Black Twitter is a social media extension of this conversational structure yet it is all being conducted within earshot or hashtag reach of America’s non-black communities.

Black Twitter participant Vann Newkirk (@fivefifths) recently described to the National Journal how the influx of non-black observers and participants into Black Twitter has resulted in high-context and low-context discourse within the growing social media community. High-context are the mostly black users who understand the slang and can express their perspectives using fewer characters, while low-context users require more explanatory tweets.

This is revelatory because it brings to light different thoughts and perspectives of American identity to a larger swath of Americans. It also presents a concerted effort to inform those outside of the community of perspectives and discourse that thrives within.

Yet the excitement surrounding the growth of Black Twitter at the same time shows how black thought has been structurally suppressed throughout American society.