Impact of Twitter

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#JusticeForKenneka

 

Background 

There is a now campaign going around for a young woman named Kenneka Jenkins, 19, who was found dead in a freezer in Chicago, Illinois at the Crowne Plaza Hotel located in Rosemont. The campaign has taken to social media under the hashtag #JusticeForKenneka. The goal of this campaign is to bring awareness to her death and to make sure that what may have been foul-play is not overlooked. According to Andrew Degrandpre’s article on Washington Post, Kenneka was allegedly partying with friends on September 9, 2017 when she went missing for hours and was later found in the hotel’s walked in freezer. 

Celebrity Awareness


Twitter users started the campaign right away to bring justice to Kenneka’s family. It has brought awareness to this tragic death with celebrities and public figures sending their prayers to her family, and expressing their disgust at what happened to her. Many people took to social media to address the issue: SZA, an R&B singer, Chance the Rapper and Katie Got Bandz, a rapper from Chicago are just some examples. Twitter has helped this campaign progress further than many expected because people are being updated on the situation minute by minute. 
https://twitter.com/sza/status/907180542126317568https://twitter.com/KatieGotBandz/status/906959503450689537https://twitter.com/chancefromthe79/status/907206233404301313
The case has many leads and allegations that has allowed people to think they may have identified all pieces of the events surrounding her death. There were initial speculations of foul-play, alcohol abuse, and even an intended set up. Twitter has helped viewers outside the Chicago-land area become more knowledgeable of the situation from the posted videos of the protests. Kenneka’s mother has spoken about what she feels has happened to her daughter, which is spurring people to go to great lengths to find out what happened. Many people think it could have just been a teen under the influence who walked herself into a freezer, but Twitter has helped challenge that theory by asking for more video footage from the hotel the night of Kenneka’s death.


Family Appreciation


In the latest article, the family thanked the public and social media for bringing awareness to Kenneka’s death. A statement that the family attorney released recently also raises the biggest question that social media users have, “Where is footage of Kenneka walking into a freezer? To our knowledge the campaign is still ongoing and the family has taken it upon themselves to do a private investigation.

How Twitter Confused the Situation

Twitter is many people’s source for information and tends to have the most up-to-date news that they are interested in. In the case of Kenneka Jenkins, Twitter has come up with its own version of the events that lead to her death. This is causing many issues for both the police who are trying to figure out what circumstances exactly lead to her death, and for her family who are having to deal with the loss of a loved one coupled with a myriad of online speculation that becomes more gruesome as it is allowed to grow.


When the story first broke, many Twitter users accused Kenneka’s friends of setting up the events that lead to her death. They were accused of allowing her to be raped by three men for $200, and that they then hid her body in a deep freezer, which led to her freezing to death. There were many users who claimed that all of these actions stemmed from their jealousy. Due to the fact that this was the primary speculation that was circulating around the story, many news outlets repeated this information as fact, even though there were no statements given by the police that confirmed or denied any of that information. The family has since come forward, stating that they never accused Kenneka’s friends of planning her murder and they apologized for how the horrible statements have affected them in.


https://twitter.com/SirMaejor/status/907159023274819584
Some Twitter users were so adamant that Kenneka’s friends set up her murder, they posted the names and addresses of the friends, and alleged rapists on the internet for everyone to see. This speculation has labelled these men as rapists for life, even if it is found that Kenneka was not raped. Some of her closest friends have been called by many her murderers. There are always some who read initial stories on Twitter and do not go back for updates, so they will continue repeating these names and spreading the rumors that police are trying to find the facts about. That may not be everyone, but even a handful of people spreading that rumor is too many.

There is also the fact that police did not initially suspect foul-play when they were investigating Kenneka’s death. That is what sparked the internet backlash of accusing her friends of murder, though Kenneka’s family stated that she could not have gotten to where she was without help or being coerced. They are standing firm to the idea that she would not have gone into that freezer of her own choice. Many families say the same when their loved one has passed away under questionable, but when the internet goes out of control and twists its own story, that just causes undue heartache for the family of the one who has passed, and it creates more unnecessary work for the police who are investigating the death.



Aftermath 

After reports were released, web articles quickly retracted the notion that Kenneka was raped, or at least stopped announcing it, but so far, there has been no conclusive evidence either way that has been announced to the public. Kenneka’s untimely death has shown that when the internet takes a story, and does not fact check the information, due to the fact that the information is not available to the public, what is already a tragedy, is made to be worse that what it may be.

According to the newest article and social media users, the Rosemont police department have decided to drop the Jenkins case because they do not have any evidence to keep the case going. Family members of the victim are furious that the police decided to conclude investigations; however, the family will be completing their own private investigation. Social media users took to Twitter to inform the viewing audience and outsiders that the campaign is still on until justice is served in this case.



 

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