#BlackLivesMatter: The Evolution of Collective

IdentitiesMelissa Brown

Department of SociologyUniversity of Maryland, College Park

mcbrown@umd.edu

SummaryO Significance of social media to 21st century social

movements

O #BLM is only new in name and presentation

O Link between online activism and offline protests

O Evolution of a leader in a leaderless movement

O Evolution of collective identities and their alter versions

 

Significance of social media to 21st century social

movements

COLLECTIVE IDENTITIESO Refer to “the set of operations by means of

which social movements define their collective sense of self, who they are and what they stand for” (Gerbaudo and Treré 2015: 865)

O Begin with the public expression of symbols and language that aims to challenge the cultural domination of a particular group (Polletta and Jasper 2014).

O Often evolve due to a collective group of individuals’ response to they perceived social imbalances

How Does Twitter Matter?

Hashtags as Collective Action Frames

O Hashtags that individuals use relate to their belief systems

O Hashtags allow users to join with others in a form of solidarity

O Using specific hashtags constitutes micromobilization

#BLACKLIVESMATTER : NEW IN NAME

ONLY

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

250275300325350375400425450475500

Justifiable Homicides by Law Enforcement

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

0

200

400

600

800U.S. Violent Crime Rate, 1960-2012

“When some people rejoin with ‘All Lives Matter’ they misunderstand the problem, but not because their message is untrue. It is true that all lives matter, but it is equally true that not all lives are understood to matter which is precisely why it is most important to name the lives that have not mattered, and are struggling to matter in the way they deserve... If Black lives do not matter, then they are not really regarded as lives, since a life is supposed to matter. So what we see is that some lives matter more than others, that some lives matter so much that they need to be protected at all costs, and that other lives matter less, or not at all.”

—Professor Judith Butler

#BlackLivesMatter

Research Questions1) Do “movement entrepreneurs” (Valocchi 2001: 446) who

are the most popular on Twitter correspond to activists mentioned by mainstream journalists as leaders of #BlackLivesMatter?

2) Does social media activism link to protests on the ground?

3) Do collective identities emerge and survive over time as they relate to Ferguson on Twitter?

4) What are the themes that are linked to the surviving collective identities on Twitter about Ferguson?

Ferguson Twitter Data Set

O August 10 - August 27, 2014: Killing of Michael Brown

O November 11 - December 8, 2014: Non-indictment of Darren Wilson

O February 25 - March 3, 2015: Department of Justice Report on Ferguson Police Department

O July 30 - August 11, 2015: One year after killing of Michael Brown

Ferguson Twitter Data Set

OTweets per day (31,657,545)OTop 10 most tweeted users per day

(446)OTop 10 Hashtags per day (293)OTop 10 Media files each day (670)OTop 10 URLs each day (670)OTop 10 Retweets each day (670)

Number of Tweets Per Period

Death of Mike Brown (18 days) 13,238,863

Non Indictment of Officer Wilson (28 days) 15,080,082

DoJ Report on Ferguson (8 days) 2,033,898

One Year after Brown's Death (13 days) 1,304,702

Total 31,657,545

Ac-tivists

Media Celebrity

Politicians

Scholars

Or-gani-za-

tions

Other DROP0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%Percentage of Top Users and Retweets

% of Users % of Retweets

THE EVOLUTION OF A

LEADER IN A LEADERLESS MOVEMENT

Brown Death Wilson Non-indictment

DoJ Report One Year af-ter Death

0%

13%

25%

38%

50%

DeRay McKesson (229K Twitter Followers)

19th

1st

1st

3rd

11/12/18

11/13/18

11/14/18

11/15/18

11/16/18

11/17/18

11/18/18

11/19/18

11/20/18

11/21/18

11/22/18

11/23/18

11/24/18

11/25/18

11/26/18

11/27/18

11/28/18

11/29/18

11/30/18

12/1/18

12/2/18

12/3/18

12/4/18

12/5/18

12/6/18

12/7/18

12/8/18

12/9/18

12/10/18

12/11/18

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

Tweets during Non-indictment of Officer Darren Wilson

THE EVOLUTION OF

A COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

Brown Death Wilson Non-indictment

DoJ Report One Year af-ter Death

0%

8%

15%

22%

30%

Evolution of a Collective Identity on Twitter: #BlackLivesMatter

(381,834 Tweets)

3rd

57th

3rd

2nd

#BlackLivesMatter Themes % #Blacks Killed with Impunity and Whites Not 43.24% 224

Displays of Solidarity and Activism 34.36% 178Historical References to Discrimination 6.18% 32

Demands for Policy Changes 5.60% 29

Response to Race Card Claim 4.63% 24

Media Double Standard 3.86% 20

Humanizing Police Brutality victims 2.12% 11Total 100% 518

Black Suspects Killed with Impunity

While Whites Are Not

Displays of Activism

Historical References to Discrimination

Demands for Policy Changes

Humanizing Police Brutality Victims

THE COUNTER NARRATIVE

Brown Death

Wilson Non-indictment

DoJ Report One Year af-ter Death

0%

4%

7%

11%

14%

18%

#TCOT: The Counter Narrative (331,439 Tweets)

4th6th

1st

14th

#TCOT Themes % # Validating Justifiable Homicides 26.25% 110 White Victims of Black Criminality 21.72% 91

#BLM as Radical Terrorists 14.80% 62

Black Problems for Black People 14.32% 60 Media Double Standard 11.69% 49

Tokenizing Examples of Blackness 8.35% 35 Humanizing Police Officers 2.86% 12 Total 100% 419

Validating Justifiable Homicides

White Victims of Black Criminality

#BLM as Radical Terrorists

Media Double Standard

Tokenizing Examples of Blackness

Humanizing Law Enforcement

CONCLUSIONO Social Media are a platform for the

formation of collective identities and execution of collective action in social movements

O Collective identities associated with Ferguson on Twitter

O Leaders on Twitter mimic leaders identified by mainstream media

O Activity on Twitter is closely linked to offline activity

Where We Are Going From Here?

O Intersectionality and social movements O Postcolonialism indigenous movements and

movements in developing countries

O A Digital Social Psychology?

O Partnership with MITH to a repository for new forms of data to conduct social science research on race and social inequality

O Ethnography and in-depth interviews to examine 21st century social justice efforts

O Rashawn Ray O Neil FraistatO Edward Summers O University of Maryland Critical Race Initiative

Melissa Brownmcbrown@umd.edu