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Politics and Social Media
Caitlyn Faubion
Grand Canyon University
Com 520: Media Literacy
Professor Aitza Haddad
April 27th, 2022
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What is the Black Lives Matter Movement?
“Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to
highlight racism, discrimination, and inequality experienced by black people. When its
supporters come together, they do so primarily to protest incidents of police brutality and racially
motivated violence against black people. The movement and its related organizations typically
advocate for various policy changes considered to be related to black liberation” (Wikimedia
Foundation, 2022). The Black Lives Matter Movement is the political movement that has been
around but just recently sparked up again massively within the news and on social media. This
was due to people of color being targeted and harassed by the justice system.
A gentleman named George Floyd was brutally murdered by a white police officer in
May of twenty-twenty. Floyd was accused of shopping with counterfeit money and was arrested,
while being arrested a police officer decided to show his power and knelt on Floyd’s neck and
back for nine minutes and twenty seconds, leading to the gentleman’s death. This event and
many like it caused an uproar in the black lives matter community and lead to peaceful protests,
riots, and some not so peaceful protests and riots including looting.
How did social media play a role in this political movement?
Social media played a huge role with these events happening and the support that came
along with this group. The events that happened were broadcasted all over ever social media
platform available, people up roaring about the cruelty and the unjust services towards people of
color.
“…social media has been somewhat of a double-edged sword for the BLM movement.
On the one hand, it has allowed many people’s voices to be heard in a way that’s impossible to
ignore, but on the other, it can also be used to superficially signal support for the movement in
Politics and Social Media
Caitlyn Faubion
Grand Canyon University
Com 520: Media Literacy
Professor Aitza Haddad
April 27th, 2022
, 2
What is the Black Lives Matter Movement?
“Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to
highlight racism, discrimination, and inequality experienced by black people. When its
supporters come together, they do so primarily to protest incidents of police brutality and racially
motivated violence against black people. The movement and its related organizations typically
advocate for various policy changes considered to be related to black liberation” (Wikimedia
Foundation, 2022). The Black Lives Matter Movement is the political movement that has been
around but just recently sparked up again massively within the news and on social media. This
was due to people of color being targeted and harassed by the justice system.
A gentleman named George Floyd was brutally murdered by a white police officer in
May of twenty-twenty. Floyd was accused of shopping with counterfeit money and was arrested,
while being arrested a police officer decided to show his power and knelt on Floyd’s neck and
back for nine minutes and twenty seconds, leading to the gentleman’s death. This event and
many like it caused an uproar in the black lives matter community and lead to peaceful protests,
riots, and some not so peaceful protests and riots including looting.
How did social media play a role in this political movement?
Social media played a huge role with these events happening and the support that came
along with this group. The events that happened were broadcasted all over ever social media
platform available, people up roaring about the cruelty and the unjust services towards people of
color.
“…social media has been somewhat of a double-edged sword for the BLM movement.
On the one hand, it has allowed many people’s voices to be heard in a way that’s impossible to
ignore, but on the other, it can also be used to superficially signal support for the movement in
