By: Harnoor Sachar
After the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and a series of unjustified and unaddressed killings in the past decades, the black community and allies have come together to form what is now known as the largest worldwide civil rights movement in history. While the Black Lives Matter movement mirrors some of the approaches of the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr in the fifties and sixties, there is a significant 21st-century aspect that has allowed it to grow on a global scale: the use of media.
There are various forms of media, unique to modern times, that have exponentially increased the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement, one of the most important being social media platforms such as Instagram and Tik Tok. Currently, 60% of US TikTok users are aged between 16-24, according to a November 2019 release from Reuters, and Statista released a study indicating that 36% of Instagram users are between the ages of 13 and 24. Considering these age demographics, not only did the movement gain large support on popular platforms, but it also exposed and involved the younger generation much more than previous efforts.
While a slightly younger demographic does not necessarily change the meaning of the movement, it has a significant impact on the way information is disseminated, and who is involved in the revolution. 90% of a surveyed 39,000 young Americans, referred to as “Generation Z”, acknowledge the black minority crisis, and 80% have used their social media platform to post and spread awareness about the issue (Business Insider). Part of this increased involvement has to do with the way racial tensions have impacted students. Many students admit that the movement has affected their mental health and they are using resources to better educate themselves on minority history and look into open cases of police brutality. This is yet another example of the way modern media has changed the way civil rights movements proceed. With millions of articles, biographies, and news outlets available to the public at the click of a button, and limited censorship within many of those sources, people can access real and raw information much faster.
Not only is the spread of activism and information faster, but activists also have better access to connections and a community in which they feel more comfortable expressing their true views on the issue (Harvard International Review). For many, this means being able to come out of a generalized or stereotypical home environment and formulate their own opinions.
On the other hand, because social platforms are so open to use and available to people of various perspectives, they have also become a prime location of black slandering and harassment. While the videos of police brutality and mistreatment are becoming viral, the comments and debates coming along with them represent two polarized views. Harassment and insults are common to media activism regardless of the topic in hand, but they tend to amplify and the discussion approaches race. That being said, in the fifties and sixties, bringing hate to late was one of the prime approaches to addressing it, and by having recorded evidence of hate speech, activists can fuel the movement’s initiative (Wired).
With all of that being said, it has become more evident than ever that we are dealing with a new kind of movement and we must make the most of the ability we have to further it. As scholars have noted, partly due to its “public sphere” nature, social media creates participation opportunities—such as boosting protest turnout or supporting fundraising campaigns—that broaden mobilization, thus helping scale movement endeavors. As active citizens, we have free access to this public square and are thus fully capable of speaking out and participating in this revolution to bring justice to the many black lives lost and years of systematic racism in our history.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/325587/instagram-global-age-group/
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-gen-z-feels-about-george-floyd-protests-2020-6
https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/25133
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/how-black-lives-matter-uses-social-media-to-fight-the-power/
The Academy Journal for Global Affairs 