Category: Black Lives Matter

Reflective Essay on Idea and Activity of Black Lives Matter

Anyone who hears the lyrics “Okay ladies, now let’s get in formation” automatically thinks about Knowles (Beyoncé Giselle Knowles), especially if you are known to be a part of the Beehive (Knowles fanbase). “Formation” was one of the trendiest songs of the year 2016, many women around the world were singing and recreating the choreography to this song. Knowles is known for many things throughout the years, from singer, songwriter to record producer and actress. The meaning behind the song “Formation” and video was endless. She was able to address rumors that were going on about her and her family, black lives matter, the devastation that Hurricane Katrina caused to the state of Louisiana, and black feminism. Since Knowles “Formation” shows you what is going on in the world, some people were offended by how she expresses it from the public to media appearances. Many wrote articles about problems with the song and the impact that it caused. The scenes from the video represent the issues that are going on; the song continues to be an eye-opener throughout the years to come.

At the beginning of the video “Formation”, you will notice a police vehicle halfway submerged in water while Knowles is standing/ sitting on the hood of it, police siren flashing and a vest with the word police written on it. The scene in which a young black boy dances in front of a line of white police officers with a black hoodie raised his arm, and police officers immediately took me on the Black Lives Matter movement. The video following this, in particular, in which the word “Store Us” was painted spray on a wall. Black lives matter has been a significant part of many people’s lives, and the project was created in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. Black Lives Matter is a political and cultural intervention in a world where Black lives are steadily and deliberately targeted for destruction. It is an assertion of Black people humanity, our commitment to this society, and our bravery in the face of deadly oppression. During the murder of Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, after making a 911 call for “suspicious activity,” Trayvon Martin was only 17 years old. As Black Lives Matter developed, we used it as a platform and an organizing tool. Other groups, organizations, and individuals have used it to amplify anti-Black racism across the country in all the ways it has emerged. Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Mya Hall, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland, these names are significant. The space that Black Lives Matter held and continues to hold helped spark conversation around the state-sanctioned violence they experienced. In particular, we highlighted the appalling ways in which black women, particularly trans-Black women, are being violated. Black Lives Matter has been developed to support all Black lives. The Black Lives Matter movement is creating a rigorous effort not to promote violence. It responds strongly when accused of committing acts of violence during protests. But this comes with the territory of a poorly structured community. When you establish or encourage protests and encourage everyone to get involved, the group itself and the movement bear the brunt of the guilt if some of them become violent or destructive. Throughout the struggle of making an impact for Black Lives Matter, the phrase “All Lives Matter” begun as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement soon after the movement managed to gain national attention. “All Lives Matter” reflects the view of racial dismissal, ignorance, and rejection. Later the groups “Blue Lives Matter”, White Lives Matter,” started in response to Black Lives Matter as well. Huge discussions on which was more important were going on for years on every social platform mostly with “Blue Lives Matter” which is the importance of the lives of law enforcement throughout the states.

Between the first half of the video, Knowles’s oldest daughter Blue Ivy popped up with her hair in an afro and said, “I want my little heir with baby hair and fros,” which is the response for people who talked about her hair few years. It was a breath of fresh air to see all the blackness representations of the past and the present. It showed the African Americans’ long cultural history and how culture, such as tears and afros, has changed over time. “I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils” (Knowles), I have noticed that this is all the critique of Jay-Z’s (Shawn Corey Carter) nostril, which has been mocked for years. I know this is not the case with Jackson Five nostrils. She has shown that she loves and is proud of the features of her child and husband, but I believe that she has also hinted that we should be proud and embrace our natural features and our blackness. In other words, in my opinion, her use of lyrics and political imagery is Knowles’s way of trying to help us decolonize our minds from cultural colonization. There were several backlashes when Knowles backup dancers were dressed like the Black Panthers with their berets, afros, and their fists in the air, as many rightly felt they were. Black women know, in particular, the challenges that come with being intentional about power, how they get it, how they keep it, how to understand that they deserve it. Black women have often been depicted as loud, shrill, shimmering caricatures of womanhood. Knowles takes every single negative label that has been slapped on Black women and proudly claims all of them. She’s screaming, shrill, and she’s swaying her arms all the way to “Formation,” and she’s dared to criticize. Everything that’s been taught to get away from as Black women are on display, and Knowles urges us to throw away all our hang-ups and to be true to who Black women are to rock your fake hair or to wear it natural, have intercourse with who you want and when you want to, make your money, don’t be afraid to be strong. Be humble and gracious, but never miss a chance to thump your chest and praise yourself for your accomplishments. Black Feminism argues that Black women’s experience gives rise to a specific perception of their position in relation to patriarchy, class oppression, and discrimination. The perception of being a black woman, he insists, cannot be understood in terms of either being black or being a woman. Understand that you’re not necessarily going to be heard, and that’s all right. Understand that there will be people who don’t want to see you succeed, and that’s all right, too. There are other layers of ‘Formation’ that will be unpacked in the coming days: its approach to racism, the Black Lives Matter movement, the government’s stance to social and economic issues including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

From the beginning of the video I saw the floods that caught my attention and thought of Hurricane Katrina, which landed in the morning of August 2005 and distorted the area. While some of them are giddy by the metaphor that Knowles body is submerged by water, I noticed images of bloated bodies of grandmas and grandparents, cousins, uncles, great aunts, and nieces drifting through the floodwaters like scrap wood. These were all photos that flew through my computer screen to replay as I watched the video. These were the horror stories told to me by the victims of the hurricane. Tens of thousands were killed indirectly as a result of medical complications, suicide, heart failure, post-traumatic stress disorder, or murder in the months and years following the storm. From someone else’s point of view, it would seem that Knowles, moving to the aftermath of Katrina, is centering New Orleans, but it is not. Actually, it exacerbates the trauma; a lot of people have been upset by the video, and what they have witnessed throughout it has caused a lot of controversy. The US government and authorities have been widely criticized for not doing enough to help the African American victims of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated and flooded the poorest parts of the city in 2005. Hurricane Katrina landed off the coast of Louisiana on August 2005. This hit land like a Category 3 hurricane with winds hitting speeds as high as miles per hour. Because of the destruction and loss of life that followed is often considered to be one of the worst storms in U.S. history. It is estimated that thousands of people died as a direct result of the storm, which also cost an estimated billion property damage, making it the most expensive storm ever recorded. The devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina opened a number of deep-rooted problems, including disputes over the federal government’s response, difficulties in search and rescue efforts, and lack of attentiveness for the storm, especially with regard to the city’s aging series of levees, fifty of which failed during the storm, significantly flooded the low lying city and caused much of the storm. Katrina’s casualties tended to be low income and African Americans in an inconsistent number, and many of those who lost their homes encountered years of suffering. 10 years after the tragedy, the phrase, ‘What began out as a natural disaster became a manmade disaster, a failure of the government to look out for its own people,’ (Obama) said. The town of New Orleans and other coastal communities in Katrina have remained significantly altered more than an era after the storm, both physically and culturally. The destruction was so severe that some critics suggested, controversially, that New Orleans should be forever demolished, even as the city vowed to recover. According to the Data Center Report, the population of New Orleans fell by more than half in the year after Katrina. As of this article, the city has grown back to almost eighty percent from where it was before the storm.

Knowles’s work shows that revolution can be beautiful; protest and celebration are not contradictions in imagining a black future that is not overrun by images of black pain and death. In the final sequence of the video, an African American child in a hoodie ‘gets light;’ the dance is a challenge to, but still in dialog with, a police line in formation. His dance comes to an end as he raises his hands up in surrender; the police line raises their hands in response. If the message is not clear, a quick cut to the graffiti wall with the words ‘stop shooting us’. And then, as a gesture, Knowles, using the weight of her own body, drops a police patrol car into the floodwaters to give birth to a new life. Women and children will put the future to fruition, it says; maybe, it says, maybe women and children can. ‘Formation’ is not only a scathing critique of how society has dealt with the African American battle for empowerment, but also a call to arms in and of itself. Knowles strongly urges an immediate and necessary re-emergence of the civil rights movement and a broader dialog on intersectional xenophobia. In classic Knowles fashion, she did so without warning, but at a time when we needed her most. Knowles has served us with some realism, and it is high time we heard her call for action and work to empower both African American women and the African American community as a whole. Knowles is a black woman artist who creates black art for black women. She’s not stealing from or appropriating black culture. She’s not touching her feet in the flow of the various elements that surround American blackness. No, she creates a work that appeals to an audience that might not obtain the kind of popular, creatively and sonically appealing insight that Knowles has mastered. This truth has never been more well defined than that of ‘Formation,’ its new off-kilter, sometimes borderline weird trap song, which dropped on Saturday afternoon.

Police Brutality In America: Activity of Black Lives Matter

Police brutality has been around since the 1900s towards all races, however recently minorities have been targeted by the police, especially black men who are “strikingly vulnerable,” (Khan). This is now a rising problem that has affected many states across the United States. This involves unnecessary and unjustified violence towards people by the police; in disregard, if they are breaking the law or not. Over recent years this issue has become more prevalent due to social media broadcasting these injustices. The killings of innocent young black men by police officers have ignited movements including, ‘Black Lives Matter’. One of the main reasons why police have been criticized is because of some of their discriminatory practices towards people of color, in contrast to their more merciful ways toward white people.

When looking at police brutality closer, racism seems to be the underlying issue. This is based on the fact that a black man is 2.5 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than their white peers (Khan 2019) One of the Leading Causes for death of black man is police brutality, in fact, “1-in-1,000 black men can expect to die,” due to this rising issue (Khan). A surprising statistic that points out the risk that young African American men have to face. However, arguably the statistics can be due to the higher crime rate amongst minorities. The majority of killings by police take place in lower-income neighborhoods where minorities are typically located. According to research done by the Washington Post, most black men who are killed by the police don’t show more of a lethal threat than their white counterparts. (Lowery). This information suggests possible bias amongst police officers that minorities are more likely to be doing something illegal or criminals.

One of the biggest problems with police brutality is that most of the time, police aren’t held responsible for their actions. It is quite common for these situations to be the word of the police officer against the word of the possible “criminal”. In most of these instances, it is more common for the judge to side with the police officer. Which is most likely due to the judge being biased or no little to evidence being presented. Occasionally, when it comes to the court case and racial prejudice is prevalent, it results in wrongful convictions and imprisonment of African Americas in-spite of the discrimination shown by police in the first place. In a period of fewer than three years between 2014 and 2016, there were nine such high-profile murder cases, only one of which has resulted in a serious conviction so far (Garner). This forces people to examine the justice system closer and criticize their racist or biased ways.

Police officers involved in brutality against black men claim to fear for their lives when they are performing traffic stops on black men. They are dehumanizing black men and looking at them as animals when they are indeed humans. Historically, African Americans have faced many negative stereotypes that now have unfortunately lead to their death. For example, the killing of an unarmed black man named Ryan Twyman. He was shot 34 times by a Los Angeles Officer in June of 2019. Soon after his death, his family realized how often a black man gets pulled over and how the police treat him because of his blackness. Ryan had seizures and instead of helping him they suggested that he was on drugs. The constant bias and unfair treatment by the police is not acceptable, especially in a country that prides itself on “liberty and justice for all”, as well as human diversity (Adedoyin 2019). It is concerning to witness people of authority abuse their power and the law as a way of expressing their bias towards other races. Not only is it illegal but damaging to society and the respect of authority. Police brutality is not an issue that should only worry about minorities, but instead of all citizens because these actions taken by the police is the first step to an oppressive society. Everyone should be concerned that the police are willing to disobey the law no matter who is on the other hand – the police are here to protect us at the end of the day.

Today most African Americans live in fear, regardless if they are criminals or innocent people. This problem has reached a point in which psychologists are now recognizing the rise of mental health issues and emotional trauma on other black people in America, especially those in the neighbors that police shootings take place. Even if they just read or heard about it on the news, mentally it was found to take a toll on them. Research showed “effects on mental health occurred in the 1–2 months after exposure” and that typically includes anxiety, depression, and antisocial behavior (Lancet). They feel less than their white peers because they know and have seen the unfair treatment of people like them by people that are there to protect everyone equally.

After the shooting and murder of Trayvon Martin in February of 2012, a movement is known as “The Black Lives Matter” begins. Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African American male visiting his father in Sanford on February 26th. On this day, Martin watched an NBA All-Star game in a gated community, later leaving to pick-up snacks at a local 7-11. When he arrived back to the gated community, he was confronted with George Zimmerman, a police officer who believed Martin, unarmed, to be dangerous and “on drugs,” (Mother Jones). After being told not to follow him, Zimmerman disobeyed, got into a wrestling match, and shot him. Trayvon was pronounced dead.

While police brutality has been around for decades, this murder outraged many and ignited the movement known for propelling the nation into awareness. The Black Lives Matter began because of three, strong African American women who wanted not only justice for the innocent, black lives the United States lose daily, but also to speak up for a community that has been silenced due to the color of their skin. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi created “a Black-center political will and movement building project,” and it has been relevant for nearly six years, (Black Lives Matter). The three-member group quickly became a member-led organization consisting of over 40 chapters. While maintaining the original vision, members of different chapters spread awareness of the hate crimes, discrimination, and police brutality occurring within the black communities of their hometowns. Because of the movement and the hashtag associated with it, the deaths of Tamir Rice, Tanisha Anderson, Mya Hall, Walter Scott, Sandra bland—to name a few—reached a multitude within minutes.

The movement’s mission to spread awareness does not stop on the screens most of the society views. It spreads within the walls of academic buildings and has become a frequent topic. Though some educators steer clear of the topic, others quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “A threat of justice in one community is a threat to justice in every community.” Thus, they not only talk about the movement, but they also teach it. Trinity Thompson of Harlem, New York believes that it’s her duty as a teacher and educator to enlighten her students on the world around them. When talking about the Black Lives Matter movement, she is sure to mention the initial incident that led to another used hashtag and the results of that incident. In her eyes, she believes it to be “an opportunity to teach about collective action and to link past racial justice movements to the present. But all educators, by virtue of the fact that their students have either direct or mediated exposure to Black Lives Matter, should know the basic facts about the movement’s central beliefs and practices,” (Pitts). Whether the students agree with the movement or not, it is their right to be informed of the cruelties occurring around them.

While the Black Lives Matter community is large in number, there is an equally large number of individuals who do not support the movement and criticize it. There are many who believe that the movement was sparked on pure emotion and outrage when the reality is the movement is working toward legislative changes. They are fighting for the equality of African Americans that was supposedly given when segregation ended—they are creating policy changes to end the oppression of black people. The Black Lives Matter organization has inspired other organizations to curate policy demands and proposals. One of the best examples of this inspiration is Campaign Zero. Campaign Zero declares itself “A Blueprint for Ending Police Violence.” They are an interactive online site that seeks to create and change current policies that will end police brutality.

Fortunately, the normality of police brutality is something that will eventually decrease through the rise of new technology. The new developments have created more possibilities, not only for people of color but the police officers. Dash and body cameras have been used for a while now across the country. These are installed in the front of police cars and put on police officers’ uniforms. They record everything that happens. This not only allows for police to be held accountable for their actions but protect them if something goes wrong. They’re not only beneficial for the police but for the victims of police brutality to show the reality of the situation. Without video, the “police would be able to tell [the court] whatever they felt like saying about those stories, and we’d have no way to fact-check their statements” and vice-versa (King). The concern with body cameras is that the police have control of when it is on and when it off. If or when the police officer makes the decision to not have his body camera on, this puts everyone in danger, especially the targeted black men. The evidence that the camera is supposed to produce is now not there, which disregards the credibility of both parties’ words.

Most importantly, the rise and power of the internet and social media is one of the things that has sparked awareness of police brutality and unfair treatment of African Americas across the country. It is one of the reasons why in recent years, police brutality has been recognized and criticized. Social media allows people to show what is happening around them as well as giving minorities a voice that wouldn’t necessarily be possible if it wasn’t for the internet era. Raw videos taped on cell phones, dash and body cameras are posted on social media. For instance, as mentioned earlier, the killing of Ryan Tywan. The death of the innocent man “barely made the news,” however, the “video of the entire incident, which [was] roughly 50 seconds,” caused the story to gain a larger audience and deserved attention (Levin). This is important because now many unjust acts done by the police is now almost impossible to conceal and unpunished.

The solution to this problem includes awareness, body cameras, and the police being held accountable. However, the solution doesn’t reside only in the authority’s hands. African Americans that get stopped by the police, as well as bystanders, have to contribute. There are many things that they can do. As the person being stopped, obeying all of the things the police are asking of them is crucial. This can reduce the likelihood of the police using force to get what they want. As a bystander, take precautious action when seeing unfair treatment. Videotaping or even just being there can also affect the outcome of situations like these.

In conclusion, the rising issue of police brutality in America and the unfair treatment towards African- Americans need to be addressed. The first step to solving this issue is holding everyone accountable for their actions even if they are an authority figure. Young black men are living their lives in fear while their white counterparts are not worried about being stopped and killed by the police. Exposing these inequalities, with the help of videos, social media, and movements have forced America to look at the justice system and authority differently. Recognizing and dealing with this problem will move America in a better direction because not only black people but all minorities will feel heard and significant in a place that they haven’t always felt that way.

Works Cited

1. Adedoyin, A.Christson, et al. “The Dehumanization of Black Males by Police: Teaching Social Justice—Black Life Really Does Matter!” Journal of Teaching in Social Work, vol. 39, no. 2, Apr. 2019, p. 111. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/08841233.2019.1586807.
2. “Campaign Zero: A ‘Blueprint for Ending Police Violence’.” The Center for Popular Democracy, 17 Apr. 2017, https://populardemocracy.org/news-and-publications/campaign-zero-blueprint-ending-police-violence.
3. Garner, Eric. “After 9 High-Profile Police-Involved Deaths Of African-Americans, What Happened To The Officers?”. WBUR, 2014, http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/07/11/america-police-shooting-timeline.
4. “Herstory.” Black Lives Matter, https://blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/.
5. Khan, Amina. “Getting Killed by Police Is a Leading Cause of Death for Young Black Men in America.” Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug. 2019, www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-08-15/police-shootings-are-a-leading-cause-of-death-for-black-men.
6. Lowery, Wesley. “Aren’T More White People Than Black People Killed By Police? Yes, But No.”. Washington Post, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people-killed-by-police-yes-but-no/.
7. Levin, Sam “Los Angeles Officers Shot at Ryan Twyman 34 Times. He Was One of Four They Killed That Day.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 15 Aug. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/15/police-shootings-los-angeles-sheriffs-department-ryan-twyman.
8. Pitts, Jamilah. “Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters: Part I.” Teaching Tolerance, https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/summer-2017/why-teaching-black-lives-matter-matters-part-i.
9. Police killings and their spillover effects on the mental health of black Americans: A population-based, quasi-experimental study Bor, Jacob et al. The Lancet, Volume 392, Issue 10144, 302 – 310
10. Thurau, Lisa H., and Johanna Wald. “Police Killings, Brutality Damaging Mental Health of Black Community.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 15 Sept. 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/policing/spotlight/2018/09/14/police-brutality-damaging-black-communitys-mental-health/1218566002/.
11. Weinstein, Adam, and Mark Follman. “The Trayvon Martin Killing, Explained.” Mother Jones, 25 June 2017, https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/03/what-happened-trayvon-martin-explained/.

Comparative Analysis of Larry Buchanan’s and Hilton Als’s Opinions About the Black Lives Matter Movement

Matter of Black Lives started in such a short period, amid the split and sometimes unstable world of movements of social justice, the protests have done so much to reflect on questions of long-neglected racial justice, gender and economic injustice. Black Lives Matter isn’t always solely committed to bringing about significant legislative and legal reforms, but it can expect to turn opposition to permanent and essential human rights gains. Black Lives Matter has recently been the focus of several discussions and talks in America. The All Lives Matter response was intended to condemn the Black Lives Matter movement and is believed to be a post-racial culture where the movement is not relevant in USA.

It explores racial myths, racial preparation and racial philosophy in the United States. According to Larry Buchanan, “suggest that about 15 million to 26 million people in the United States have participated in demonstrations over the death of George Floyd and others in recent weeks”. According to Hilton Als, “someone, or a bunch of someones, heard that a young boy, a fourteen-year-old black kid, Richard Ross, had been killed by a cop”. This two author make the point of evidence the numerous accounts of police brutality incidents over the last year challenge the efficacy of police officers. Police violence in some cases is the product of systemic racism. In the light of the fact that an impropriety will exacerbate an already volatile situation, the police officers are constantly equipped to avoid violations of their power and to use a strong hand when dealing with rebellious persons and crowds. Any of the actions of the police are used for racial discrimination. Which had led to the death of those black people.I think this is important because cops mostly due to various certain races, expose the people of african descent extremely to attention. The policeman knocks innocent people over for no other reasons because of race or blackness. This racial discrimination involves false stereotypes about individuals or classes.This can also mean that people living in America believe that they are not racist and do not take the color of a person’s skin into consideration but it also about the black live because the death of George flyod previous clears racist action against black.If black lives don’t matter, America sends a message that black lives don’t really mean life, and thus you can dispose of them, kill them or be lost. History also indicates that black lives have been treated as a part of a human life since the slavery.

The American Society reached the point that it needs The Black Lives Matter Movement by looking first at race theory and social contextual features in the United States. According to Larry Buchanan, “Black Lives Matter has been around since 2013, but there’s been a big shift in public opinion about the movement as well as broader support for recent protests. A deluge of public support from organizations like the N.F.L. and NASCAR for Black Lives Matter may have also encouraged supporters who typically would sit on the sidelines to get involved”. According to Hilton Als, “In those years, black boys were locked up or killed all the time; you didn’t think about it much, because to think about it was to remember what a killing field New York was, and how easily you, too, could become a body in that field”. Both those statements demonstrate the same things because what Als Hilton had led to Larry Buchanan’s argument because the media and the Black Lives Matter movement gained attention over the years period surrounding the protests. The deaths of people killed annually in the U.S. by police forces in recent years, shed light on how the battle for racial equal rights has evolved and what has changed and what has remained the same. I think one of this peaceful protest had impact of the NFL player because he just protest peacefully, when Colin Kaepernick is still out of a job nearly four years after it started to protest racial inequality and police violence through the NFL games, and then stayed and kneel. They just want the police to stopped killing us. At this time social expectations existed for certain behaviours, as in culture today, it was not discriminated on. Many individuals have different views, different expressions and the rules about discrimination relative to today.

According to Larry Buchanan, “In New York, lawmakers repealed a law that kept police disciplinary records secret. Cities and states across the country passed new laws banning chokeholds” and According to Hilton Als “One way to control unruly, ungovernable refugees, of course, is to remind them that they are guests of a mighty police state. Every billy club that cracks open a black skull anywhere is proof of that’. This means the racism of perceptual difficulties also impacted the crime equity system significantly. It is a deliberate phenomenon that has impacted the criminal equity system at all stages. This completely disregards the historical experience of violence endured by people of color and relies exclusively on fantasies and generalizations that were responsible for legitimizing repression that’s not real, America has essentially created another form of pre existent the criminal equity system has colossal dysfunction over the amount of people affected by it. This modern kind of racism, not at all like the organically formed discrimination of the past, is culturally-focused and nonpretentious discrimination. The Black Lives Matter Movement analysis is that it would pull past battles in case it has to take sympathy from the public to shift the audience. This is a valuable incentive. Both of these items are applied to the shift that is happening in an analysis of Black Lives. The general aim of the Black Lives Matter Campaign is to combat the vision challenged racism and shift processes and systems in the American culture that interact with people of color like that.Imagine what this issue will produce in the future because as the devil have a power it will never make justice for black people.

Works Cited

1. Als, Hilton. “My Mother’s Dreams for Her Son & All Black Children.” The New Yorker. June 21, 2020.www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/29/my-mothers-dreams-for-her-son-and-all-black-children. Accessed September 21, 2020.
2. Buchanan, Larry and Quoctrung Bui and Jugal K. Patel. “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History” The New York Times. July 3, 2020 www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html.Accessed october 12, 2020.

System of Violence Against Coloreds

Black Lives Matter has ascended inside the latest years as a tremendous improvement regarding social order in the society. Filling in as a philosophical and governmental action, BLM forms to make sure about and speak for conditions of people of color and the ethic society. This paper will outline the struggles that people of color face taking it back to years of slavery sparking current events as there are still huge number of racisms, violence and police brutality and how it resists the violent system in opposition to people of color. This paper will also argue about how the system is far to whites more than black people, Hundreds of years of ethic obstruction in opposition to justice, auxiliary, and bodily harm is the recorded setting of the black lives movement. Two noticeable parts of the development are intersectionality and decentralized initiative. The suggestions for opposition are that the black lives are another type of campaigning and community development and there is a requirement for appropriately recording obstruction at the time to illuminate future developments and to forestall future epistemic viciousness. On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old person of color, was executed by police officers while being captured for purportedly utilizing a fake bill. Many people in the neighborhoods took to the roads to address the issue. The purpose of this paper is to talk in detail about the history that led to ethnic discrimination in the first place, to argue about how the system in place created hatred, beatings, assault.

BLM is ‘a philosophical and political intercession in this present reality where ethnic lives are efficiently and deliberately focused for destruction. It is an attestation of Black people’s commitments to this general public, our humankind, and our flexibility even with dangerous mistreatment. In this announcement, BLM is situated as opposition against foundational hostile to ethnic viciousness. Their main goal likewise summons the freedom undertakings of the BHK Framework. These objects are described by intersectionality consciousness of position in the public arena, decentralized authority (Chapman-Hilliard & Adams-Bass, 2016).

Frantz Fanon (1961) states “that savagery as a cycle through which the body, interaction, or potentially mental trustworthiness of someone else or bunch is hurt. Given the person, social, and institutional nature of against Black intolerance, it gets essential to see how this viciousness can happen truly, through structures and arrangements, and the rejection of voicing out and viewpoints”. The reason for this conversation gives chronicled setting to the conditions that gave birth to the BLM.

A great part resulting to foundational hostile to Blackness is ascribed to racial private enterprise (Robinson, 2000). Racial free enterprise abused individuals through the crossing points of subjugation, colonialism, and decimation; this created a worldwide financial framework wherein private people and partnerships control the methods for creation, admittance to merchandise, and the estimation of products. The transoceanic slave exchange tore a huge number of black people from their countries and scattered them all through America is what is currently alluded to as the black people diaspora. This generally brutal event drove Afrofuturist researcher to allude to the result as ‘The Armageddon Effect’ referring to the prophetically tragic in the state of where diasporic black people got themselves.

Physical viciousness is generally obvious and is ordinarily characteristic of individual-level bigotry as well as institutional and social prejudice happening in people. The auxiliary cheapening of black carries on with leaves them powerless against bigoted bodily viciousness. This can happen on account of cops, yet in addition residents. As represented by laws, for example, “the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850” (Robinson, 2000).

Black individuals were focused as a populace to be overseen and constrained by white society. One sort of physical viciousness especially pertinent to black people group is cops mercilessness. Cop’s viciousness may incorporate occurrence of murder from bodily harm or carelessness just as unnecessary nonlethal physical and mental injury (Jones, 2016).

Number of prominent situations that have carried people’s concerns attention to the matter, for example, the punishment or assault of King in the 1990s, the gunning down of unarmed ethic individuals in a Texas prison, and the improper imprisonments of people of color for a wrongdoing they didn’t submit nor was charged for. As per The Guardian, in 2015-16 dark Americans made up 12-15% of the United states populace yet represented practically 30% of unarmed people executed by cops (Swaine and McCarthy, 2017).

In conclusion BLM is ‘a philosophical and political intercession in this present reality where ethnic lives are efficiently and deliberately focused for destruction. Racial free enterprise abused individuals through the crossing points of subjugation, colonialism, and decimation; this created a worldwide financial framework wherein private people and partnerships control the methods for creation, admittance to merchandise, and the estimation of products.

Reference list

1. Chapman-Hilliard, C., & Adams-Bass, V. (2016). A conceptual framework for utilizing Black history knowledge as a path to psychological liberation for Black youth. Journal of Black Psychology, 42(6), 479-507.
2. Fanon, F. (1961). The wretched of the Earth. New York, NY: Grove.
3. Jones, D. M. (2016). A Bronx tale: Disposable people, the legacy of slavery, and the social death of Kalief Browder. University of Miami Race and Social Justice Law Review, 6, 31-50.
4. Robinson, C. J. (2000). Black Marxism: The making of the Black radical tradition. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press

Swaine, J, & McCarthy, C. (2017). Young black men again faced highest rate of US police killings in 2016. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/08/the-counted-police-killings-2016-young-black-men

The Concept of Race and Its Role in Generating Racial Injustices and Inequalities

African American’s have always had a long history with America, but yet, they continued to find ways to be resilient to end institutionalized racism within the United States. Race targeting has been an ongoing challenge for many decades, but as of lately, the excessive volume of violence against blacks have triggered a social stir creating another movement to end the Black injustice called the Black Lives Matter Movement, also known as BLM for short. Black Lives Matter is about the unlawful deaths of women and men of color who have died at the hands of police and the law. That is only one of the many aspects that birthed that statement. Although civil rights movements are not a new concept to our American history, the Black Lives Matter movement remains to fight against the wrongs and inequalities on Black Americans and those who continue to be disregarded and oppressed by the law. Black Lives Matter exposes the injustices suffered by communities of color.

To begin, race is what divides our nation. Our nation was brought upon by a white society that created “race” as a way to categorize those who were deemed “inferior.” Anyone that wasn’t Caucasian, including Natives, African Americans, Asians, Latinos, and much more, could be treated poorly and disregarded because they were different. Laws and rules were written to side with the “superior” race. If anything, race was another approach to disregard Black individuals and other people of color their rights and powers they deserved. Race allowed injustices and inequalities to occur, hence, race continues to “be an issue” as the white radical frame stayed for centuries to create racial inequality (Lane, 805). Many people don’t know the harsh true as to why race was created. These are things we don’t learn in school. These are underlying factors that create more systemic racism within our nation.

We don’t learn enough about the truth about race and how it truly affects the lives of others. Let alone, our textbooks do not tell students the hard history of African Americans. Our textbooks only show so much about black history because those in charge of our education system in states get to select what should be taught (COININTELPRO, 2). This is why there is a clear absence of American history when it comes to the many diverse cultures and different social justice movements in the United States. In the United States, race and racism are subjects that are heavily studied on within this country, but it is the least understood subject (Ted, 2016). Race and racism have become such a difficult and sensitive topic to speak about, it makes it hard for people to admit it’s a real issue.

The issue with police brutality is nothing new to America, especially police brutality against African Americans in the United States. But with the recent slayings and killings of black folks by police officers in America, the conversation of police brutality has been a ridiculously scorching topic. Due to the numerous amounts of killings of black people, there have been several demonstrations and riots against those police officers who were not prosecuted for killing those vulnerable, innocent African American individuals. In the case of Trayvon Martin, the nation experienced many emotions. Trayvon Martin was just a 17-year-old teenager who was gunned down on the way to a local gas station. His killer, George Zimmerman, a man who was a neighborhood watchman, killed the innocent teenager for no reason. The police told George Zimmerman to not to pursue Martin, he still did and managed to killed Martin. Not only did he kill Trayvon Martin, but he was acquitted of murder of the 17-year-old boy (Lane, 791). This birthed the Black Lives Matter Movement and spurred demonstrations across America to end police brutality against Black folks.

The idea of the Black Lives Matter movement became larger than life. Incident after incident since Trayvon Martin’s horrific death, violence against Black Americans continued. We hear and know the names of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, and many more individuals whose lives were taken away too quickly due to the hands of our law enforcement. Therefore, the best way to spread awareness and to humanize black lives is to be political in our current society. Black lives matter just as much as any life. That phrase is used and supported by many because our nation continues to ignore the fact that Black lives are systematically oppressed.

We continue to live in a society that still desires its whiteness, but in a more “sugar-coated” form, as folks are still fighting to gain the same rights and liberties as those who are given the privileges without having to do anything but be white. Because of these stereotypes, these injustices, and these issues not being resolved correctly and responsibly, people of all races, genders, classes, and ages are forced to mobilize together to help fight the complex realities this nation still holds. These particular times embarked a new meaning of freedom of movement. Although we have conquered and face many difficulties to get where we are today to gain and earn the respect and justice we need, to separate race, class, and gender, will always be a difficult task, as many people will continue to face oppression. If all lives mattered, then nobody would continue this hard to ask for justice, but when the day African American lives are given the same rights and value of lives as other in America, then, all lives will start to matter. But not all lives matter, that’s why “race” is a thing. When some raise the false equivalence of “All Lives Matter” or “Blue Lives Matter” to push back against Black Lives Matter, they ignore all of this. Whether through willful or actual ignorance of history and reality does not matter.

The Black Lives Movement as a Way to Protest Against Racial Injustice Among the Black Community

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, ‘A riot is the language of the unheard. And what is America failing to hear?’

When you hear someone say ‘black lives matter,’ what is the first thing you think about? Some might argue that all lives matter, not only those of black people. Others might argue that it is something they have been fighting for and will continue to do so until there is change. There have been countless protests around the world to show the issues that people of color are faced with. Going back to over 400 years ago, black people have faced racial injustices, whether it’d be racial profiling or racial discrimination and systematic oppression. The black lives matter movement is bringing awareness to the racial injustices among the black community, police brutality and misuse of their power that targets mainly POC, and acknowledge how the system has failed us.

The racial injustices among the black community have been represented throughout history. A great example would be the barriers they faced in education. Before 1940, states have legally required and some have even allowed segregation within their schools. Once this act was in place, ‘segregation relegated black children to schools lacking textbooks, libraries, auditoriums, cafeterias, and other amenities provided for white children,’ not to mention that there were not many schools for black students. Another example is the case of ‘Hilliard Brooks Jr. who was murdered on a Montgomery bus after he was accused of “creating a disturbance.” This can be seen as a case of racial injustice as it was ‘a white officer who fatally shot the unarmed black man’ and ‘the officer faced no charges.’ Some eyewitnesses claimed that the shooting was unnecessary as he was complying with what was being told to him. This sparked protests and activism for over a decade for social change to occur. Presently, there are common things that black people have been faced with such as discrimination from jobs and devalued due to the color of their skin.

Police brutality and misuse of their power, targeting mainly POC, have caused 24% of black people to be killed even when being only 13% of that population, as studies have shown.

There has always been a racial disadvantage among the black community and has not since been fixed or adjusted.

We take a stand with them. George Floyd, Natasha McKenna, Christina Taylor, Walter Scott, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Samuel DuBose, Michael Brown, and so many more have been victims of this corrupt system. So many defenseless people are killed because of the color of their skin. This has been an ongoing thing for so many years. Police abuse their power when it comes to POC. There were 27 days in 2019 where police had not killed anyone. Most of those killings done in a day are more than three people. Recently videos of cops have surfaced showing this injustice, specifically towards POC. A camera pointing them does not phase them because they know, at the end of the day, their privilege will overtake anything being recorded. These killings have gotten people mad. More protests are outbreaking all over the world. They will continue to fight for their rights and be heard. All lives matter, that is a fact, but if you are at an ER and someone comes in with a heart attack, they are going to be seen first because they need help the most. Black lives matter in no way is implying that only black lives matter, instead it is saying that black lives matter too and that they need our help to be heard.

The black lives movement comes to show that racial injustices among the black community still exist, police brutality and misuse of their power are an ongoing issue for the POC, and how the system failed us since the beginning. We have to come together and fight for what is right. This is not only about the lives that were lost, in a wrongful manner, within the last couple of years, but this is also about the number of lives we can prevent from being taken away. No one wants to live in fear, not knowing when they will take their last breath. I would rather fight for what is right and try to make a change for our future than to sit back and accept everything for how it is. Change might not come by as soon as we want it, but if we keep fighting together, it is bound to happen. Until then, we are left to protest. We are left to voice all these injustices and be heard so change can happen.

Representation of The Black Lives Matter Movement in Global Media Industries: Essay Planned Structure

Using an example of your own choosing, demonstrate how the process of mediatisation has shaped the development of a major event such as a revolution, humanitarian movement or global trend.

Argument Section:

On February 12th 2012, Florida high schooler, Trayvon Martin was fatally shot dead by George Zimmerman who an unregistered Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator for his gated community in Sanford, Florida. The Black Lives Matter Movement or #BlackLivesMatter was born in 2013 following the acquittal of Martin’s murderer, Zimmerman, who wasn’t charged for the hate-crime he committed against the unarmed young African-American. The BLM Movement describe themselves as “an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise” as stated on their website. They fight against police brutality and racism against Black people especially Women, LGBT+ and Queer People.

Mediatisation is a complex theory, however in this essay it will defined as, “a systematic concept for understanding and theorising the transformation of everyday life, culture and society in the context of the ongoing transformation of media” (Krotz, 2017). In simpler terms, mediatisation is the idea that that media shapes the discourse or processes of communication especially political communication as well as shaping the society in which this communication is occurring.

The reason the BLM Movement has been chosen to demonstrate the process of mediatisation and how it can shape the development of a major event is because this movement all started with a simple hashtag on the social media platform, Twitter. The phrase “Black Lives Matter” had been tweeted over 30 million times by September 2016 (Wortham, 2016). This statistic shows this movement was amplified by social media therefore, the process of mediatisation significantly shaped its development.

My key argument put forward in this essay will be that without the media the BLM Movement would not have reached such global headlines or gone as viral as it did. Therefore, to address the chosen essay question directly the process of Mediatisation was vital to allowing the BLM Movement to develop the way has since its inception in 2013.

Planned Structure:

Introduction:

• Define “mediatisation” in terms of this essay
• Give a brief explanation of what the BLM Movement is and when it was conceived
• Introduce key argument that the BLM Movement would not have been possible without the media in particular the hashtag (#BlackLivesMatter)
• Explain how this essay will show that the process of mediatisation was vital to the success of the BLM Movement

Paragraph One: (The BLM Movement)

• Very briefly explain the longstanding discrimination in the USA
• Define the key terms of Police Brutality and Racism
• Give statistic of:
• Between 2013 and 2019 – 2650 deaths from law enforcement
• Briefly explain how the movement came to be through the use of social media
• Give data about protests:
• From August 2014 to August 2015, at least 780 BLM protests occurred in 44 states
• Discuss how the Movement has changed and evolved from its inception to present day

Paragraph Two: (The Process of Mediatisation)

• Quote Hjarvard:
• “the media has become integrated into the operations of other social institutions, while they also have acquired the status of social institutions in their own right”
• Brief history on mediatisation
• Explain how this complex theory works in todays society especially in regards to social media and “trending hashtags” culture
• Finish paragraph by using statistic that:
• By September 2016, the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ had been tweeted over 30 million times
• This will lead into next paragraph on how the BLM Movement has been shaped by Mediatisation

Paragraph Three: (The Process of Mediatisation and the BLM Movement)

• Explain how it is evident from research that the BLM Movement and social media are intrinsically linked and this movement would not have been possible without the use of social media, primarily Twitter and ‘Black Twitter’.
• Show how the BLM was developed and shaped by the media, particularly social media
• Do this by including cited findings and research
• For example: those cited in the initial sources!
• Back these findings up by affirming that the key argument that the BLM Movement would not have been possible without Mediatisation

Conclusion:

• Restate key argument that the BLM Movement would not have been possible without the media in particular the hashtag (#BlackLivesMatter) which started on Twitter.
• Conclude that the process of mediatisation was not only significant but critical to the success of the BLM Movement

Initial sources:

1. Three Sources (not from Weekly Readings):
2. Cox, J. (2017). The source of a movement: making the case for social media as an informational source using Black Lives Matter. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), pp.1847-1854. Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2017.1334935
3. Ince, J., Rojas, F. and Davis, C. (2017). The social media response to Black Lives Matter: how Twitter users interact with Black Lives Matter through hashtag use. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(11), pp.1814-1830. Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2017.1334931
4. Leach, C. and Allen, A. (2017). The Social Psychology of the Black Lives Matter Meme and Movement. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26(6), pp.543-547. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0963721417719319

Source from Weekly Reading:

1. Krotz, F. (2017). Explaining the Mediatisation Approach. Javnost – The Public, 24(2), pp.103-118.
2. Source from Weekly Lecture:
3. Hjarvard, S. (2012). Mediatization: Theorising the Media as Agents of Social and Cultural Change. Matrizes, 5(2), p.53.

Other information cited in this Plan:

1. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/black-tweets-matter-180960117/ (30 million tweets statistic)
2. https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=428 – Bureau of Statistics USA (2650 deaths statistic)
3. https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/L2GSK6 (780 Protests statistic)
4. https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/ (Black Lives Matter Website)

Analytical Essay on Black Lives Matter Movement: Analysis of Advertising Campaign of Pepsi in 2017

For our advertising campaign I chose to compare it to the 2017 Pepsi campaign featuring Kendall Jenner as the leading lady. I chose this advert to use as a guideline on what not to do, in my opinion this Pepsi campaign embodies everything advertisement should avoid, due to the plethora of moral issues. There was so much backlash surrounding the commercial that Pepsi was forced to remove it from viewing platforms. During two thousand and seventeen, participating in activism progressively became more noticeable on social media. Catching the eye of widely recognized brands such as NIke,Hulu,Gillette and H&M. At the time I believe Pepsi thought it would be an exceptional opportunity to exploit what is known as Woke culture. This way they could promote their brand in a edgy and controversial way that catered to their audience whilst still upholding their brand values. This caused them to make a two-minute and forty-second commercial modeled after the Black Lives Matter movement. During this period a group of racially diverse people are protesting. Kendall watches the protesters whilst doing a photoshoot. Kendall then decides to shed off her blonde lace front wig and makeup to join the protest.Kendall then proceeds to steps in the frontline of the protesters grab a can of pepsi, hand it to a police officer and as a result everyone cheers and all’s right with the world.

After the global uproar Pepsi had no choice but to issue an apology statement to the offended public “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position.”(Pepsi, 2017)

However Pepsi’s apology only fueled flame to the fire, many people considered the statement half-assed and superficial. Disregarding the many sacrifices and days of devotion people made in order to fix the racial issues plaguing their community.

The main issue this advert had was the exploitation of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.Throughout 2017 there were many individuals specifically in the United States fighting against police brutality and racial injustice. Due to the amount of coloured people being killed by police officers, under what most people would consider to be, an absurd circumstance.Individuals partaking in the Black Lives Matter protests are solemn, serious and most of all they are extremely vocal about what it is they are fighting for. During these protests altercations break out, people are pepper sprayed,shoved, beaten and arrested.

Fighting for what you think is right is not for the faint hearted and at often times is an appalling and grotesque sight to behold. However in the Pepsi advert protesters walk the streets with colourful “love” and “peace” signs with no real purpose. Every person is portrayed as either happy, cheerful or chipper, this completely diminishes the struggle people go through when fighting to make a change.

Masses accused the company of undermining the sheer terror that takes place when participating in these events.Elle Hearns, a formal coordinator for the Black Lives Matter protest stated “No one is finding joy from Pepsi at a protest. That’s just not the reality of our lives. That’s not what it looks like to take bold action” (Murillo, 2017) After viewing the advert Bernice King the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., pioneer of the Civil Rights protest proceeded to tweet ‘If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi’ (Twitter.com, 2017) Mocking the brand for it’s tasteless execution of of the advert.

Bernice Kings reaction after the advert

Although the advert is considerably problematic the audience true outrage, lays at the end of the clip. Not only did Pepsi undermine the reality of the Black Lives Matter movement but they used a twenty-one year old Caucasian model to do it. Most people have compared the last scene of the advert to an undoubtedly similar picture of twenty-eight year old Leshia Evans. The photo was taken in Baton Rouge, Louisiana during a Black Lives Matter rally,Evans boldly stands on the frontline facing off a mass of police officers. Many people found it to be inspirational, they were able to relate it to the injustice they face in their own lives.

While Kendall faced with a smiling police officer who had accepted her peace-offering and was praised by the protesters around he. The same could not be said for Evans she was unfortunately arrested for her stance and blatant defiance.Many people felt as though comparing a white female to one of colour was completely inaccurate. This was because it was more likely Evans would face racial injustice, because Kendall has the luxury of what is known as white privilege. Due to this people deemed the action as a form of gentrification and cultural appropriation.

Lead female handing a Pepsi can to a police officer (left), Leshia Evans getting arrested whilst standing against police brutality (right).

Due to poor planning and lack of research Pepsi unfortunately, ended up with a two-minute, multi million dollar, tone-deaf advert lead by a reality tv star that lacked purpose and direction. This made me realise that for our advert we needed to be precise in exactly what kind of message we wanted our audience to receive. Although a message can be clear in production it doesn’t always necessarily mean that everyone is going to interpret it in the same way. With Pepsi they wanted an ad that was going to bring a range of cultures together to work in harmony for the better good.I also was made aware that cultural values can play a huge part in how people consume your brand. Pepsi tried to communicate the culture of ethnic minorities but lacked the vision and research to carry it out. To avoid these mistakes we took into full consideration on whether or not our ad would cause any political or cultural offense. I found casting in our advert could be a make or break.Pepsi having a white female lead, that in my opinion completely misses the point of racial minorities coming together. Instead their lead comes off as, a somewhat saviour of the people. I was also made aware that cultural values can play a huge part in how people consume your brand.

Our aim was to get people to recycle, recycling is a all inclusive activity which means anyone can do it. We wanted our brand to young people but still have a old school feel that older generations could relate to, this lead to our tagline It’s recycling not rocket science. Rocket science in itself is a great achievement but it took one person to take that first step, to achieve and benefit on everything we have today. This includes but is not limited to rocket ships, space satellites and man being able to step foot on the moon. We wanted to relate this to everyone taking that first step and realising it’s not impossible to help the earth it is as simple as properly throwing away plastics.We came to the conclusion that we would join archive footage of scientific achievements that were based on rocket science. For a more modern approach, we paired the archive footage with our own footage, this is what gave it a more modern setting whilst still making it look like it is from a different era. For the music in our advert we went with a remix of The Space Odyssey Theme to give it a vintage feel with a modern twist.For our logo we went for a design that looked like a pin or a patch which were both popular trends in the same. People often say trends don’t die they are just recycled. For our poster we chose to do two different styles that way there would be a fun variation. One poster has a jump off the page pop art kind of style, the other is more social awareness/hyper realisation style.

Bibliography

1. Twitter.com. (2017). Twitter. [online] Available at: https://twitter.com/pepsi/status/849679114416115714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-2521689856187821045.ampproject.net%2F1902271810270%2Fframe.html [Accessed 12 Mar. 2019].
2. HISTORY. (2010). Montgomery Bus Boycott. [online] Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/montgomery-bus-boycott [Accessed 12 Mar. 2019].
3. Murillo, V. (2017). Pepsi’s New Commercial Trivializes Social Justice Movements. [online] UCM Prodigy. Available at: http://www.ucmprodigy.com/pepsis-new-commercial-trivializes-social-justice-movements/ [Accessed 12 Mar. 2019].

Twitter’s Influence on the Black Lives Matter Movement

I would like you all to think about the question I am about to ask, what’s social media? Is it a news outlet? A way to attach yourself with friends? Well, both answers that were stated aren’t really wrong; however, it can most definitely be defined as an influence to our society thanks to its ability to attach people across the world. Studies show that in 2019, there have been 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, and growing, which equates to about 45% of the present population. This exact fact also means social media can influence about 45% of the earth’s population with its messages or posts. Albeit, there are many popular social media platforms to use lately, the one which will be getting discussed today is Twitter.

What’s Twitter? Well, Twitter is one among the most important social media platforms to use and it works by letting its users post messages online for people to discover. You can do things like press the like button on somebody else’s message and if you really enjoy a message from someone else, it gives you the feature of resending that message for more people to discover what he or she said. On Twitter, the messages even have a unique name to them called “tweets” and resending someone else’s message is called a “retweet”. Twitter also can have an influence and may be used as a platform to shout out support. Twitter has shown support to several topics which include the LGBT community and COVID-19 efforts; however, their recent gesture of support was directed at the black community. Recently, people all across the world were outraged by the killing of George Floyd and demanded justice for the policemen who killed him. This unfortunate event led to an outburst within the Black Lives Matter movement with more Americans showing their support to the cause. The Black Lives Matter movement is a movement that fights for equality and racial justice for the African-American people. Like Instagram, Facebook, and a plethora of other social media platforms, Twitter has also shown their support to the Black Lives Matter movement. Not only did the platform, Twitter show its support, but also, their users showed an enormous amount of support also. Although there are less people using Twitter than other social media platforms, Twitter still served as a major influence within the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Twitter used its hashtags and community to be used as a medium within the Black Lives Matter movement. Twitter’s community includes all kinds of individuals as shown in Ying Lin blog about Twitter stated, “Instagram and Snapchat may have snapped up the young demographic, but Twitter has its own crowd to appeal to. Approximately six of each 10 (63%) Twitter users worldwide are between 35 and 65 years old (theVAB, 2018)”. In 2014, an African-American teen named Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson by a Caucasian, middle aged policeman named Darren Wilson. Michael Brown was stopped on the streets of Ferguson by Darren Wilson, who said that Michael Brown attacked him and that he feared for his life after a struggle occured; however, other witnesses were saying that Wilson shot Michael Brown while Brown had his hands up. Either or, Wilson shot an unarmed black teenager and left his body on the streets of Ferguson which also led to an eruption within the Black Lives Matter movement, with many Americans either rioting or protesting. In Meredith Bennett-Swanson’s ‘Media Coverage of Black Lives Matter, she states, “In 2014, events in Ferguson, Missouri were discussed so frequently on social media that #Ferguson became the most-tweeted hashtag in what was then Twitter’s ten-year history. After Brown’s shooting, political activists added the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) to #Ferguson tweets, and it became the third most-tweeted hashtag within the same time span” (98). This quote shows that, albeit Twitter itself isn’t as big as maybe Instagram or Facebook, it still can function as a medium to people by its hashtags that spread awareness around the community. Also, in line with Jelani Ince, Fabio Rojas and Clayton A. Davis’ journal, ‘The social media response to Black Lives Matter: how Twitter users interact with Black Lives Matter through hashtag use’, they state, “We found that Twitter users were most likely to convey approval of the movement and assert their solidarity. As #BlackLivesMatter developed in 2014, there have been more mentions of specific tactics and a corresponding decrease within the discussion of events like Ferguson or police shootings” (1827). This tells us that the users of Twitter all shared a standard goal of supporting the movement and even approved of the movement by also sending out #BlackLivesMatter hashtags. This also means Twitter users continue to use the hashtag of BlackLivesMatter to extend the quantity of awareness on social media. the simplest example of this is on a twitter account of the username, @MonicaRAnders, telling everyone that after the Michael Brown shooting, the quantity of #BlackLivesMatter hashtags accelerated. She stated, “The use of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag accelerated following the shooting death of Michael Brown – from a 2016 @pewresearch analysis http://pewrsr.ch/2b8TX8V #Ferguson”. Therefore, this insight not only tells us all that the hashtags spread to other users, but also, it accelerates in trend making people around the community more observant about the subject.

Twitter gave updates and knowledge about the difficulty to its users and gave out charitable donations to non-profit organizations to function as a medium to the Black Lives Matter movement. Not only did Twitter give out information about the present topic, but also, made it easier for other users on the platform to connect with one another, because of Twitter’s usefulness in both of its protesting and organizing. W. Carson Byrd, Keon L. Gilbert and Joseph B Richardson, Jr in their journal, ‘The vitality of social media for establishing a research agenda on black lives and the movement’, stated, “Twitter, especially, is beneficial in both organizing and protesting in addition to research pursuits. Users can distinguish themselves from other users by classifying their tweets (i.e. messages composed of 140 characters) by hashtags, which permits users to unite with others in pinpointing social issues within communities in efforts of solidarity and collective action” (1873). This quote tells you all that Twitter’s usefulness in organizing, protesting, and research pursuits helps their users connect with other users to seek out social issues around their circle in order that they can take action. Also, in line with W. Carson Byrd, Keon L. Gilbert and Joseph B Richardson, Jr, they state, “Social media sites like the Washington Post and the Guardian (The Counted) on Twitter have provided real-time data on police-involved homicides, particularly shootings that might be impossible to trace using traditional data sources like the UCR (Uniform Crime Reporting). In fact, the Director of the FBI, James Comey, and former U.S. Attorney Generals, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, have criticized the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its inability to record and report police-involved shootings in real time in novel ways” (1874). This here proves to us that Twitter can provide better information to its users about a topic making Twitter an informative place to travel to once you need an update on a current situation. Alongside informing their users, Kevin Roose of the New York Times states, “A similar show of support unfolded at Twitter, where the corporation changed its official Twitter bio to a Black Lives Matter tribute, and Jack Dorsey, the chief executive, pledged $3 million to an anti-racism organization started by Colin Kaepernick, the previous N.F.L. quarterback”. This action proves to us all that not only is Twitter’s platform acting out as an agent of knowledge and awareness to its users, but also, it’s financially helping the African-American community.

As you all see, Twitter is often utilized in a variety of options, whether it’s to connect with your friends, to inform people, or to unite together as a community. We discussed the functions of Twitter and the way it works, alongside all the essential features you’ll be able to use to tweet, retweet, or post. We mainly talked about how Twitter can function as an enormous influence to the Black Lives Matter movement by using its hashtags and community, and by giving out updates and knowledge about the dilemma to its users, making their users more informed on the subject. From informing its users to connecting a community with a standard goal at hand, it’s most definite that Twitter served as an immense influence within the Black Lives Matter movement and served as a medium to its users.

When Will Black Lives Matter? Unveiling the Journey Toward Equality and Justice

Understanding the Roots of BLM and Racial Injustice

The big question is when will BLM be? For BLM to matter, some changes must be made. Segregation and racism against people of color in the United States have always been a subject of discussion for decades, perhaps centuries, where different figures have called on the people to fight and seek equality.

This is the genesis of the question as to whether BLM. However, different people have had different opinions concerning the issue, and this has compelled different groups to address the issue through various means, such as debates and protests. This is the genesis of the question as to whether black lives matter. However, different people have had different opinions concerning the issue, and this has compelled different groups to address the issue through various means, such as debates and protests. When Black people started seeking justice and fair treatment, they were not against the police but against the brutality and the excessive violence that the police used against black people and singled them out based on their race.

The Stark Disparity in Police Violence

Other than the unfair treatment that the black people received, they were also seeking a balance of power. According to observers, there are more than twice as many unarmed Black people killed by the police compared to White people. Black people are more likely to be deprived of their rights by law enforcement compared to white people, and this, according to studies, is not by accident but by design. This begs the question, do the lives of black people matter as much as those of any other? After the killings of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Kimani Gray, and many others who were black, people started to consider the vulnerability of black people in public spaces and doubted the legitimacy of the police force used.

The Catalysts for Outrage: Michael Brown and Beyond

The black people feared for their lives and no longer felt safe walking in the street. In November 2012, the incident of an unarmed couple who were shot dead also caught the attention of many people and compelled the black community to protest in a bid to stand up for their basic right to life. The killings of Michael Brown in 2014 made African Americans realize that they need to wake up and fight against police brutality and the unjust treatment that they receive. Michael Brown, also a victim of police brutality whose family did not receive justice, was just an innocent man walking in the streets of Ferguson at the time. The jury held that there was not enough evidence to incriminate the police officer who shot Michael Brown.

Challenging Stereotypes and White Supremacy

However, there was a feeling in the black community that the jury was favoring the police and treated Brown’s case as if black lives did not matter. There was also a feeling that Black people are often viewed as a threat to society, and unfortunately, the mindset is also affecting the upcoming generation. Although efforts have been put to create awareness, the consensus is that not enough is being done to end racism. After the continued killing of black people, the black people decided to form the Black Lives Matter movement to encourage people to stand up and unite against racial discrimination against black people and to fight against the expectation of normality defined by white supremacy, according to Anthony Bradley.

Addressing Misconceptions: BLM’s Broader Vision

Black lives matter because they are also people. It is not enough to say that black lives matter without giving reasons as to why it matters. Some of the White people, for instance, have depersonalized themselves from blacks because they feel that they look like criminals, and because they do not show affection towards each other, they should not be treated with dignity. Black lives matter because people are not independent, self-reliant, individualistic creatures who do not need others for their flourishing (Anthony Bradley). Thus it is necessary that society and the police force treat black people with the dignity they deserve. Conversely, when people talk about black people’s lives, it does not mean that the lives of other people do not matter.

More concerns are made about black people simply because they are the ones who are oppressed most by the police. Moreover, black people should not take advantage of the situation and break the law. If laws are broken, they should face the law but in a just manner. Bad policing has greatly influenced how black people are being treated. Due to the brutality and violence that the police use, black people have become more resistant to the law in case they are found on the wrong side of the law.

The supremacy system should train the police on how to treat people, whether they are criminals or not. Black lives matter protests should not be a way of promoting violence against the police but away from creating awareness of what black people face and the changes that the supreme system needs to make in addressing various issues when dealing with people and not only blacks alone. Some people argue that the action of the few do not present or should not be used to judge the action of the majority. However, if one police commit a crime and he or she is not dealt with accordingly, then the same action may be repeated by others as they may think that they would also walk escort free if they commit the same mistake. This is the more reason why people want the same law to be incorporated into the police and any other person, including the black if they do not abide by the law.

Black Lives Matter in Historical Context

As I have mentioned earlier on, black lives matter is simply a reminder to people that for most of American history, black lives have been valued less than white ones, but it does not mean that the lives of the white do not matter. Even after the reign of slavery, black people have continued to remain poorer, discriminated and more likely to be killed by the police. This is the more reason why black people would wish to be treated equally as compared to white people since they are living in a different century. Black people feel that racism has been used to define a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on race which disadvantages some individuals and communities while benefitting others. The black lives matter movement has tried to follow in a tradition of Black struggle in the United States.

It has tried to shed light way beyond the brutal killings that black people currently face and shows how the struggle for equal rights began a long time ago. For instance, black people were enslaved by whites in the early 1700s and 1800s, where they were forced to work in harsh conditions without pay. The families were also broken down and sold, and during all this, they were not allowed to question the white people. Additionally, the blacks were separated from the whites by the segregation law. Unfortunately, up to date, some of these laws are still practiced in some of our institutions.

The segregation law prevented African Americans from buying homes in the white neighborhood, barred them from certain jobs, and had separate substandard schools. This affected the learning of the black children because some of them felt like lesser human beings, and this also affected their mental growth. Although some laws were changed, some of the white people were already brainwashed and still felt that they were superior compared to black people. God is the Creator of the human family and looks upon every man, woman, and child as equal in dignity and worth (McLeroy); thus, the unnecessary killing of black people should be upon those in authority to address the issue and come together with another activist to prevent the killing of black people. Furthermore, they must recognize and reshape the racial misconduct issues that may arise to achieve racial justice work.

Racism is a public health concern since it is a social condition that affects a person’s health and causes social illnesses. Either psychologically or physically. The deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown are a reminder to health professionals to critically evaluate their work, values, and impact on people. However, efforts to fight racism should not be left in the hand of health professionals alone. It is upon all of us to confront, analyze, and dismantle racism.

The activists that are in support of Black lives matter echo the principles of an open society that is based on social justice that recognizes the equal value of all lives. They argue that researchers and practitioners should actively interact with black people to gain an understanding of how the injustices that they face affecting their lives. The practitioners and researchers do not necessarily have to be black. This, in the long run, would show that people, especially the whites are ready to also fight for social equality as it was during the civil rights movement. Black lives matter because it steals people’s dignity.

References:

1. “Black Lives Matter”. Black Lives Matter. https://blacklivesmatter.com/
2. Bradley, A. L. (2016). “Black Lives Matter: A Kingdom Dream”. In “Aliens in the Promised Land: Why Minority Leadership Is Overlooked in White Christian Churches and Institutions” (pp. 111-122). P&R Publishing.
3. McLeroy, K. R. (2015). “God Loves Black Lives Matter”. Retrieved from https://nacministers.org/god-loves-black-lives-matter/
4. “Racism as a Public Health Crisis”. (2020). American Public Health Association. https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/health-equity/racism-and-health/racism-declaration
5. Wise, T. (2016). “Black Lives Matter: A Commentary on Racism and Public Health”. American Journal of Public Health, 106(10), e12-e13. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303389
6. Alexander, M. (2010). “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”. The New Press.
7. Baldwin, J. (1963). “The Fire Next Time”. Dial Press.
8. Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2012). “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction”. New York University Press.
9. Luker, R. (1984). “Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood”. University of California Press.
10. Rothstein, R. (2017). “The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America”. Liveright Publishing.