The Growth and Impact of #BlackLivesMatter

The first evidence of the usage of the hashtag black lives matter on Twitter made an appearance August 20, 2012, six months after the shooting and killing of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American boy from Florida. Martin was shot and killed by 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a fellow resident and neighborhood watchman of the gated community Martin was visiting family at. Even though Trayvon Martin was unarmed and Zimmerman admitted to the murder despite defying the instruction given from the dispatcher to not engage, Zimmerman was not arrested until three weeks after the incident because he claimed to be using self-defense, a seemingly valid reason under the “stand your ground” Florida state law passed in 2005 that permits anyone to use lethal force if their life is in danger. The problem with this claim is that Martin was unarmed and it can’t be confirmed that Martin instigated any contact or was intending Zimmerman harm.

The first tweet associating both Martin’s death and #blacklivesmatter appeared on July 13, 2013, the same day George Zimmerman was charged and acquitted for the murder of Martin. While there was a presence of the hashtag on Twitter, there was not much happening via social media because the movement appeared to be in its infancy at that time. This slow start did not stop people from making a stand for the black community and Trayvon Martin.

There were some group protests being organized, but the largest protest for Martin was via an online petition on Charge.org demanding Zimmerman’s arrest. This petition received 2.2 million signatures, the largest in the sites history. It was most likely because of this petition that Zimmerman was eventually arrested and brought on trial for Martin’s death three weeks after the shooting.

About a year after the trial case acquitting George Zimmerman of Martin’s murder, Eric Garner was restrained via chokehold (a restraint that is prohibited in the NYPD departmental policy) by police under the suspicion that Garner was selling “loosies”, untaxed individual cigarettes on July 17, 2014. During the altercation, Garner was heard exclaiming that he did not want to be touched and when restrained he exclaimed that he could not breathe. An ambulance was called for Garner and an hour later, Garner was pronounced dead at the hospital. Cause of death was due to the the chokehold and restraints administered by the officers.

        Garner’s death did not receive as much attention as Trayvon Martin death on Twitter the week after his death however, the appearance of support for Garner did appear the day after rather than several months later like for Trayvon Martin. Much like with Martin’s case, many actions made by the movement were not posted through social media in the following weeks. The surge of tweets, however, was composed of support for Garner, a few containing articles with details about the case. Besides the supporting tweets for Garner, most were composed of a wave of people standing up for the movement specifically and pointing out how it was time to stand up. Many tweeted claims of other events against black lives that didn’t make it into the mainstream media, showing that most of the injustice is kept under wraps. It becomes obvious after the death of Garner that the Black Lives Matter movement is gaining more support and ferocity in media.

Approximately two weeks after Garner’s death and the rousing of the Black Lives Matter movement, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson Missouri. That day, all hell broke loose. The hashtag exploded on Twitter with hundreds of tweets going out that day in outrage and in support of Brown as well as organizing protests all over the country. The tweets were nonstop and abundant with everyone ensuring that their voice was heard saying that this is not acceptable.

Silent protests began popping up the next day all around the country, as well as tweets containing photos of several different city’s support (e.g. Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, NYC, New Orleans, etc.) and showing people taking a stand against this constant discrimination..

        Unfortunately, while the rest of the country were shown peacefully protesting, violence broke out in Ferguson immediately, complete with vandalism and looting of the community. Schools were canceled near and in Ferguson to protect students and a nightly curfew was placed in hopes to snuff out negative activity and keep locals safe. Many protests that turned violent had to be handled by police force, often with the use of tear gas in order to disperse the large crowds as peacefully as possible. These types of violent protests continued for several months while the Brown case was still being investigated and the trial outcome of Darren Wilson was being decided.

With each major death of an African American that made the news, the Black Lives Matter movement and #blacklivesmatter continued to grow, eventually exploding after the death of Michael Brown when everyone collectively could not stand on the sidelines any longer. The purpose of a movement and a hashtag is to get information and awareness out to the masses in hopes of making positive changes. While the Black Lives Matter movement has without a doubt made a stand and brought attention to the issue of racial discrimination, especially in the justice system, what has been accomplished overall? Have the steps of society been taken forward rather than taking steps back for the movement and the people or has it created more obstacles to jump over?

While there is no doubting the growth and prominence of Black Lives Matter, it is questionable as to whether the hashtag can be deemed a success. In recent years, police brutality, especially against Black Americans, has been brought to mainstream attention, and #BlackLivesMatter is largely responsible. The hashtag has successfully brought the issue to consciousness and mobilized people, officially turning what was originally a Tweet into a full-scale movement. Demonstrations have been held in cities across the nation, most notably in Ferguson, Missouri; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and New York, New York. Black Lives Matter has raised American awareness of police brutality to the highest it has been since the attack of Rodney King in 1991. It is certainly successful in this facet, but it is questionable that this awareness is having effect.

One way to determine this effectiveness of #BlackLivesMatter is to look at the number of killings by police over the years. According to Jaeah Lee of MotherJones, FBI data shows that between 2003 and 2011 there were, on average, 420 “arrest-related deaths” per year. The numbers were similar in 2012 and 2013, according to Lee and Kevin Johnson of USA Today, respectively. Lee says that during this time period, black people were more likely to be killed by the police than any other race or ethnic group. When comparing black to white, data shows that a black person was more than three times more likely to be killed by the police than a white person. The numbers presented by the FBI would give us a good insight. However, the FBI only gives us the number of people who were killed by police while in the act of committing a felony crime. These people were killed either in the act of or fleeing the scene after having committed felony crimes.

Reuben Fischer-Baum and Al Johri of FiveThirtyEight, show that the actual number of people killed by police is much higher. They focus on a Facebook page (Killed By Police) which invites users to share news articles about people who were killed by police. The posts on this page revealed more than 1,450 deaths by police between May 1, 2013 (when Killed By Police was founded) and August 24, 2014 (when Fischer-Baum and Johri’s article was published). This equates to about 1,100 deaths per year. This number seems more accurate as sources say that more than 1000 people were killed by police in 2014, and the Washington Post counted 995 killings in 2015, 963 in 2016, and, as of September 19, 706 killings in 2017 (which means police killing could possibly reach 1000 again this year). It does appear that the Black Lives Matter movement has done little to stem the tide of death by police that has been ravaging the US for decades.

An unintended outcome of the Black Lives Matter movement has been the formation of counter-movements. The most prominent of which have been the All Lives Matter movement and the Blue Lives Matter group. These counter-movements

point out the importance of the lives of people from all races and police officers’ lives, respectively. The All Lives and Blue Lives Matter movements have had a mild amount of support with counter-protesters popping up at BLM demonstrations. Most people agree that all lives matter, including the lives of police officers, but these movements have been undercutting the message and goals of Black Lives Matter. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg explained it clearly when he said, “Black lives matter doesn’t mean other lives don’t. It’s simply asking that the black community also achieves the justice they deserve.”

The most radical and dangerous response to #BLM has been the rise of the Alt-Right. In 2015, universities across the US saw the creation of Facebook pages for “white student unions.” These pages represented safe spaces for white college students to vent about reverse racism. These pages popped up after a call from a neo-Nazi on 4chan, Andrew Anglin, for white people to organize. The universities afflicted by these pages quickly had them removed, which further angered their visitors. At the same time, the Alt-Right, which also has foundations in 4chan, began moving from the Internet to the streets. The Alt-Right consists heavily of white college aged males, the same demographic who visited the white university unions. It is likely, then, that the removal of the pages contributed, in part, to the mobilization of the Alt-Right. The same can be said for #BLM. While many other factors contributed to the birth and growth of the Alt-Right, there is no doubt that hatred of the Black Lives Matter movement has been fuel on the fire.

Depending on your definition of success, the activism started by the statement that black lives matter could be deemed either a failure or a success. The numbers of people killed by police has not really changed. This is fresh in the nation’s mind as St. Louis, Missouri is currently seeing large-scale protests of a judge’s decision to acquit a police officer accused of murdering and framing a black man. There have been counter-movements like the All Lives Matter and the Blue Lives Matter campaigns, which while not very large, have successfully undercut the message of #BLM. The U.S. has also seen the birth and growth of violent and dangerous group, the Alt-Right, who attacked counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia a little over a month ago. While #BLM has seen these unfortunate outcomes, it has done excellent work in raising awareness of the issue, which is the first, and most necessary, goal of all activism. Until the issue is seen and recognized, it can never be fixed. While police brutality is still a major issue in the US, it is important to realize that #BlackLivesMatter is a relatively young group that seemingly will to grow as long as the problem persists.

Works Cited

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