Do You Have My Back?

I have viewed a lot of TikToks that have covered current events, entertainment, travel, politics, how-to, funny animal videos and many that are truly self-expressions of the creators. Those short videos, if used well can reveal so much and teach so much. My favorite TikToks are those that have been teachable moments. Maybe it is because I like learning. I like my widening my lens. I like becoming wiser. I think the TikTok app when used in the smartest way for the highest good can have powerful, far reaching results.

As I watch my country go through difficult times and be divided on many topics, I welcome social media that unites us instead of divides us. I enjoy seeing a TikTok that so beautifully displays some wisdom as to what will bring peaceful resolution, or one that would create self-awareness as to how powerful displays of courage and unity promote cultural shifts; hence healing. Healing in this country presently means addressing and finding solutions to the issues of racial inequities, sexism, and financial disparities to name a few. Black Lives Matter is one of the movements that needs our attention to heal. So how does a TikTok help to bring change in the Black Lives Matter movement? By showing moving examples of what role to play by visibly seeing right actions displayed. I think that is the best one can hope for if a TikTok is intended to create and promote change. To have it mean more than just archiving a newsworthy event is a lovely intention, especially if well executed. How amazing when a TikTok can artfully promote the notion, of “being the change we wish to see in the world,” as Gandhi would say. Take a look at this powerful example that I think Gandhi would be proud of – a TikTok by Ebony Janice.

When I saw this particular TikTok on Facebook, the shadowing of the white people next to the black man in the middle was stunning. I had never seen anything like that occur in such a visually honest way. It was very powerful to me. But, instead of me telling you all the places I went inside my head as it unfolded or making a case for what I think about it – I would rather ask you the viewer to observe and to answer the following questions for yourself.

As you view this, what are you feeling?

If you are a white person, could you put yourself in between the black man and the police?

If you are a person of color, how are you seeing this? Have you ever felt the support of a white person before in this way?

How do you view the police in this video?

Do you see the scene the way the narrator is describing it? For example, what about the actions of all concerned, - the black man, the white people shadowing the black man, and the police? If not, how would you describe it?

If you couldn’t at first see the way the narrator described it, can you see how someone else could perceive those actions by all concerned? Are you willing to try and see how the narrator sees this event unfolding? Are you willing to see this scene unfold from the point of view of all involved?

If you share this TikTok, who do you want to share this with and why? Will it be a video they relate with or will you be sharing this in order to try and educate them?

If you are willing, watch this a couple of times…name all the feelings that come up now. Not just the initial ones from your first viewing. Name those feelings. Are you feeling fear? Anger? Rage? Courage? Compassion? Love?

Can you take all those feelings that may have surfaced while watching this TikTok and use them to fuel a better vision for where we need to go as a country?

If so, what does that vision look like? Please share that vision with your community. Please “Be the Change.”

Before the formal tiktok app was created by ByteDance, in China, I can remember saying the words “tick tock” to describe or foreshadow the ending of a story whose ending had not occurred yet, but, knowing something formidable would be happening in the near future. That is my sense about what is happening in our country right now. It is all about becoming awake, staying woke and…timing. Tick Tock.