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What happens when Black creatives lose yet another digital platform? In this episode, Ifeoma Ike and Kelly Burton explore the TikTok ban, the fight for Black ownership in the digital realm, and the larger conversation about who truly profits from our culture. From the déjà vu of the Vine shutdown to the systemic barriers that prevent us from building our own, we delve into the realities of digital homelessness, the power of Black creativity, and the urgent need for trust, community, and equity. Is this a setback—or the beginning of something greater? Tune in as we discuss what’s next.
Everybody, welcome back to another episode of the show. I am your co-host Kelly Burton and I am here with Ifeoma Ike.
How are you?
Happy February. It’s Black History Month.
For now.
Why would you need a month, your own month? There’s no white history month. Explain it to me. Make it make sense. Yes, for now, we are going to celebrate. At Black Innovation Alliance, we’d be celebrating all year long because that’s what we do. We celebrate the Black Innovation.
Every year is a leap year. It’s always 366 every year.
How are you doing?
I’m doing okay. I am still in shock, but it is what it is.
It is what it is.
Plenty of lubricants Laplac, cocoa butter, Vaseline. We’re prepared. The wig is braided.
We ain’t going to be ashy.
Not give you a buck. Don’t start no one getting none. We have gone through all of the 99, 2000 proverbs to prepare ourselves for whatever we need. Keep your eyes open. Keep your third eye open. We’re prepared. How are you doing?
I’m good. What do I mean? I’m good. I’m on the web.
If there was a theme song for Kelly Burton, I ain’t never scared.
I think I came out of the womb like, “What?”
She came out with a picket sign.
That is my food. I’m trying to stay true to my little commitments to myself. I’m trying to remember to breathe, like in my belly, just the little things. I’m trying to stay on the things that I can control and the things beyond my control, I really sit in the universe.
The Threat Of Losing Digital Platforms
Speaking of things beyond our control. One of the things that was surprising for a lot of creatives was that their home, one of these popular homes, notably TikTok, may not be a home anymore. A lot of developments in that space for those that don’t know the controversy is that under the Biden administration, they had basically said that if TikTok does not sell from their current owners, they would be banned in the United States.
It’s shocking for a lot of folks when we think about how this country talks quite a bit about the First Amendment and freedom of expression but a lot of it was the politics on the back end around this other space, far away land away from the United States called China, the owner and their principles and their philosophies, DOJs behind it. A whole range of everything from protection for users, resulted in the United States saying, “We need to actually implement something that’s forceful.”
The consequence of it is that there are a lot of users who have been mourning what that would mean if this space were to permanently not be available. This is not about TikTok. I saw the eulogies, I’ve seen the liturgical dances, I’ve seen the benedictions. Of course, when it comes to our people, they’re hilarious. Like to know that people have gone, have you seen somebody create a TikTok video, like at a store or anything and, “The one and two. No, and I got a two. Fine, one and two.” They are in this thing. When you are seeing these beautifully crafted, curated homegoings. What came to mind was when I was dating myself a bit, when Vine shut down. Vine was another platform.
There were eulogies and funerals and homegoings.
Homegoings, funerals, and just like Vine were another platform that black people built up. Black Twitter has a documentary of how black Twitter came to be and how people who weren’t Black were like, “Where’s Black Twitter?” I put this out there because in this month that tends to be on the calendar, a form of home. I raised the question, number one, like what are your thoughts about where we build our brands and where we build our identities to an extent?
When this space, and then number two, I think we’re going to end with what do people need to do, what are the considerations that black creatives need to take moving forward as entrepreneurs, especially use these platforms to get revenue, to get income, to stay relevant. Also to learn from each other and to connect with people that they had never met before. I just wanted to know if there are thoughts that you had on either one of those most notably like what happens when home on the range ain’t home no more.
The Struggle For Black Ownership In The Digital And Cultural Spaces
When we become homeless when we become digitally homeless out in these digital streets. At Black Innovation Alliance, we’re always thinking about how we access ownership and how we leverage ownership to drive wealth. One of the challenges that we have had in our community is being able to build and scale digital platforms that can function as our creative home. We always have to show up at other people’s houses.
Whether it’s Twitter and say, “Can I have a room in your house?” TikTok, can I have a room in your house? You too, can I have a room in your house?” They say, “Sure, but here are the conditions, and here are all the ways that I’m going to monetize off your guests. As a matter of fact, when you leave, all your stuff stays here with me. You cannot take none of it with you. None of the relationships, none of the connections at all stays here.”
We are at a place where we need to figure out like we are going to continue to be vulnerable to these externalities that determine whether or not we have a digital home. We know it at BIA that it’s so hard to get access to the capital necessary to build these things. If you get access to the capital, how do you build it with the core capabilities for reach, for scale? These are things that we’re trying to figure out at BIA all the time. What content is going to connect? How do you get people on the platform?
How do you get them to stay? How do you get them to engage? A lot of us don’t necessarily have access to the expertise, because you got to pay for it. We learn on the job on a steep learning curve. By the time we done figure something out, the money is going. It’s not that we are digitally homeless because we ain’t trying. We’re digitally homeless because there are all of these factors and hurdles that keep us from being able to do it ourselves. What’s next? I don’t know. It’s going to be somebody else’s house that we are staying in that, but when are we going to build our own house?
I’m going to play a little bit of angel advocate because the devil is all around. One of the things that I have, I think this concept of when are we going to build our own has been a frustrating conversation and both in the physical and in the digital space. One of the singers, she’s now an ancestor of this folklore, Black folklore group, culture group, I should say cultural artists group called Sweet Honey and the Rock.
She said something that really stuck to me when she said that the tradition in this country, the reason why culture has been mastered by Black people here in the United States largely has to do with the fact that that’s the one thing we could own. That we truly own the culture. It is, if you will, the permission slip for us to be at the door and say, “Can I come in?” It’s like, “How hard can you sing?”
We figuratively own it. We don’t literally own it.
I think I’m going to say that I am part of a, I do think black people own the culture, but it’s almost like owning water. Like you can own the water, but do you own the ocean? Like I think that we are the substance of a lot of the things that go pop. I think in a lot of ways, culture is that substance. The holder of it, the gatekeeping. I’ve heard more language around gatekeeping the culture than I’ve ever heard before, largely from the Drake-Kendrick battle, but it raised some really interesting conversations about how our inability because of laws to own land, own recording studios, own homes.
Like get leases, get deeds, mean that we are on the block as we’re jump roping, singing songs that if somebody else were to catch it, it becomes a jingle for a commercial that sells and makes money. That has been the normalized pattern. I say that on one hand, I feel like we own the culture and I agree with you, but we don’t own the homes where our culture exists. That is a problem. The weird thing is, in a weird perverted way, this system has us getting money from what we provide, but they’re not willing to give a piece of a pie of the ownership of the home.
There are no equity stakes.
There’s no equity stake even in our own culture. By the way, we can get somebody that’s not even from the culture to participate in it and maybe even get more money because Black culture influences everything, including K-pop. I don’t care what it is. We influence other people’s revenue streams and we’ll still be at the bottom from an economic gain, but we own the culture.
I feel like we also have to be honest about like, “I’m part of the culture, but man, sometimes this culture makes me Black.” Like, what is going on? Literally for us by us, which I just found out is actually not even owned by us anymore. When is it going to be for us by us for real? That’s the one thing. The last thing I’ll say though is. I’ve struggled with these platforms because I struggle with why we care about non-Black gays so much. I said gayz, z.
Gayz, because I was struggling. Like, was it gays or gays or gays?
The Opportunity For Black Creatives To Build New Digital Spaces
Gayz, juxtaposed with White gays. I think that there was a part of me for many years that was like, “Part of the reason why we don’t build our own is because we care so much about what other people think about our entertainment. We’re trying to please everybody else.” I’m not saying that there isn’t a part of that subconsciously is part of being in this society. The other part is Black people. I do in my heart believe that humanity started in Africa. Black people embody humanity to the fullest. As a result, I do mourn a little bit, even though I’m not on some of these platforms, I mourn what it’s like, but I am creative. I mourn what it’s like to feel like I want to share my gifts with the world and just be treated fairly for how I offer those gifts.
Why is it that I have to suffer a disproportionate amount of harm when I am kicked out of these spaces? Is it a crime for me as a Black woman to still want other people, including my community, to like what I offer? I think sometimes I had to lean into that grace of like, it’s not just that we don’t want to build our own, but to your point, Kelly, if it’s between, I don’t have the tools to build the platform, but I have a gift and I can get something that can help my family, help my community, do what I can with what I got, then it’s one of those like, where’s the space for that as well? I struggle with that. I do.
I mean, there’s so much to that. In terms of where we are, I tend to believe I came across the saying the darkness of the tomb is the darkness of the womb. Same darkness. As something dies, we are creating the space for something to be born. This gives Black creatives an opportunity to grieve, to mourn, to go inside, to birth something new.
I’m trying to think through what’s the readiness play. This is my vibe, because I’m not like, “Let’s go, let’s build, let’s get started,” but sometimes we ain’t ready. What do we as a Black community need to do to be ready for the sorts of opportunities that really allow us to take our culture back and to own it fully and not just culture, economics, social spheres, and political spheres? How do we really find political power in this space, in this moment, in this opportunity?
That’s why when we started the show, we were like, how are you? I’m like, I’m good, because I am content with grieving, because there are a lot of things that are going to die over the next four years, okay? It is not just DEI. It’s a whole lot of other things that are about to bite the dust and some of that is good. Some of that is going to benefit us in the long term. It might be painful and it might hurt, but down the road, I’m like, “That’s what that was all about.” I’m like, let’s go. That’s what I’m trying to tune into the spirit for. Come on now, Holy Ghost, what’s being born?
Kelly, are not got no Kleenex dishes for you all, but what she does have is some advice. You said a readiness play and I wrote it down because I’m like, “Okay.” If we were to think of what the readiness plays, it is what it is. Roll up your sleeves, and get your little cocoa butter stick. Black girls wear. You are not never seen this. That means that your top lip or your bottom lip don’t get enough lip. When you get enough lip, this is actually your chapstick. That’s what you need.
Not no little stick. Skinny stick.
What do you mean chapix or whatever the name of those things are? Give me a swivel. If it’s a readiness play and you’re like, get ready, get ready, what are we doing now?
The Need For Trust And Community Building
This is going to seem really basic and really remedial but it is what it is. We need more trust. We need deeper trust in the Black community. We need to practice being in community with people who love us and take care of us, who take us wholesale, who understand all of our imperfections and peculiarities, and like, “Girl, I love you anyway, come let me give you a kiss.” We need to foster trust and little networks because then we build the muscle to have trust in broader networks. We see it in BIA. As we try to grow in scale, keeping everybody on the same page and ensuring that folks are coming to it giving you the benefit of the doubt.
Let people know what Kelly means when she said we see it at BIA. I’m going to go ahead and I’m going to lean into the transparency. These two girls that y’all see right now, we fight. I have to put that out there because in many ways, because of the ways we’ve been trained through political correctness and being kind and all these the golden rule, Black people don’t really have the full models.
First of all, we are consummate professionals because we’ve had to be. What that means is that sometimes when we are in spaces where it’s a little bit more us. I do not like the concept of why cannot Black people work with each other. I actually don’t even believe in that because we do it every day in our families and systems and churches. We literally do it. We’re literally talking to another Black person that we play with all the time. Some of us are like, why don’t Black people? It’s like, you guys were just amazing space partners last week.
What are you talking about? I do think that it’s important to say we fight because oftentimes in the world of in a space where we haven’t always been the recipients of grace, restoration, and transformation, if you cannot admit that at times things are not always copasthetic, you’re not going to really have a model to help build trust. Trust does not come from the always good that is there. Trust comes from the ability to repair when things fall apart. That is very scary. I’ll be the first to admit that that is very scary as a professional for a lot of different reasons because I was a human before I was a professional.
There are a lot of things that teach. We all have something that taught us something about trust. When trust has also been broken and broken in spaces that look like from people like you, it can be very hard to repair. You said remedial. I think that this practice of being in a community could look like a range of things. For Black entrepreneurs right now, Black creatives, is there anything that comes to mind as to what we need to be doing more of, for maybe even for people that don’t necessarily have an established Black community that they can go to? Where can they go? What are some thoughts that come to you?
That’s a really good question. There’s so much there.
You can also tell about how we fight too because we fight.
We do, but here’s the thing because at the foundation is love and mutual respect. You know what I’m saying? Trust has to be tested. It has to be tested. It has to be pressure tested. It’s necessary, but to your point, we have this very like, purified understanding of what it means to be in a community and in with one another. We idealize what community looks like for other people. First of all, you are not in their community.
You have no idea what shenanigans are going on. That is one of my pet peeves. We go wrap it up because, girl, we’re going to talk about seventeen different topics on this one episode that’s how we do. The one thing that pisses me off is when I’m in spaces with Black folks and they always want to talk about why don’t black people behave like them folks and why don’t we behave more like I cannot take I don’t behave more like them.
I cannot take it.
First and foremost, we are the only ones who were legislated property for longer than this country has for longer than half of this country has been in existence. Is there anybody else who was designated as a thing that could be bred like an animal?
Needed and then needed legislation to be made a human? Does anybody talk to me about these other communities?
Culture stolen name stolen religion. Faith practice had to build every foundational feature of culture from the ground and you could be the culture that is 5,000 years old and Black people are 400 years old. Are you Crazy? Anyway, I’m over here sweating because as you can see that pisses me off.
That’s what I would say. We as black folks need to give ourselves some grace, understanding, and appreciating that our situation is different and distinct from any other community on the mother planet. There is no group this small that has made the significant impact that Black people have made on this planet. Cultural, socio-political. There are all sorts of nations around this globe that are free because of American Black people.
With that said, I’m entering these four years. With an exhale on my lips, I’m good. I’m going to trust and believe that we are on the right side of history and that the spirit is working on our behalf and shout out to the creatives, sending love and we need peace and comfort as we transition into whatever the next period, whether it’s somebody else’s own in it or it goes away, but we going to continue to be black and we going to continue to be creative.
Trusting Yourself And Building For The Future
Very quickly, I will say that all I want to add to that felt really amazing to my soul. I really do hope that people listen to what you just said, stop it, rewind it, repeat it, because part of this is also trusting yourself as a creative. Both of us are entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial process is in many ways an artistic process. It sees many deaths. It sees many resurrections. It requires you to be like, “I’m good at certain things, but even some of the good things that I’m good at, maybe I’m better at others.”
Like you do have to make decisions. I just want you all to really hear what Kelly said, that trust in community also begins with trusting yourself. Trust yourself that your gift is actually here for you, not for the consumption of others solely, that whatever you want to offer, there is abundance on the other side, and that revenue is there on the other side. Know the risks. Sometimes we just press agree on a lot of these forms that say, “Do you consent to the terms and the conditions of our platform?”
Read the terms and conditions of the platform. Please do it and take your time. That includes updates on your computers. Just know what it is. Knowledge is power and it’s powerful because then you won’t be that hurt when those that are in power are doing what they do. Trust and believe everything that Kelly just said is still true even when they take away a home. The one thing that Black people are really good at is building for us and for others. Just trust yourself that you will be able to build another space.
I suggest that if you’re on other platforms, like if you’re on other platforms, I don’t want to give them any shine. What they are. Do your best to maybe reach out to different individuals within your space and also outside of your space, complementary to your space, and start building those networks, start building those communities. It is a lot for one person to have the money to build some of these platforms.
I do think what Kelly is also alluding to is, and she said this many times before we do have enough money that if we wanted to, we could do it. It may not be one grandmama. It may be all of our grandmamas, but we do have to create these rituals and practices within our own space first and it really starts with communication and communion. It’s also recognizing that we are still an extension of our ancestors who went above and beyond that people don’t even know their names, that we don’t even know their names.
That’s our stock. I feel good about it. TikTok away. Skippity, jump, do whatever you need to do but there will always be a home for Black people because you are the home. That is the point is that Black creatives are always going to have a home. To Kelly’s point, getting to the bag matters. Don’t abandon your community, even if it takes longer. I feel good, I feel better about that. I’m sorry, you all. Keep dancing, keep twerking, and do all those things that we love. Trust in yourself and trust in our community. We are going to get it together.
We will survive.
It’s only four years. I don’t even believe that.
As if he twirls on out of this episode. Thanks, you all for joining us for this episode of the show. We got passionate on that episode. Tell us in the comments if, were on point, were we off, was we told us the truth. I know it’s a whole bunch of folks who are on these platforms that are trying to figure it out. Do you have any advice? Share it with the broader community. We’re going to continue to have this conversation and we’re going to see you the next time at the show, the innovation podcast. Thanks, everybody. Follow us on all the things and subscribe. See you all next time. Bye.
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