The Great Skygration
A digital "Xodus" in search of safety & community
The Great Skygration
The “Great Digital Migration,” “Xodus,” or “Skygration,” underscores Black folks’ persistent effort to find safety in a nation that threatens their very being.
My Grandmother, Roxanne, four times removed, and my grandfather, Thornton, three times removed, were domestic refugees from Attala, Mississippi.
As a descendant of domestic refugees from the original “Great Migration,” I am reminded of the quote from the show Underground by enslaved character Ernestine that “Safety isn’t real.”
However, both the Great Migration and Great Skygration underscore Black folks’ ability to adapt & survive, & Black Folks’ efforts to find safety intra-communally.
Black community can provide Black folks with necessary respite & safety from an unsafe nation even though in this nation, “safety isn’t real,” & white supremacy works even when white people aren’t in the room.
Such flight when white supremacy flexes its muscles is not just about flight “from” violence but flight “to” community.
The Great Skygration isn’t for other non-Black folks to understand. I am not the least bit concerned with non-Black folks’ understanding of the Great Skygration.
I am here to remind Black folks to prioritize their well-being & that Black community is necessary, for we can only get free with each other.
I am not naive that Bluesky is only a temporary solution, & in a few years, There will probably be flight once again. Still, Black folks will continue to fight to find both physical & digital community despite efforts to suffocate Black community.