Might 31, 2025
The group has now posted movies displaying them actions resembling pet yoga, dance lessons, and even Pilates.
Khadim Thiam, 23, and 9 different Black New York Metropolis school college students unexpectedly went viral on TikTok when he posted a video of himself and his pals at a Dunkin Donuts smiling and toasting one another after they ordered matcha inexperienced tea for the primary time.
In line with NBC Information, the video, which is nineteen seconds lengthy, has been watched by greater than 15 million folks because it first appeared in early April, however as a substitute of discovering a receptive viewers, Thiam instructed the outlet that they discovered negativity.
“They had been saying issues like, ‘Oh, why are males this completely satisfied to strive matcha?’ ‘Oh, males needs to be in struggle,’” Thiam recalled.
He continued, “I don’t know why the web reacted like that. So now I used to be like, O.Okay., so y’all don’t need to see us strive matcha? We’re going to begin attempting many different issues.”
True to his phrase, Thiam’s group, One Robust Brotherhood, or OSB for brief, has now posted greater than 20 movies displaying the group doing a wide range of actions resembling pet yoga, dance lessons, and even Pilates.
In line with Danielle Younger, who’s credited with creating the time period “Black Boy Pleasure,” in 2016 whereas writing for The Root, OSB’s social media actions are rooted within the reminiscence of Black boys who by no means received to turn out to be Black males, Black boys like Emmett Until, who was lynched in 1955 on the age of 14 by a bunch of white supremacists in Mississippi.
“It’s so exhausting to see the OSB guys and never be instantly completely satisfied, joyful and smiling,” Younger instructed NBC Information. “Pondering of Emmett Until and his story, not even having the ability to be a younger, free Black boy with out society claiming him as a risk and needing to be murdered for that. It’s stunning to see that Black boy pleasure is timeless, nevertheless it’s additionally hurtful to see that it’s thought of a factor due to what they’re not imagined to be doing.”
For Thiam and his pals, who all attend Hunter Faculty in Manhattan, Younger’s final level is probably essentially the most poignant.
“There’s loads of unfavourable stereotypes and connotations” relating to younger Black males, Thiam, who’s a pc science main and in addition the son of immigrants from Senegal, instructed NBC Information. “We deserve our credit score and our place in society to be thought of regular, joyful folks.”
Because the unique video’s considerably frosty reception on-line, Thiam has seen that the feedback part has began to replicate the joyous vibes of their movies.
This was epitomized by a latest journey to a West African cooking class hosted by one other New York Metropolis content material creator, Maye Jolie, the place they spent nearly three hours studying to make a Malinese dish known as nem, a meat and spice crammed fritter, which is combined, rolled, after which fried.
“Hopefully we go world,” Thiam instructed the outlet, musing about “going to Japan attempting to turn out to be like a samurai or one thing, or we’re making tea in China,” after revealing that the group has already secured five-figure model offers and labored with Doordash and MAC Cosmetics.
Thiam concluded, “I simply need to encourage folks to strive new issues. Meet new folks, make nice connections. Have real enjoyable, joyness, and convey vitality.”
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