👀 One thread to bind them all

#110 | History, a tweet at a time

Today’s Just One Thing is not, strictly speaking, about a thing. Or, actually, maybe it is.

It is about Michael Harriot and his Twitter feed.

I first made my acquaintance with the greatness that is Michael Harriot back in 2019 when he called Pete Buttigieg “a lying MF.” Buttigieg, who was then seeking to win the Democratic nomination for President, had commented about Black students not following higher ed for want of a role model, which inspired this epic clap back from Harriot.

And just like that, I was hooked.

I must’ve spent the next few months obsessively scrolling through the Wypipologist’s feed, which is now the go-to source to learn about Black American history. The real, unvarnished, unfiltered truth with all kinds of backstories that never made it into history books. And also, a Black perspective on all things Americana, even today.

Just seeing the phrase “a thread” in a tweet from him is now an immediate imperative to drop what I’m doing and start reading. 

I hope you, too, derive the same joy and gain as much knowledge about being Black in America through his feed.

What? You want some highlights? Sure.

One of his most recent threads explains anti-white racism.
Here, he has a thread on how Fox News would’ve covered the birth of Jesus Christ.
A thread on Haiti’s refugee crisis.
Advice for schools on how to teach history.
How The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was actually a crime drama.
On white vigilantes.
On “White Wakanda“.
On Aretha Franklin’s connection to Queen Elizabeth.
About coffee and the origins of slavery in Africa.
On Dr Seuss’ racist writing. One person we know cried when they read this one.
About how an enslaved black person is responsible for the smallpox vaccine.
And finally, an origin story worth its weight in gold.

Go ahead, follow him, bookmark his tweets, learn a little, and laugh while doing so. And if it is not Twitter where you get your words, he’s also written a book about America’s Black history.

Baaa.

Dolly