She added, in no uncertain terms: "fuck white supermacist[s]," "fuck nazis," "fuck your stale ass bland ass monuments." Hear hear, honestly.
It's easy to get so caught up in the fast-moving news cycle at the moment that you don't take a break for your mental health. But remember to log off if it all feels like it's too much, and staring down at a little screen may be helping to inform you but is doing so by sapping you of energy. Pause. Go outside – being barefoot on soil or grass helps, if the weather's good enough where you are. Read something printed on actual paper. Then when you're feeling ready for the hellscape, fire up the relevant app if you so choose.Follow Noisey on Twitter.