Black Lives Matter: A Social Movement
With mass communication more accessible than ever due to social media and news outlets, a greater number of people are able to become aware of ongoing issues in the world. In particular, social media has brought a surge of information regarding racially motivated shootings/police brutality to the public’s eye. Starting in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, three black activists came together to create a hashtag on twitter called “#blacklivesmatter.” This expanded from simply an online trend to a full-blown social movement involving marches, protests, and other methods for black Americans to receive equal treatment.
After the death of Michael Brown (and the acquittal of Darren Wilson), the hashtag …show more content…
The point of “black lives matter” is to reiterate the fact that black lives do matter, contrary to what appears in the current institution we live in. On the other hand, white people in America don’t face the same issues that others do since they are in a position of power because of systemic racism dating centuries back. This difference in language may only have a one-word alteration although the implications extend much greater than that. When dealing with social movements, rhetoric is one of the most intricate and vital parts and should never be …show more content…
Scott and Smith write about a “radical confrontation” that deals with the “’haves’ and the ‘have-nots’” (Scott and Smith, 27), which in some ways is a parallel to the issues in the Black Lives Matter movement. In this modern day example, the “haves” are those who have privilege and an easier access to power and prosperity where as the “have-nots” “experience deprivation as poverty, or lack of political power, or disaffection from traditional values” (Scott and Smith 27). The movement uses confrontation as a totalistic strategy as well, where it expresses that black people “are already dead” (in respect to the killings of unarmed black men and women), “can be reborn,” “have the stomach for the fight” (partially because there isn’t all that much to lose at this point), and “are united and understand” (which can be seen with the organized protests and the awareness within the community protesting the injustices). (Scott and Smith,
With mass communication more accessible than ever due to social media and news outlets, a greater number of people are able to become aware of ongoing issues in the world. In particular, social media has brought a surge of information regarding racially motivated shootings/police brutality to the public’s eye. Starting in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, three black activists came together to create a hashtag on twitter called “#blacklivesmatter.” This expanded from simply an online trend to a full-blown social movement involving marches, protests, and other methods for black Americans to receive equal treatment.
After the death of Michael Brown (and the acquittal of Darren Wilson), the hashtag …show more content…
The point of “black lives matter” is to reiterate the fact that black lives do matter, contrary to what appears in the current institution we live in. On the other hand, white people in America don’t face the same issues that others do since they are in a position of power because of systemic racism dating centuries back. This difference in language may only have a one-word alteration although the implications extend much greater than that. When dealing with social movements, rhetoric is one of the most intricate and vital parts and should never be …show more content…
Scott and Smith write about a “radical confrontation” that deals with the “’haves’ and the ‘have-nots’” (Scott and Smith, 27), which in some ways is a parallel to the issues in the Black Lives Matter movement. In this modern day example, the “haves” are those who have privilege and an easier access to power and prosperity where as the “have-nots” “experience deprivation as poverty, or lack of political power, or disaffection from traditional values” (Scott and Smith 27). The movement uses confrontation as a totalistic strategy as well, where it expresses that black people “are already dead” (in respect to the killings of unarmed black men and women), “can be reborn,” “have the stomach for the fight” (partially because there isn’t all that much to lose at this point), and “are united and understand” (which can be seen with the organized protests and the awareness within the community protesting the injustices). (Scott and Smith,