The Appropriation of Black Language on TikTok
Black language comes in many forms, one is AAVE. AAVE, African American Vernacular English, also known as Ebonics, is a dialect developed during slavery in America. Through the Creole Hypothesis, some speculate that the dialect derived from the Creole language, which was spoken on plantations across the south and the Caribbean during the Atlantic Slave Trade from 1526 to 1867. Creole is still a common language spoken in the South and parts of the Caribbean like Haiti. Following the end of slavery, the AAVE dialect migrated with newly freed Black Americans across the country during The Great Migration. Like Creole, AAVE gives African Americans a way of communicating through a common tongue. AAVE has been featured in mainstream media through music like HipHop, Black movies like Tyler Perry’s “Madea”, and Black literature like Zora Neale Hurston’s book “Their Eyes are Watching God”. Over the past twenty years, it has also evolved into being consistently used in online spaces.
The internet has evolved rapidly to fit the needs of an ever-growing digital culture layered in trends, viral videos, and new words coined as original every day. This phenomenon can be seen on all social media platforms, especially in TikTok which continues to rise in cultural popularity. TikTok is one of the few social media apps that has created a global collective experience. It has allowed the introduction of different cultures, global social justice issues, and history to be shared in a way that breaks down barriers.
History of TikTok
TikTok rose to popularity at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. It was reformed from the trending app Musical.ly by its parent company ByteDance. The app began its run with 30-second short-form videos. It started to gain popularity in mainstream media broadcasts of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. It was the first social media platform to house a rise of short-form videos promoting social activism. Users of the platform could see the protests, marches, and behind-the-scenes without censorship. With the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown, the app also saw a rise in popular trends, specifically around dances.
TikTok Trends and Black Culture
Most of the popular dances were created by Black American users and were then copied and modified by other minority users and white users. However, many users who copied the dances and modified them as their own creations were found to not attribute the dances to their original creators. Black content creators expressed frustration at not being heard or equally included on the app when they are the driving force behind the app’s popularity.
The appropriation of black artists and black culture has been happening historically like Elvis’s appropriation of “Hound Dog” originally sung by Ellie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton or more recently Kylie Jenner’s appropriating of a Black hairstyle by wearing cornrow braids (a protective hairstyle for Black hair). Black culture has been appropriate for years in the media, and aspects of the culture have been taken and misused without proper consideration of the history within the culture. AAVE is no exception. The misuse of AAVE on Tiktok poses a problem with the accurate representation of Black culture in online spaces.
AAVE in Social Media
With the increase in online spaces, AAVE is now being adopted as common slang on social media platforms like Twitter, and TikTok. Using words from the AAVE dialect, like “sis” or “chile,” has now been widely adopted and used outside of Black culture. Black culture itself is now being shared on a global scale. Inspiration in dances, music, and other forms of media draw heavily on trends created within Black culture. Also, stereotypes that demean Black men and women are enforced, and mixed comedy skits on TikTok depict white men acting like stereotypical Black women. They show Black women as loud, aggressive, and rude.
While many Black comedy skits using these stereotypes are meant to communicate within the Black community, when a non-Black user creates this type of content, it has the opposite effect. In these cases, it’s been shown that non-Black TikTok users will not stand up in solidarity with Black TikTok users when they are being mocked. This begs the question of why it’s okay for White or non-Black TikTok users to use the language as slang but not for Black users to enjoy it as part of their culture.
In the case of trends that emerge on TikTok specifically, those who recreate the trend do not generally attribute the creator if they are Black. This type of commodification and erasure of Black creators has been a capitalist tradition for generations. It strips Black social media users of their personhood. The best solution to this is to place emphasis on the attribution of artwork created by Black TikTok users that include AAVE in their work, this can look like music, comedy sketches, or even videos featuring stories.
How can we change the way AAVE is viewed on social media?
- Acknowledge the language’s origins and how much of our media is influenced and inspired by Black Culture.
- Attribute the trends that are created by Black creators to their proper origin as a way to ensure that the creative roots stay with their creator.
- Avoid stereotypes and don’t participate in activities that can hinder the view of Black personhood.
- Educate yourself. Knowledge is power but it is also a way of practicing compassion.
Interested in learning more about AAVE? Read more from The Garfield Messenger.
