What are your thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement that has arisen in response to the shooting of Michael Brown and other instances of police violence? Do you think it will be an effective mechanism for positive change in 2015? What role should AU students and college/university students more broadly play in the movement, if any?
Black Lives Matter should move beyond Michael Brown
By Walter Francis Jr.
The Michael Brown shooting and the events that followed have generated rage and confusion about the status of race in America. If the supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement truly wish to affect social change in 2015, then they will distance themselves from the case of Michael Brown.
By associating themselves with the protests in Ferguson, both before and after the grand jury decision, the leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement have fostered a nationwide discussion about race relations and privilege in America. Because of the violent protests and the misinformation disseminated by the media, this association has hampered the movement’s ability to reach the entire American public.
The media coverage of the events in Ferguson caused two reactions: mobilization of protestors against the systemic targeting of minorities by law enforcement and mass confusion about the facts of the situation. The facts remain unclear to this day.
This spread of misinformation did not occur with the deaths of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice.
The images of the rioters burning the American flag and destroying the storefronts in Ferguson struck me as barbaric. But American citizens were filled with sorrow and rage at video footage of the deaths of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice. The concrete video evidence of eyewitnesses shattered any doubt about the circumstances and allowed little room for the media to interpret the chronology of events.
The stigmatization of Ferguson originally dissuaded me from supporting the movement.
I cannot support the movement in its championing of the Michael Brown case because of the rapid spread of falsehoods and the active role the media took in trying to sway public opinion on the story. I witnessed no such efforts in the cases of Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, and I only began to voice my support for the movement when they began to campaign against those deaths.
In order to lend themselves more credibility in the minds of the larger American audience, the Black Lives Matter movement should distance themselves from the media circus that was Michael Brown, and focus on the more clear-cut instances of police targeting of African American citizens.
Walter Francis Jr. is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Communication.
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Movement imperative to fight racism
By Magdalene Bedi
Black Lives Matter is a tragically necessary extension of the Civil Rights Movement that tackles de facto racism rather than the de jure racism that was the focus of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.
It is much smaller and lacks the central leadership that the Civil Rights Movement did, and it is much harder now to tackle the issue than it has ever been. While overt racism allowed direct action in order to reclaim rights, the subtleties of de facto racism create a hinderance to legal and political action.
The Stand Your Ground law in Florida, for example, doesn’t specifically target African Americans. Instead, it’s the judicial process of reviewing the cases that endorses the racial violence that has occurred. There is also an issue of fact, which while inevitable due to different perspectives have been used to claim ambiguity. Perhaps this could be a valid reason for uncertainty about anti-black violence, if not for the clear video evidence of Eric Garner’s death by chokehold, which was a crime that went unpunished.
And so currently there is a society that believes itself to be post-racial, and yet it reinforces oppression through the legal system that is supposed to protect American citizens. Black Lives Matter seeks to challenge and destroy that faulty ideology that thinks racist beliefs while speaking of equality.
Already prominent public figures, such as athletes, have taken up the iconic "hands up" gesture to protest police brutality, a longstanding issue that was as relevant to advocacy figures such as Kathleen Hanna back in 1994 as it is still today. It, of course, hasn’t been without backlash, but valuable protests never really are.
The movement isn’t ran by celebrities, however, and like many past protests it’s up to young adults and students to further the progress through solidarity and activism. AU specifically boasts of its political activism and so if we as a student body ignore or reject such a powerful, up and coming movement, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of history.
Already we as a university should be ashamed of the social media response to the Ferguson protest that took place on campus. Social media is an incredibly powerful tool that should be used for education and solidarity, not offensive, obscene, and useless negativity. Of course online activism should be accompanied by offline activism to maximize impact, and for that AU offers several events and discussions concerning race relations and the impact of racism.
Black Lives Matter is a powerful movement that, unfortunately, is incredibly relevant and will continue to be necessary if more action isn’t taken to ensure actual, legal equality for all citizens of the United States, including people of color.
Magdalene Bedi is a freshman in the School of Public Affairs.
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Showing support, acknowledging white privilege
By Ashira Naftali Greer
I grew up in a neighborhood called Mt. Airy located on the northwestern outskirts of Philadelphia. Mt Airy is one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in the U.S.
Of course when growing up you realize the more obvious physical characteristics like skin color, but it is really hard to see how others of different races are treated. Coming from a Jewish background I had always known about persecution, but it was not something I really thought about in my middle class home.
Because I am speaking from the point of view of a white student it is important that I acknowledge the white privilege I have received.
While it is not always the easiest concept to explain, I have never been "randomly selected" at an airport, stopped and frisked, or been confronted by a person of authority purely based on my appearance. I think it is important for students to educate themselves on the issue of racism instead of saying that it is dead, or saying that it is not relevant because they are not racist.
It is also important to recognize that because I have grown up with white privilege it is not always my place to speak up in the conversation. The African-American experience happened because of a system imposed by white men, and while it is important to have white supporters, it is crucial that we do not talk over those who have actually been affected by it.
The “Black Lives Matter” movement has many critics, but I think at the very least the movement has gotten people talking. Absolutely nothing is going to happen if no one speaks up about tactics that specifically target minorities and underprivileged areas.
While I do believe that black voices should be the loudest in this conversation, everyone has something to offer in terms of support.
Discussions of race can be uncomfortable, but if we continue to operate under the idea that racism does not exist in modern day America, then we will continue to have instances of racial profiling and police killing unarmed civilians.
Crime is a symptom of poverty, and if a population in the U.S. is disportionately disadvantaged then there is clearly a problem.
Ashira Naftali Greer is a freshman in the School of Communication.
