In the United States, few topics cause as much consternation and combative reactions as race, especially race relations between Blacks and whites. At a time when, according to a 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center, only 23% of Americans believe that expressing racist views has become less acceptable, social media has become the new battleground among those who seek to call out perceived racist acts, those who seek to perpetuate racist attitudes, and those who seek to justify acts perceived by others to be racist.

According to tracking by the Pew Research Center, at the beginning of 2005 only 5% of adults in the United States used social media. By February 2019 that number had exploded to 72%. That’s right, nearly 3 in 4 adults in this country use at least one social media site. So it is not particularly surprising that in a period of extreme political and social upheaval, adults are flocking to the internet to share their unfiltered thoughts with family, friends and—whether intentional or not—employers.