Class dates 2/21 and 2/23

The reading "How Black Lives Matter Uses Social Media to Fight the Power" was interesting because it paralleled with what I've learned in Africana Studies classes (AFAS) and also provided a bridge between the past and the preset. The professors in these AFAS classes stated when slavery was legal, it was illegal for Black people to congregate in groups and testify against white people in civil cases. Even in criminal cases, where they were allowed to testify, the likelihood of a Black person receiving a good verdict was extremely low. These laws were enforced to prevent violent uprisings and continue their oppression of people of African descent, enslaved or not. My professor also said that many white Southerners (especially politicians, who were very often plantation owners) believed that a race war would break out if Black people were not subdued. 

It was sad, albeit not surprising, to see that these old laws were in place in the 1960's, as seen in the Black population's need for a WATS line to organize their protests. I'm glad that the technology exists today for groups of all types to communicate and video tape their interactions with police officers. While most of the interactions that I have had with police officers have been fine, I have experienced one situation where I was scared and alone with one in a vacant lot in rural Virginia. I cannot imagine what it must be like for somebody that encountered racism and discrimination to go through much higher levels of fear and threat upon their personal safety on a consistent basis. Again, I am glad that body cameras are being used and I hope that everybody that feels in danger uses a car camera to protect themselves. My friend, whose Dad was a cop, told me that asking for their badge number might also cause them to change their behavior towards you.  There are a lot of good cops out there but the bad ones are the most memorable.

We also read Anti-racist Activism and the Transformational Principles of Hashtag Publics- from #HandsUpDontShoot to #PantsUpDontLoot, which discusses the flexibility of hashtags. It seems that the main point of this paper is to keep in mind that hashtags increase visibility to the public and it draws attention from a wide variety of people. Unfortunately, in this case it allowed bigots to publicly attack a peaceful equal rights movement.

We also read about Karpf, who explained how online organization changes politics. I thought Karpf was insightful and his three claims aligned with the movement that I wrote about (the Umbrella Movement). Below is a copy of Karpf's 3 main claims (via Dr. Daly on D2L): 

"Three claims by Karpf of how online organizing has changed politics

1st claim - organizing without organizations (organization or a specific group are not needed to assemble people)

2nd claim - clicktivism or slacktivism; no real effect on US politics?

3rd claim that Karpf is making - New media leads to advocacy groups that are lightweight, fast, difficult to attack, and easy to reassemble under new organizational names or leaders or places"

Below is a video made to recap the Umbrella movement:

Here is a video made by the organizers themselves. It's interesting to see how they used media to inspire change

Thanks and have a great day!