Archiving the Movement: Generating Solidarity Among Black Millennials in Virtual Spaces

Abstract

In this paper, I analyze the impact of the discourse #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) has on how communities frame policing practices within protests. I find that Millennials created an archive of distinct moments in virtual space through social media as a platform for performing their discourse. I examined YouTube videos of protesting the police after incidents of police brutality in three cases. First, the murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland, California, which was before the #BLM movement emerged. Second was the choking of Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York. Third is the shooting of teenager Michael Brown in St. Louis, Missouri. By expanding the collective identity, #BLM changed the discourse about police brutality from a problem within local communities to a national social issue. The #BLM movement shows that communities no longer have to struggle alone but that they can and must unite against oppressive policing. Further understanding how social media has been used as a social movement tool can help scholars see how activists use virtual spaces to perform a discourse in future movements.