BLACK LIVES
#MATTER Eliot Harper + Jessica Lo
a curation of
MEDIA
&
A VISUALIZATION OF
HASHTAGS
2 5 3 7 9 9 7 3 6 5 7
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Understanding the Impact of social media within Modern Activist Movements
PREFACE The role of media in social activism has taken a massive turn since the creation of millennial social media networks. Navigating the hundreds of thousands of tweets, Instagrams, Facebook conversations and photos about a myriad of social issues can be quite daunting at times. This short booklet attempts to outline and curate the movement of different hashtags that fall under the umbrella of the #Blacklivesmatter movement. Hashtags change and evolve as time goes on and focus in on points of change within a movement. #Blacklivesmatter as a twitter and media concept presides over a vast array of social issues and thereby demands a more complete lens through which to view it. We have gone ahead and taken a small portion of twitter hashtags and ordered them to illustrate the movement’s evolution over time. That is not to say that this evolution is completely linear. Backlash and debate spurs from social media as opinions differ and become more heated. When successful mass movements form, the rhetoric can often be co-opted and used against that movement in an attempt to diminish its value or call out its faults. We not only included the big, positive social hashtags, but also the controversial ones that attempt to silence or berate #Blacklivesmatter activists. On top of this we believe and have seen hashtags, ideas and concepts inadvertently silenced by the noise of their own partners in activism. We chose to include these as a critical aspect in the examination of social media activism as a mode of resistance. By doing all of this we hope to shine light on what often becomes very difficult to see within the mass of tweets and photos on the Internet.
Dear Reader, We’ve organized the following pages by hashtag, but do not limit each page to images or media that contain said hashtag. Rather, because individual hashtags can take on so many different meanings when different perspectives are applied to them, we took the liberty of associating images and text that we feel fall under the guise of feeling. The organization is meant to evoke different emotions. Frustration, rage, sadness, silence, even confusion are all aspects that we would like our reader to encounter and process while reading. #Blacklivesmatter is an emotional movement. Its power comes from the passion of every one of its activists. One of the consequences of that emotion, however, is the shroud of silence that can come from focusing in on single instances or people. Unconscious biases exist within every person that causes different amounts of attention to be allotted to various aspects of the movement. As such, keep visibility in mind. What are some hashtags you have never seen before, if there are any? How do these images and pieces of writing communicate with one another? What role do they play in joining people and what is the effect of each piece within its larger context? As we all know, conversations surrounding the #Blacklivesmatter movement between families, on social media and among artistic and academic communities are vastly different. Examining the ways in which they are different and how certain modes of expression impact conversation is critical in the search for more efficient and effective communication among members of the movement.
a letter to THE
READER
Finally, as you are flipping through these pages please keep in mind the subjectivity surrounding its process of creation. Know that we, as the curators of this little booklet, have our own perspectives that cause us to look in certain directions and focus on certain things. There is no finality or total compilation in social media, art or any other form of expression. Perspectives change, our goal is to illustrate that change in the best and most variable way we can. In Peace and Justice,
Eliot and Jessica
Understanding
BLACK LIVES
MATTER
analyzing the impact of twitter hashtags related to the #BLM movement
#BLM
BlackLivesMatter twitter trends
time magazine’s person-of-the-year runner up
THE ORGANIZATION
the new yorker
viral images
#Ferguson
The Ferguson protests
twitter trends
parallels between past and present
protests making headlines
#MikeBrown the son
twitter image of the autopsy
Media intake
Michael Brown on the scene
#DarrenWilson
The policeman
twitter trends
viral headlines
twitter response
#iftheygunnedmedown “If they gunned me down, what picture would they choose? Would they paint me as an honor graduate or bandana wearing thug?” @CruelYear 8/10/2014
#MIKEBROWN
#HANDSUPDON
“I JUST SAW SOMEONE DIE OMFG” “I’m about to hyperventilate” “I saw it happen man.” “he looked 18 or 19.” “[shot] 7 times i think” @TheePharoah 8/13/2014
“NO MATTER WHAT COLOR WE ARE WITH OUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR..A @FlyGuyzFame 8
#N
“NYPD officer app ‘I can’t breathe’, threaten @Delo_
#FERGUSON
“I’m heartbroken over the news of no indictment in Ferguson. Let’s all pray for peace.” @Pharrell 11/24/2014
#BLACK
MAT
#DarrenWilson “Give me a gun. Put me in Darren Wilson’s shoes. I’d have shot Mike Brown right in his face.” @BenHowe 11/26/2014
“We need to keep saying it so it @joseiswri
#SAYHERNAME
“Say Her Name: Because black women and girls matter, too” @blackvoice 5/19/2016
#BLACKWOME
“Azalia Bank’s twitter is suspended, b who’ve harrassed me in the past. t @SeeJay 5/12
#BLACKTRANSLIVESMATTER “Black Trans Lives Matter. If your movement isn’t about Black Trans Lives than it isn’t really about Black Lives.” @rumrotinfatgrlz 5/12/2016 “
#SANDRABLA
“Today is Tuesday, May 24, 2016. Many who figh America are forgotten martyrs. This generation rem @njackson1950 5/24/2016
#TRAYVONMARTIN
#ICANTBREATHE
“That could have been my son, Sebastian.” @DaRealAmberRose 7/12/2013
“I guess a video of a cop choking a man to death isn’t enough evidence to prove a cop choked a man to death” @scottacquavella, 12/3/2014
#ERICGARNER
NTSHOOT
E... WE ALL LOOK THE SAME A SIGN OF SURRENDERING.” 8/14/2014
“Eric Garner choked on videotape. His hands up before taken down. Not threatening anyone. Did prosecutors forget how to prosecute once again?” @LisaBloom 12/3/2014
NYPD
plies chokehold to man yelling ns bystander with a gun for filming.” _Taylor 5/22/2016
#SHUTITDOWN
K LIVES
TTER
transcends politics and partisanship” iting 12/11/2014
“Join everyone in the streets this weekend and shut it down, shut it down. Dec. 13 - National Day of Resistance” @dantebarry 12/10/2014
#WAKEUPAMERICA “VIOLENT CRIME IN AMERICA Black males ages 14-17 commit homicide at 10X the rate of whites & hispanics.” @Lrihendry 5/26/2016
#ALLLIVESMATTER “All Lives Matter. You know why we say that? First of all, its true and because we have had it with modern black people and their entitlement.” @amm_ballefb 5/16/2016
ENMATTER
but not the racists white men, they HARASS US EVERYDAY.” 2/2016
AND
ht for racial equality in members Sandra Bland” 6
#BLUELIVESMATTER “Black Lives Matter is a leftist hate group! Black Lies Matter, Blue Lives Matter” @chadphx 5/16/2016
#TAMIRRICE
“Tamir Rice’s death ruled a homicide just like Eric Garner’s. Let’s hope there’s justice for Tamir, this time around.” @bronze_bombSHEL 12/12/2014
#Eric Garner the victim
video evidence of incident
Demonstrators making a statement
viral tweet
drawing of the incident
#ICantBreathe
last words that shook us all support from across the nation
#HandsUpDontShoot
we are all the same
a viral online movement
#NYPD
THE INSTITUTION
nypd “crowd control”
nypd Commissioner splashed with fake blood
public disapproval
#All Lives Matter #Blue Lives Matter
a conservative response
Memphis firefighters
popular web comic
new “blue lives� bill
viral tweets
#SayHerName she will not be forgotten
famous quote
“Although Black women are routinely killed, raped, and beaten by the police, their experiences are rarely foregrounded in popular understandings of police brutality. Yet, inclusion of Black women’s experiences in social movements, media narratives, and policy demands around policing and police brutality is critical to effectively combatting racialized state violence for Black communities and other communities of color.” Kimberle Crenshaw, AAPF Executive Director demonstrators in support of black women
#SANDRABLAND
aapf’s official report on police brutality on black women
SANDRA BLAND
#BlackTransLivesMatter we are part of the message
BLACK TRANS WOMAN IN PROTEST
DIGITAL ART FOR BLACK TRANS ACTIVISM
BANNER OF SUPPORT
viral tweets
BLACK LIVES MATTER
#BLM
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BLACK LIVES
MATTER