After the events of Ferguson and Staten Island, where black men were killed by the police who were subsequently vindicated, social media activism sprung into full force. Rightfully so, people were outraged and our general helplessness as a society led to that outrage being chanelled through social media. The hashtags #BlackLivesMatter and #Icantbreate sprung up immediately, followed by the supportive #CrimingWhileWhite. Then in a random crime, unconnected to the country wide protests against police brutality, two Brooklyn police officers were murdered in their squad car. Hashtag activism was shocked. So #BlueLivesMatter was created to express that outrage. Then things got a little confusing.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, there were 114 line of duty deaths in 2014 (99 if you discount heart attacks). This includes officer Charles Kondek in Tarpon Springs, FL who was killed earlier this week answering a domestic disturbance call. Statistics on unarmed black men killed by police are difficult to nail down. Depending on what database you look at, the results can vary. The point is, it doesn’t matter if it was one or if it was 100. The point is that all lives matter. Without getting too much into social and police reform, the use of deadly force seems to have become the norm rather than the exception. Of course, due to sketchy local reporting and varied statistics, it is hard to put an actual number on it.
So what was hashtag activism to do? Athletes were sporting shirts with the phrase “I can’t breathe” on them. Then they were sporting hats supporting the NYPD. Arguments started to break out on social media between the supporters of each hashtag, some saying you can’t possibly support both points of view. How can you support a police force that kills unarmed black men without a thought to restraining force while still believing that black lives matter? That premise is as ridiculous as it sounds. The fact that some were asking others to draw a line is the detrimental factor in activism.
The fact is, the system is broken and that is causing residents of this country to move into a state of confusion and unrest. Grand Juries are letting the police officers off the hook who chose deadly force over restraint, while burying those who attack officers. Murder is murder, a badge shouldn’t protect from the consequences of that.
“Do black lives matter at the expense of the cops? And do blue lives matter at the expense of all others? Of course not, and anyone with a hint of human decency would agree,” says Charisma L. Troiano in her column in the Brooklyn Eagle. “Picking a side and hashtagging your support of #lives takes away from the goal of this movement for change and reform. The goal is to have a system that holds all persons — regardless of their career or racial background — who commit a criminal act accountable for their wrongdoing, and an accountability on a system that works for the justice and fairness of all who encounter it.”
The country is at a boiling point this holiday season, and it is all unfolding on social media. We are more connected than ever before. Where once the nightly news was the single source, delivering whatever bias was needed to appease and calm the public, now every word is part of a larger movement. This connectivity has bred social good, while exposing social hate. The reliance on hashtags to express this activism has become a movement in itself, connecting millions of people in a searchable, exposing form.
When it comes to the hashtags though, we tend to be focusing on the singular issues at hand. While that is fine on that scale to express our outrage at every terrible causation, we should be looking at the bigger picture. The truth is that #AllLivesMatter. This is the hashtag that will unite the causes and create a discourse for actual change. Will that change happen? In this cynical universe run by corrupt officials and a government based on corporate greed, probably not. At least we’ll have a common forum to keep up the fight. That is, until we lose interest.
When it comes to social media activism we tend to lose focus as time and events change. Next year will see some other horrible event that will shift our attention once again. This doesn’t make any single event less impacting or terrible than the last, and this is the point we seem to miss. Finally, after all the school shootings, police shootings and so one, we have come together to realize that #AllLivesMatter, but can we hold on to this thought and impact actual change?
The trick is to not let that over-reaching hashtag derail the conversation from the others. It should be used in conjunction with the others. #blacklivesmatter looks at a specific issue facing this country and is important. Adding #alllivesmatter helps to enhance the effect. Regardless, it can be very touchy and some have voiced their strong and just opinion to using one versus the other.
Hashtags make great starting points for discussion, and show elected officials the outrage they can’t see from their window. This is important. Yet, relaying our outrage through that hashtag isn’t enough. Our society is demanding change from our leaders, change that isn’t a small thing. These hashtags create the forums, incite the crowds and build movements. What comes next isn’t reliant on a hashtag, it is reliant on us as a society. Eventually, we are going to have to get off social media and act. The revolution however, will be tweeted.
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