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A prominent activist of the Black Lives Matter movement was among the top trending hashtags on Twitter Sunday, as online conservatives blasted his political activism and calls for change, just days after a church massacre in South Carolina left several Black Americans dead.
With some calling DeRay Mckesson “a professional race agitator,” conservatives embraced the hashtag #gohomederay to voice their displeasure with the young former high school administrator turned activist.
Newsletter
I woke to see the trolls made #GoHomeDeray trend. Home is where my people are, or where they've built. I am home. pic.twitter.com/hFBciAwKn6
— deray mckesson (@deray)
June 21, 2015
#GoHomeDeray you have worn out your welcome. SC wants to deal with this tragedy United not divided. Love conquers hate. Go back to Baltimore
— Mrz Mazz (@mrzmazz)
June 21, 2015
Charleston handles tragedy with grace and dignity, unlike blue state freaks in Baltimore. #GoHomeDeray
— Nigel Rathbone (@Nigel__politics)
June 21, 2015
Mckesson has been outspoken about the recent uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore. He also is a vocal critic of white supremacy, which is still a taboo subject among many Americans.
The hashtag grew in popularity after Mckesson published critical tweets of white supremacy following the shooting of nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina by 21-year-old apartheid-sympathizer, Dylan Roof.
I continue to talk about race because race continues to impact my life & the lives of those who look like me. I'm not the enemy, racism is.
— deray mckesson (@deray)
June 21, 2015
Despite the recent racially-motivated massacre, many who used the hashtag painted a picture of a racially united South Carolina that was under attack by not a white supremacist, but outside black activists.
Some used the hashtag to launch homophobic insults towards Mckesson and memes mocking his activism.
RELATED: Call the South Carolina Shooting What It Is: White Terrorism
But the #gohomederay hashtag was countered by many others on Twitter, who felt the hashtag evoked a deeply racist American tradition of telling black activists to “get out” of the South, a phenomenon that routinely occurred during the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
@ShaunKing funny how time and time again they repeat the same hatred pic.twitter.com/3pJOuq745p
— moe (@moejo219)
June 21, 2015
We've seen these tactics before. We've been called "agitators" before. #GoHomeDeray #ThankYouDeray (via @Sttbs73) pic.twitter.com/nRKy43NZpN
— Rugged Amethyst (@GrooveSDC)
June 21, 2015
Others on Twitter were shocked that the hashtag was used to attack a black activist after a racist anti-black massacre instead of the confessed killer, Dylann Roof.
#GoHomeDeray is code for Let us be racist in peace, sweep this under the rug and pretend it never happened
— #JeSuisCharleston (@CerromeRussell)
June 21, 2015
Waking up to a hashtag against an activist instead of a racial terrorist, speaks volumes about the state of things. FOH w/ #GoHomeDeray
— Chilly Nelson (@HanumanWelch)
June 21, 2015
A new hashtag, #thankyouderay, rose in response to the Twitter backlash, with some prominent figures including the comedian, Hari Kondabolu, lending their support to Mckesson.
#ThankYouDeray for being the eyes & ears of change. Thank you for holding the media accountable. Thank you for inspiring so many, @deray.
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu)
June 21, 2015
