SYMBOLS OF CHANGE: POLITICAL MEMES AND VIRAL CONTENT
THE MOVEMENT: VIDEOS
My Response To Eric Garner's Murderer Walking Free #BlackLivesMatter
Published by user Robert Perkins on December 5, 2014
This video serves as a personal testimonial in which a young black man sits directly in front of the camera and speaks to his audience directly, looking through the camera and into the eyes of viewers watching him from around the world. The video functions as a political meme that is part of a larger conversation regarding racism and police brutality in America.
Racist Cop Parody Shooting : Black Lives Matter
Published by user Spoof Troupe on October 20, 2014
This video uses humor to point out flaws in the ethics of the police force in America. The video is labeled as a parody; parodies mimic other texts in order to present some sort of critical stance on that text. Whereas this video does take a critical stance on the issue of police brutality and shooting of innocent black men, I would not call the video a parody. Instead, it uses humor and exaggerated circumstances and examples to make a point, and it does so well.
Black Lives Matter protesters violently ejected out of Trump rally in New Orleans
Published by user Amy K. Nelson on March 4, 2016
This video serves as what Kavoori calls a “witness” in that it is characterized by the recording of public experience (154). Recorded on a cell phone at a Donald Trump rally in New Orleans, the video is a source of “citizen journalism.” The woman who recorded the video is a part of it herself; she was at the rally when violence broke out between #blacklivesmatter protestors who were in the audience and Trump supporters.
Shifman explains three interwoven functions that Internet-based political memes fulfill (122-123):
1. Memes as forms of persuasion or political advocacy.
2. Memes as grassroots action.
3. Memes as modes of expression and public discussion.
Robert Perkins’ video fulfills the third function: it is a mode of expression and public discussion. In the video, Perkins expresses his own opinion of the murder of Eric Garner by police officers in Staten Island, New York in July of 2014. He makes reference to the long and troubling relationship between the police force and young black men in America and he holds nothing back. He uses strong language and is unapologetic in his position. Although he uses profanity and a lot of negative slang in his discussion, he speaks passionately and begs his audience to take a stand and demand change. He encourages likeminded men and women to come together and have discussions and take action, as well.
Perkins' video encourages discussion in the comments that are posted below it by other YouTube users, including Rafael Ortiz, who responded by stating, "We need to create a forum where like minded black folk can come together and brainstorm. I believe Marcus Garvey gave us the answer. We need to nation build and POLICE OURSELVES. When is enough going to be enough?" User Wilda Mondestin also commented by offering a different opinion in saying, "In every profession you have the good ones and the bad ones. Yeah I will agree we have been seeing the bad cops surfaced these past few years but there are at least one good cop in the police force."
Shifman would argue that this video encourages "connective action," which is "based on personalized content sharing across media networks" (128). "As more and more people share their opinions and criticisms with networked peers," Shifman states, "technology platforms begin to take the place of established organizations" (128).
In this video, we see a white man dressed as a police officer being interviewed by another man dressed as a news reporter. The reporter asks the officer questions about why the officer shot a black man who refused to turn over his gun when being approached by the officer. The officer goes on to explain his rationale for shooting the black man, even though the reporter questions whether the man was even carrying a gun in the first place (which is why he could not turn the gun over).
The scenario at play here is the driving force behind the #blacklivesmatter movement, and it is presented in this video as something worth examining. Whereas some humorous videos make it a point to make events or people seem silly and not worth the attention they demand, this video does the opposite: it uses humor to point out just how flawed the system is if we just step back and look at it through a different lens.
In the video, we see a group of young people being pushed and physically and verbally assaulted by other people in the audience who wanted them silenced and gone. The violent treatment of people protesting that #blacklivesmatter at a Donald Trump rally captured in this video shares a truth that is disgraceful and unacceptable. Videos like this one are a key element of the #blacklivesmatter movement because advocates and supporters encourage people to capture footage of unjust treatment of people of color in order to tell a story and present a truth that has been excused (and denied) for too long.
In the comments below this video, users made hateful comments and used vulgar language about the protestors, rather than the contents of the video itself. For example, user Phillip Allen stated, "BLM group are only hurting race relations. They go to a Trump rally with the intent of causing trouble, so............GET OUT ! " YouTube user TheTowersChannel expressed hatred for the activists: "I wish the Black Lives Matter group would have been stomped soo hard and covered in blood." Lastly, YouTube user yo mama stated, "Black Lives Matter is a HATE group. Plain and simple. They are calling for a race war. Scum of the country, not because they're black, because they are idiots. #alllivesmatter #Trump2016."
Whereas in the first video posted above, people engaged in a conversation that was fruitful and somewhat insightful, YouTube users who commented on this video used the platform to express their opinions against the #blacklivesmatter movement and its protestors.