# Dangerousblackkids > #DangerousBlackKids is a 2014 Twitter hashtag created by writer Jamie Nesbitt Golden in which Black parents shared photos of their children with ironic captions subverting the stereotype that Black youth are threats. #DangerousBlackKids is a Twitter hashtag created on February 16, 2014, by writer Jamie Nesbitt Golden in response to the mistrial in the murder trial of Michael Dunn, who fatally shot 17-year-old Jordan Davis over loud music. The hashtag invited Black parents and community members to share photos of their children doing ordinary things like reading, playing, and graduating, with ironic captions pointing out how absurd it is that Black youth are routinely perceived as threats. Within 24 hours it had been tweeted over 16,000 times and drew widespread media coverage. ## Origin On November 23, 2012, Michael Dunn, a 45-year-old white man, fired multiple shots into a car full of teenagers outside a Jacksonville, Florida convenience store after arguing with them about the volume of their music[1]. Jordan Davis, 17, was killed. Dunn later told his fiancee the teens were playing "thug music"[4]. After nearly two weeks of trial proceedings, on February 15, 2014, the jury found Dunn guilty of three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing into an occupied vehicle[3]. But they deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge for Davis's actual death, and Judge Russell L. Healey declared a mistrial on that count[6]. The next day, February 16, 2014, which would have been Jordan Davis's 19th birthday, writer Jamie Nesbitt Golden posted a photo of her young son on Twitter from her account @thewayoftheid with the caption: "Here's potential future threat to society walking into the living room. #dangerousblackkids"[5]. Golden later explained her thinking to NewsOne: "The world needs to know that black kids are like any other kids, and not a problem to be solved"[5]. - **Platform:** Twitter - **Creator:** Jamie Nesbitt Golden (creator, @thewayoftheid), Mikki Kendall (key contributor) - **Date:** 2014 ## Overview #DangerousBlackKids is a satirical hashtag where Black Twitter users posted photos of Black children doing completely innocent activities, paired with ironic captions framing them as "threats." A toddler in a onesie becomes "a future threat to society." Kids in blue clothes prompt mock warnings to "keep an eye on these two." A boy at a piano is accused of "stealing the white keys." The format worked through contrast. The adorable, mundane photos clashed with the overblown language of fear and criminality, making the racial profiling of Black children look as ridiculous as it actually is[1]. The hashtag functioned as both protest and communal celebration, letting Black parents push back against dehumanizing stereotypes while showing off their kids to each other[5]. ## How It Spread The hashtag exploded almost immediately. Within 24 hours of Golden's tweet, #DangerousBlackKids had been used on Twitter more than 16,000 times[6]. Parents, writers, and public figures all joined in, sharing photos of their children reading books, playing soccer, wearing graduation caps, and practicing piano, all with mock-alarmed captions[7]. Writer Mikki Kendall, who had more than 18,000 followers at the time, helped amplify the hashtag with photos of her two boys and the caption "#DangerousBlackKids do wild things like go to school"[5]. The Twitter account @TheObamaDiary posted childhood photos of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with the caption: "Some #DangerousBlackKids grow up to help Americans get health insurance & inspire a whole generation. Terrifying"[8]. By February 16, multiple major outlets had already published roundups. HuffPost compiled popular examples under the headline "Black Twitter Shows Off The #DangerousBlackKids America Should Fear"[1]. BuzzFeed published its own collection[2]. Complex called the hashtag "a beautiful and moving dialogue" and noted that "some of the most cogent and powerful social and political commentary on the Internet comes from Black Twitter"[3]. Jezebel, The Root, and Global Grind all ran coverage the same week[4][9][7]. According to Twitter analytics tool Topsy, the hashtag reached nearly 31,000 tweets in total[5]. ## How to Use The format typically follows a simple pattern: 1. Post a photo of a Black child doing something ordinary or charming: playing, studying, smiling, wearing a costume, being held by a parent. 2. Add a caption that ironically reframes the innocent activity as suspicious or threatening, using the language of fear and criminality. 3. Include the hashtag #DangerousBlackKids. ## Cultural Impact #DangerousBlackKids was one of the defining Black Twitter hashtag campaigns of 2014. It drew coverage from at least seven major publications within days of its creation[1][2][3][4][9]. The hashtag sat at the intersection of several trends in early-2010s internet culture: the rise of hashtag activism, Black Twitter's growing influence on mainstream media, and the use of irony as a tool for political commentary. The campaign arrived during a period when a string of high-profile cases involving the deaths of unarmed Black people were forcing a national reckoning. Trayvon Martin (2012), Jordan Davis (2012), and soon after Renisha McBride and Michael Brown (2014) all became flashpoints[8]. #DangerousBlackKids was part of the same digital activist current that would produce #BlackLivesMatter, #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, and #SayHerName. Kendall's follow-up hashtag #StopBlackPanic, launched three days later, extended the conversation into structural analysis of how racial panic operates in American institutions[7]. ## Fun Facts - Jordan Davis would have turned 19 the day after the hashtag launched, making the timing of #DangerousBlackKids both a protest and an unofficial birthday tribute[1]. - Golden's first tweet used the phrase "potential future threat to society" to describe her toddler walking into the living room[5]. - The @TheObamaDiary account, primarily known for covering the Affordable Care Act, pivoted to post childhood photos of the Obamas with the hashtag[6]. - By one count, the hashtag accumulated nearly 31,000 tweets total, roughly double the 16,000 figure reported in the first 24 hours[5]. - Kendall told NewsOne that the dark humor was intentional: "Sometimes you laugh so you don't start crying"[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is #DangerousBlackKids? #DangerousBlackKids is a Twitter hashtag where Black users share photos of Black children doing innocent activities with ironic captions that mock the racial profiling of Black youth as dangerous[1]. ### Where did #DangerousBlackKids come from? Writer Jamie Nesbitt Golden created the hashtag on February 16, 2014, from her Twitter account @thewayoftheid, in response to the mistrial in the Michael Dunn murder trial[6]. ### What does #DangerousBlackKids mean? The hashtag uses satire to challenge the criminalization of Black children. By pairing photos of kids reading, playing, and smiling with exaggerated threat language, it exposes how absurd racial profiling of Black youth really is[5]. ### How do you use #DangerousBlackKids? Post a photo of a Black child doing something normal and add an ironic caption treating the activity as suspicious or criminal, then include the hashtag[1]. ### Is #DangerousBlackKids still popular? The hashtag was most active in February 2014. As a historically significant Black Twitter campaign, it is widely recognized and referenced in discussions of digital activism and hashtag movements[3]. ### Who was Jordan Davis? Jordan Davis was a 17-year-old Black teenager killed by Michael Dunn on November 23, 2012, in Jacksonville, Florida, after an argument over loud music at a gas station convenience store[1]. ### What was the Michael Dunn verdict? On February 15, 2014, the jury found Dunn guilty of three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing into a vehicle, but deadlocked on the first-degree murder charge for Jordan Davis's death, resulting in a mistrial on that count[3]. ### Who started the #DangerousBlackKids hashtag? Jamie Nesbitt Golden, a writer who tweeted from the handle @thewayoftheid, posted the first #DangerousBlackKids tweet on February 16, 2014[5]. ### How many times was #DangerousBlackKids tweeted? The hashtag was tweeted over 16,000 times in the first 24 hours[6] and accumulated nearly 31,000 tweets total according to Twitter analytics tool Topsy[5]. ### What role did Mikki Kendall play? Writer Mikki Kendall helped amplify the hashtag and later created the related hashtag #StopBlackPanic on February 19, 2014, to push back against racist media narratives about Black people[7]. ### How is #DangerousBlackKids connected to Black Lives Matter? The hashtag was part of the same wave of digital activism around the deaths of unarmed Black people, including Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis, that laid the groundwork for the Black Lives Matter movement[8]. ## References 1. [Twitter Responds To Michael Dunn Verdict With #DangerousBlackKids]() 2. [Black Twitter Shows Off The #DangerousBlackKids America Should Fear | HuffPost Voices]() 3. [Black Twitter Shows Off The #DangerousBlackKids America Should Fear | HuffPost Voices]() 4. [#DangerousBlackKids - Know Your Meme]() 5. [List of Internet phenomena]() 6. [Black Twitter Responds To Dunn Trial Verdict With #DangerousBlackKids Hashtag]() 7. [Twitter Responds To Michael Dunn Verdict With #DangerousBlackKids]() 8. [#Dangerousblackkids Hashtag Arises After Michael Dunn's Trial]() 9. [The Most Terrifying Pictures Of Black Twitter's #DangerousBlackKids]() 10. [Are Your Children #DangerousBlackKids?]() 11. [#DangerousBlackKids Twists Image Of 'Threatening' Black Children]() 12. [Black Twitter Shows Off The #DangerousBlackKids America Should Fear | HuffPost UK Black Voices]() 13. [Twitter Responds to Michael Dunn Verdict With #DangerousBlackKids – The Root]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/dangerousblackkids Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library