Amid a sea of bad,eroticization of japanese culture in western contemporary art performative brand statements, BabyNames.com — of all places — posted a moving statement on the recent protests and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The website posted the names of black people who've been killed, many by police, and noted simply: "Each one of these names was somebody's baby." It's the first thing you see when you click on the site's homepage.
After the list of names there's a simple message: "BabyNames.com stands in solidarity with the black community. #blacklivesmatter"
The result is simple and moving. It doesn't equivocate. And it doesn't read like a brand trying to make the movement about themselves or shilling a product.
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The message from the site quickly went viral and apparently flooded it with visitors. Its Twitter account also posted a link urging people to donate to the Black Lives Matter movement.
"BabyNames.com is a family-owned [and] operated company," wrote founder Jennifer Moss on Twitter. "We take family very seriously. Our server is doing its best under the heavy load. THANK YOU so much for the mentions. We love you.
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The nation, of course, has been rocked by protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Floyd's name was the last to appear on the graphic from the baby naming site.
"BabyNames.com is a family owned and operated company and this issue is important to us. We had been trying to devise a statement in support of the BLM movement and when I saw the list of names on NPR I was heartbroken," wrote Moss in an email to Mashable. "We wanted to show they weren’t just names, they were somebody’s loved ones. The list is growing as people are sending in additions. We are grateful and humbled to have helped further the conversation about systemic racism and violence in this country."