If you look at what’s been happening in the world you’ll see
nothing. Now before you crucify me let me explain. In main stream media nothing
is happening. Where has Ferguson gone? Where is #BringBackOurGirls you ask?
Well they now live in social media. It is in my opinion they live more so in
twitter. The hashtag game for both situations is serious, you just need to know
where to look.
I
choose to scratch at the surface of the Ferguson situation. I’ve looked from
channel to channel hoping there would still be some sort of mention, a nod, or
even an utter, but nope nothing. It takes one scandal to outweigh another, and in today's watered down news Ray Rice is the hottest thing in town. Now I credit
channels like CNN and sometimes MSNBC as somewhat news sources, but all they seem
to care about these days is what NFL pro is hitting their child, or their
spouse. Can’t be serious. This may veer off topic for one second (bear with me),
but the NFL trained chimps just gave the media EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING
FOR! I mean there are some people with consciences out there in Ferguson MI
that are trying to bring justice to another dead soul of another one of our
people, and these black men are making us look like shit. This is all we needed
for the Govt controlled news to do. Take the attention off what matters like
another lost life, and swindle into “look see this is how these monkeys act”.
Really gets me. Not saying domestic abuse isn’t important, but there are bigger
things happening right now in our community.
Now
back on course. When I headed to Twitter to see what was big in the hashtags
for Ferguson, I came across a couple that stroked my interest. #NMOS14, #IfTheyGunnedMeDown,
and #DontShoot. According to an article
in USA Today it explains what each hashtag has meant for the movement. Duetsch
and Lee (14) #IfTheyGunnedMeDown confronts the portrayal of young minorities by media outlets.
#Dontshoot raises concerns about excessive police
force while
demonstrating peaceful protest. And #NMOS14, calls for a national moment of silence Thursday
evening for victims of police force. What I found when I dug deeper than this was
men and boys using social media to their advantage. In the #IfTheyGunnedMeDown
track men and boys alike were posting pics of themselves in their biggest
accomplishments, and a side photo of them doing what the media would post of
them. In one photo I found a black male posted a picture of himself graduating
from high school, and a side picture of him smoking a blunt. If he were in Michael
Browns place they would only show the picture of him smoking, as it would
perpetuate what the media classifies as “black behavior”. I found that hashtag
to be the most truthful. When the Ferguson case first started I remember there
being such a big commotion over which photos were being represented to show Michael
Brown. The ones of him smiling and doing things to uplift, or the ones to
showcase a stereotype.
Through
many facets of social media and hashtags I’ve come to realize the dialog that
has started. Without the use of such things how many of us would still be even
talking about Michael Brown? I guess there is still a game of will it get it
out, or not still being played. Thanks to websites like Twitter and Facebook I
think I can see a winner. Possibly…
