Performative Activism

By Neve Walker, Edited by Anvitha Mattapalli, Harvi Karatha, & Cindy Zhang, Layout by Karen He, Art by Sahithi Lingampalli, and blogged by Kavya Gurunath

Throughout this year, we have seen crime after crime committed against different genders, ethnicities and race. Racism, sexism, xenophobia and more have reared their ugly heads at the United States with increasing intensity. To be honest, it's hard to tell whether this is something new or if we are just old enough to acknowledge these issues. People of all races have come together to spread knowledge on BLM and racism against the AAPI community, but are all people doing it for the right reasons?

Performative activism refers to someone who is supporting a cause for social recognition or other benefits rather than for actual support of the cause. We see this all the time with companies. For example, a company can produce new products to support different causes like pride month to raise profit, not to support the LGBTQ+ community. Performative activism is known to be lazy and very surface-level.

Performative activism has taken a toll on social media this past year with peoples’ rights and problems becoming a trend. Over the past summer, Black Lives Matter became a trend. It erupted from police brutality, a pressing issue across America and around the world. By using social media platforms like Instagram, performative activists only adopted the aesthetics of BLM without actually making substantive change. It soon became just another thing to post on your story or just a day to post a black picture, but nothing more. Like any trend, it went out of style. We started ignoring police brutality like we did our entire lives until it was trendy. Police brutality is a complex issue that needs to be fixed on the federal level. Real action needs to be made, not a lazy attempt to be “woke”.

Lately, I have been thinking to myself. What’s the difference between activism and performative activism, and how do I make a real difference? I think that the main difference is your mindset. When I do my research, write or work with others, I don’t think of it like I’m checking off a box. I don’t write articles about Black Lives Matter or xenophobia because I want others to form a specific opinion of me; I write these articles because I want to spread awareness about an issue I truly care about. I research ways to help improve the lives of others.

Overall, peoples’ rights and struggles should not be a trend, and we need to stop acting like they are. We need to work to create real change and care for others 24/7, not just when it’s trendy. Together, we can make the world a better place; we just need people who are all in to help others.

By Sahithi Lingampalli