Dealing with Race Relations in the Digital Era – Anonymous

Dealing with Race Relations in the Digital Era

Anonymous

CONTENT WARNINGS: RACISM

The year 2020 has been complex to say the least – the world has experienced a multitude of groundbreaking events such as the Australian wildfires, COVID-19, a potential outbreak of World War 3, diplomatic wars between countries, the 2020 US Presidential election, and the strong and powerful force of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

The increasing strength of the Black Lives Matter Movement has sparked a new form of debate regarding race relations in our contemporary society, highlighting not only the systemic racism experienced by Black people in countries structured around whiteness, but also the injustices faced by other people of colour.

Matter Movement exploded this year, has been the use of social media to spread information, to persuade, to target, to discriminate, to campaign, to protest and to educate. I have been astounded at how much emphasis has been placed on social media platforms, and the grandness and power that it holds. Between July 2013 and May 2018, the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag was used almost 30 million times on twitter. As of 2020, it has been used 47.8 million times. On Instagram, more than 15 million #BlackoutTuesday hashtags were used. Social media right now is the most powerful tool that the world can use to disperse information, however it also holds an immense form of power over those that use it. Whilst I believe that social media is a great way to share, to repost, to educate and to inform, I do think that it also holds a space for targeting, discrimination and propaganda. There are two sides to this argument regarding people who take advantage of social media for ruthless purposes. The first are those who think they can hide behind their screens and tweet, share, like or comment racist, sexist, homophobic and discriminatory remarks to strangers, and feel so powerful because they remain anonymous amongst 7.8 billion people around the world. With heightened tensions of race relations, these people become more active than ever before. However, I’ve come to notice recently that the demographic of people that are using social media to advocate for equality and for the abolition of systemic racism have started to acquire a similar trend of extreme targeting and blaming and shaming on others.

One thing I have noticed ever since the Black Lives

Social media provides a voice for many, in positive ways. However, it has also provided a platform for social media users to find ways to attack, to target, to discriminate, to incriminate and to ‘cancel’. It is saddening to see how in this society, when we are all trying to progress and move forward, and make positive change regarding all forms of human rights (in this case, racial equality), suddenly a person who was fighting so hard for inclusivity is disregarded and treated like dirt because someone somehow has found a way to interpret what that person said as racist, when clearly it wasn’t. Even if something was said that shouldn’t have been, we are all human beings who make mistakes, and despite past remarks being unacceptable, if we are able to mature and grow

DEALING WITH RACE RELATIONS IN THE DIGITAL ERA CONTINUED

from that mistake and create something positive, then that should be a sign that we are truly moving forward. We can’t keep bringing people down for dumb immature things from the past when people weren’t as educated on certain matters. What is important is that we acknowledge those mistakes, apologise and progress healthily and productively. It disappoints me to see how social media provides that easy path for people to shout, scream, yell and bully, and to knit-pick at every phrase, every comment and somehow create a falsified image or persona of a person as racist. In times like this, when race relations are more significant and important than ever before, social media makes it so easy for users to champion someone on, and then suddenly drop them without even thinking. We are so quick with our thumbs on the keyboard behind a screen, but would we be that quick with our mouths face-toface? Where has our respect gone for one another? Why do we have to be so divisive in a time when that should be the last thing we should do. Of course, this does not disregard the fact that a large percentage of people are disrespectful and discriminatory against people of colour, but in order to effectively counter that systemic racism, we should not be uniting to be the same as those who bring people down. You can’t fight fire with fire all the time.

It is also disappointing to see how those users that post profusely on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook about statistics, incidents and solutions, seem to be targeting and attacking those that don’t post. I’ve seen many posts quoting Desmond Tutu’s “If you are neutral on situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”, as well as others that have a rhetoric of “if you don’t post, you are racist”. I’ve found such posts quite confronting, and slightly insulting. I don’t post to social media about the Black Lives Matter Movement, or global racism. Does that make me an oppressor, or a racist? I don’t believe so. Is it because we live in a generation shaped by technology, that social media is deemed extremely important in campaigning and protesting? Perhaps. An estimated 3.6 billion people use social media globally, so there is no doubt that social media is a goto in wanting to raise awareness about certain issues. But does me not actively posting to my private social media account about these issues seriously make me neutral and therefore an oppressor or a racist? I have had several conversations with my friends and family about what is going on in the world today, about racism, about systemic racism and oppression, and about the obvious inequalities experienced by people of colour versus white people. I am doing my part in my own way, but I choose not to post on social media.

Recently, someone I know posted to social media complaining about the violence that was ensuing in the riots in America and criticising the looting and havoc. Unfortunately, the way they worded the post represented them as ignorant and uneducated, but I knew - and many others that I have spoken to knew - that they had good intentions with what they were saying. However, others interpreted it as that this person was being racist, which wasn’t true. The sad thing to witness was that so many of these people that had gone to school with this person suddenly thought they were super powerful behind their phone screens, and started abusing this person on Facebook, sending ruthless comments. Some people repeatedly commented, targeted and criticised. It affected this person’s mental health greatly. Whilst I don’t fully agree with the way this person handled the situation, I knew that what they were saying meant well, however, in the spur of the moment in anger and frustration, they irrationally posted their thoughts. On the other hand, I was disgusted at how these other users treated this person. People seem to read too far into things and instantly assume you are racist for saying something that does not align with your opinion, even when the remark is far from racist!

If we seriously want to move forward, we need to reconsider how we can productively and effectively unite and create solutions together. We need a safe and respectful environment that encourages healthy dialogue, not an environment that polarises people. We must be the better of ourselves, the better side of this complex and unjust situation. We are all a step in the right direction by using social media to advocate, but when we start targeting and discriminating through advocacy, we begin to sound just like those who created the problems in the first place. We must be careful not to go down that path.