Black Lives Matter Movement Research Articles

A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of the construction of people of colour (POC) as criminals in UK and US print media following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests

ABSTRACT Around 2,000 “thugs” were present and over 150 arrests were made in London during protests around the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2020. Publicly available data, e.g., newspapers and blog posts, were used to conduct a Foucauldian Discourse Analysis in this study. Language was conceptualised and constructed to depict POC as more prone to adopting aggressive means; findings indicated an inherent belief that ethnic minorities possess a predisposition to criminality. Rhetorical constructions in the reviewed articles indicate practical implications, including the emergence of “fake news”, but hopes to influence UK and US policy evaluations on print media.

Moment or movement – the heterogeneous impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on personal and societal charitable crowdfunding campaigns

PurposeWhenever social injustice tackled by social movements receives heightened media attention, charitable crowdfunding platforms offer an opportunity to proactively advocate for equality by donating money to affected people. This research examines how the Black Lives Matter movement and the associated social protest cycle after the death of George Floyd have influenced donation behavior for campaigns with a personal goal and those with a societal goal supporting the black community.Design/methodology/approachThis paper follows a quantitative research approach by applying a quasi-experimental research design on a GoFundMe dataset. In total, 67,905 campaigns and 1,362,499 individual donations were analyzed.FindingsWe uncover a rise in donations for campaigns supporting the black community, which lasts substantially longer for campaigns with a societal than with a personal funding goal. Informed by construal level theory, we attribute this heterogeneity to changes in the level of abstractness of the problems that social movements aim to tackle.Originality/valueThis research advances the knowledge of individual donation behavior in charitable crowdfunding. Our results highlight the important role that charitable crowdfunding campaigns play in promoting social justice and anti-discrimination as part of social protest cycles.

By Any Means Necessary? How Black and White Americans Evaluate Protest Tactics in Response to a Police Killing

Abstract The majority of protests in support of racial justice are peaceful. However, since the racial reckoning of 2020, there has been debate about when and how exposure to violent or disruptive protest activities can shift public opinion towards a social movement. Using the Black Lives Matter Movement as a lens, we design a survey experiment to test the causal effects of different protest tactics on support for protesters and the movement itself among Black and white Americans. We include a control condition with no protest and manipulate the level of disruption in each treatment condition, ranging from a simple march in response to the police killing of an unarmed Black man to a protest in which participants set fire to an empty police headquarters. We use OLS regressions to estimate average treatment effects. Overall, we find that both Blacks and whites react negatively to more disruptive protests but whites tend to react more negatively than Blacks. Conversely, we also find that whites overall report more confidence in the ability of Black Lives Matter to facilitate racial equality after exposure to a protest, even when that protest employs disruptive tactics. We also test for the moderating effects of racial identity and racial resentment. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the broader literature on social movements and public opinion.

How Political Identification and Individual Differences Influence Black Lives Matter Message Reactions

Consistency theory, positing that individuals process information based on preexisting attitudes, is particularly relevant in today’s polarized political climate. This study investigates the impact of political identification, demographics, and individual differences (dogmatism, authoritarianism, and symbolic racism), on liberals’ and conservatives’ agreement and endorsement tendencies toward Black Lives Matter (BLM) tweets. A diverse sample of 348 adults with equalized political ideologies evaluated tweets related to the BLM social movement on social media, providing ratings of agreement and willingness to endorse the messages. The findings reveal a positive correlation between conservatism and higher levels of dogmatism, authoritarianism, and symbolic racism. Younger age, conservatism, and higher scores on all individual differences were significant predictors of agreement with the conservative (anti-BLM) tweet. Having more education, holding liberal beliefs, and lower levels of symbolic racism were predictors of agreement with the liberal (pro-BLM) tweet. Overall, we demonstrate that factors explaining participants’ likelihood to endorse (clicking like or retweet) the conservative tweet continue to change, but the factors predicting endorsement of the liberal tweet, including the role of symbolic racism, remain consistent. The study informs academics and practitioners in understanding how various factors impact an individual’s information processing of racially conscious social movements.

Which Police Departments Make Black Lives Matter?

Black Lives Matter (BLM) has gained support across racial lines and considerable financial backing. Yet it is unclear whether social science has responded with research likely to save Black lives. To encourage more applied research and related public discussion, we rank police departments in the 50 largest U.S. cities by their effectiveness in keeping homicides low and not taking civilian lives, while adjusting for poverty, which makes policing more difficult. We find enormous variation in police performance and offer qualitative evidence that this reflects organizational practices. We conclude with ideas for reform.

Forms of Historical Oblivion and Figures of Silence in Commemorative Practices of the Black Lives Matter Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Media Discourses in English-Speaking Countries

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) social movement has emerged as a prominent challenge to the principles and values of contemporary societies. Concurrently, the practices of cancel culture extend to the historical past as well. The primary objective of this article is to conduct a comparative analysis of forms of historical forgetting and figures of silence within the commemorative practices of BLM, as depicted in media discourses across the English-speaking countries. Making use of the critical discourse analysis methodology of N. Fairclough and S. Jäger, this study analyzes the discursive aspects of monument cancellations and key figures of silence in the media portrayal of BLM commemorative practices in the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia.
 The research reveals that, despite the unique characteristics of media discourses in Australia and Canada, particularly concerning the memory of indigenous peoples, the canceling practices in the countries examined exhibit similar features. These include general forms of oblivion associated with the formation of a new identity, as outlined by P. Connerton, and the use of forgetting as a weapon, as described by A. Assmann, in the quest for symbolic capital. This study identifies and examines key figures of silence within BLM as a community of memory, including a-historical perspective of colonial era events, disproportionate focus on selected cancellation facts, invocation of collective guilt, silence over morally questionable traits of the oppressed, absence of a constructive program linking past and future, and unchecked emotional expression regarding the past.

Racism and violence in policing: Perspectives from a juvenile prison.

Following recent events involving racism and violence in policing, the current study sought to understand factors associated with support for related social movements and worries about personal, family, and peer safety.Data were from 78 currently incarcerated young people (M = 16.5 years; 31% Black) and 20 juvenile prison staff (M = 40.3 years; 72% Black) via online surveys. A comparable proportion of young people (47.3%) and staff (47.4%) reported participating in the Black Lives Matter movement. Among young people, prior experiences with police were significantly associated with support for social movements and worries about safety concerning racism and violence in policing. Among staff, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and racial and ethnic identity were significantly associated with social movement support and worries about safety. Civic education and interventions to promote racial and ethnic identity may promote support for systemic change and buffer against worries about racism and violence in policing.

The language of threat

Abstract This paper examined news reports published by a Swedish alternative newspaper in connection with the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in June 2020. The primary objective was to assess the role of strategic employment of distinctive linguistic features in shaping a portrayal of the protests through implications of threat, fear, and xenophobia. As the results indicate, the characteristics that contribute the most to such a depiction consistently involve an ominous vision of the spatial and ideological proximity of external entities and values to the in-group (‘us’). These findings are related to the particulars of the corpus, as the purpose of news reports is to create a sense of immediacy and reduce distance. However, since the goal of alternative news is to appeal to readers’ sensibilities in critical areas of their lives, despite masquerading as traditional media, these outlets tend to communicate threat and concern rather than a reliable picture of reality.

Integrating DEI in Public Library Book Clubs

The killing of George Floyd in 2020 propelled the Black Lives Matter movement into the global spotlight, calling attention to the racial inequities still persisting in America. In response, public libraries have hosted anti-racist book clubs as a way to address and discuss pressing issues of social and systemic inequity. These book clubs are often explicitly marketed as “anti-racist” and have been beneficial to the promotion of DEI within their communities. However, regular book clubs hosted by public libraries can and should still integrate DEI within their processes and discussions, even if they do not have an overt anti-racist theme. In this column, I will share the DEI strategies I have successfully embedded in the monthly book club I host at the public library where I work, including how I make title selections and how I have navigated the subsequent discussions. I hope this column is useful for library staff members who are interested in proactively embedding DEI in their libraries’ book club programming.

Intermedia Attribute Agenda Setting Between the U.S. Mainstream Newspapers and Twitter: A Two-Study Analysis of the Paradigm and Driving Forces of the Agenda Flow

Performing two studies, we explore the intermedia attribute agenda-setting effects between the U.S. mainstream newspapers and Twitter. Leveraging computational methodologies, Study 1 analyzes 3,541 newspaper articles and over 1.06 million tweets about the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement, illustrating asymmetrical reciprocity of substantive attributes and mutual independency of affective attributes between both outlets. Study 2 performs in-depth interviews with 16 American journalists, showing that journalists increasingly see Twitter as a news source hub, a self-promotion platform, and a prism of distorted public sentiments. The juxtaposition of both studies revealed the paradigm and driving forces of the intermedia agenda flow.

‘No pictures of you anywhere … You were alive’: Poetic (In)visibility as a Ground for Political Plurality

This paper argues that in social circumstances deformed by persistent anti-black racisms, invisibility does not necessarily constitute a failure of recognition or acknowledgment by others. Rather, it comes forth as a protective shield, to resist reductive and objectifying forms of seeing that often result in violence. But such invisibility has its limits. In this paper, I read Incendiary Art (2017) by Patricia Smith, a collection of poems set in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, to interrogate both the limits of such protective invisibility, and the responsibility of the reader to acknowledge the potential violence of their own gaze. I examine the emancipatory political value of the poetic as showing a way towards a transformative engagement with others as ‘who’ they are, and subsequently towards a mutual co-constitution that is at the very heart of actualising a democratic political plurality.

“Music therapy is the very definition of white privilege”: Music therapists’ perspectives on race and class in UK music therapy

The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd highlighted, once again, the racial and socioeconomic inequities permeating western countries, and galvanised music therapists in the UK and elsewhere to reflect on the importance of race and social class in their profession and therapeutic practice. These discussions have a longer history in the US; in the UK they are in their infancy. Building on the 2020 British Association of Music Therapy Diversity Report (Langford et al., 2020), this study aimed to contribute to the burgeoning discussion in UK music therapy by inviting trainee and qualified music therapists to reflect on how – often intersecting – racial and socioeconomic inequities impact on music therapy training and practice and what changes are needed for music therapy to become more relevant to and representative of minoritised communities. Data were generated using an online qualitative survey (N=28) and five follow-up telephone interviews, allowing for both breadth and depth in an area where there is a paucity of research, and a higher level of “felt anonymity” for a potentially sensitive and threatening topic. Reflexive thematic analysis informed by critical race theory was used to develop three themes from the data: 1) Posh white ladies: the typical music therapist; 2) White normativity and fragility in music therapy; and 3) Music therapy: undervalued and too costly. In the conclusion, we synthesise the participants’ accounts into recommendations for diversifying the music therapy profession in the UK.

Casting Stones with Intent: Transnational Interventions towards Ethical and Reparative Memorialisation

In the summer of 2020, on the wave of the Black Lives Matter Movement, statues and public monuments became focal points of political struggle, perceived by many as symbolic reminders of pervading western imperial legacies. Yet, the debate over public memorialisation is far from new. Starting from the 2020 BLM protests in Britain and going back to previous campaigns, this article contextualises the toppling, effacing and removal of well-known statues of colonial agents in Britain, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand and examines artistic interventions which appropriate, challenge and shatter static historical interpretations of imperial figures and events. Our contention is that these interventions constitute diverse forms of performative and re-storied resistance reflecting transnational demands for redress and reparation.

All Lives Matter discussions on Twitter: Varied use, prevalence, and interpretive repertoires

AbstractAll Lives Matter (ALM) has emerged as a response to, and critique of, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) anti‐racist movement. ALM has been shown to work to undermine and attempt to deracialise BLM; however, there is a need for a comprehensive understanding of how ALM functions in online interactions. The research questions are therefore: What different ways is ALM used in Twitter debates?, How prevalent are these different uses?, and What function do the different uses of ALM perform in the wider debate around BLM? To address these questions, we employed a mixed‐method approach drawing on topic modelling and critical discursive psychology of Twitter posts using the hashtag #AllLivesMatter. A corpus of 294,217 unique tweets sent by 145,994 unique users was subject to Structural Topic Modelling (STM), which resulted in 60 topics, and from this, a sub‐dataset of 180 tweets was generated for discourse analysis. The STM identified 12 distinct uses of ALM, ranging from direct and even extreme opposition to BLM to criticisms of ALM and support of BLM and anti‐racism messages, both of which are explored in the discourse analysis. Together, the analysis suggests that, at least on Twitter, the ALM hashtag is not one‐dimensional nor a settled debate. Moreover, the Twitter public can use the ALM hashtag to denounce racism and the ideological pretext of ALM.

Black Lives Matter and Partisan Media

Analyzing data from a survey of U.S. adults (N = 509), our study examines the role of partisan media in (a) shaping people’s perceptions of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, (b) producing an echo-chamber effect, influencing users to believe that other people have an opinion similar to their own, and (c) creating a polarized public opinion environment, where people hold more extreme perspectives on BLM. Left-wing media consumption was positively correlated with favorable perceptions of BLM, while right-wing media consumption had a negative correlation, suggesting that partisan media could influence users’ own perceptions of BLM. Also, left-wing media consumption was positively correlated with the belief that others held favorable views of BLM, while right-wing media consumption was negatively correlated with such a belief, suggesting that partisan media could affect one’s beliefs about others’ perceptions. Supporting its role in producing an echo-chamber effect, frequent right-wing media usage was associated with a smaller difference between one’s own views and their assessment of others’ views regarding BLM. Finally, there was a positive correlation between left-wing media consumption and having extreme perceptions of BLM, suggesting that the use of left-wing media could play a role in creating a polarized public opinion climate.

Implications of a Social Movement against Racism for a More Inclusive Global Fashion Industry

Fashion and racism are complex issues with pressure for the industry to be more inclusive of racial differences. The Black Lives Matter movement has drawn attention to the issue of racism in the fashion industry and inspired social efforts to address it. Increased support for this cause has resulted in more entities contributing to eliminating racism in the industry through actions such as black model matter campaigns and the founding of The Kelly Initiative, which advocates for the diversity and inclusivity of the fashion industry. This research aims to examine the impact of social movements in combating racism and promoting equality in the global fashion industry. Qualitative methods are used with several theoretical frameworks, including racism, to show neglect, which results in discrimination, as well as global social movements, which are used to show forms of collective action in the form of protests that seek inclusive change in fashion. The results show that social movements can transform the fashion industry through rapid advances in diversity and inclusion through collective action. The implication is that it allows all parties to contribute to fashion without facing racial discrimination, thereby achieving diversity and inclusion.

Conversational AI and equity through assessing GPT-3’s communication with diverse social groups on contentious topics

Autoregressive language models, which use deep learning to produce human-like texts, have surged in prevalence. Despite advances in these models, concerns arise about their equity across diverse populations. While AI fairness is discussed widely, metrics to measure equity in dialogue systems are lacking. This paper presents a framework, rooted in deliberative democracy and science communication studies, to evaluate equity in human–AI communication. Using it, we conducted an algorithm auditing study to examine how GPT-3 responded to different populations who vary in sociodemographic backgrounds and viewpoints on crucial science and social issues: climate change and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. We analyzed 20,000 dialogues with 3290 participants differing in gender, race, education, and opinions. We found a substantively worse user experience among the opinion minority groups (e.g., climate deniers, racists) and the education minority groups; however, these groups changed attitudes toward supporting BLM and climate change efforts much more compared to other social groups after the chat. GPT-3 used more negative expressions when responding to the education and opinion minority groups. We discuss the social-technological implications of our findings for a conversational AI system that centralizes diversity, equity, and inclusion.

‘A lack of cultural understanding and sometimes interest’: Towards half a century of anti-racist policy, practice and strategy within probation

In 2021, HM Inspectorate of Probation published a long awaited and highly critical report – Race equality in probation: the experience of black, Asian and minority ethnic probation service users and staff. The inspection upon which it was based was conducted in the Autumn of 2020 and was therefore set against the background of the death of George Floyd in the United States, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement laid down a challenge on many levels, stating that black, Asian and minority ethnic people must be accepted and respected as equal citizens and nowhere is this more urgently needed than within the operation of the criminal justice system. However, its follow up report (HM Inspectorate of Probation 2023) reported being disappointed in the lack of progress made by the Probation Service in addressing the issues raised in its earlier report. The article seeks to move beyond the conclusions and recommendations of the Inspection report using the lens of Critical Race Theory to engage in a discussion of systemic racism in society. To do this we have used three levels of analysis – macro, meso and micro – to situate contemporary probation within the wider structures of a post-colonial society.

Asian American University Students' Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.

In addition to the unprecedented challenges and stressors that university students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian American students experienced specific hardships due to COVID-19-associated xenophobic attitudes, harassment, and assault against people of Asian complexions. This qualitative study aimed to explore the ways in which Asian American university students' experiences during the pandemic changed their views of their identities as Asian Americans by analyzing in-depth interviews of four case study participants. Secondary analysis of two waves of interviews, which were conducted during the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and during a six-month follow-up, and primary analysis of a newly conducted third wave one year after the initial outbreak yielded 12 themes that captured the essence of the Asian American university students' experience and redefining of their identity during the pandemic. The four participants identified these themes across four categories: Experiences and Events during the Pandemic; Categorization of Asians in America; Confronting Asian Discrimination; and Renewed Sense of Identity. The longitudinal findings revealed direct experiences and perspectives regarding the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on Asian communities, as well as the impact of the various social and political events during this time period, such as the Black Lives Matter Movement (2020) and the 2020 US presidential election. The implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

The Politics of Doulas: Black Feminist Collective Action in Response to “Birthing While Black”

AbstractA central function of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the United States has been to center and express the lived experiences of Black people within the social and political framework of white supremacy. Regarding reproductive justice, BLM, as well as organizations like the Black Mamas Matter Alliance and Sistersong, have drawn political attention to the oppressive parameters existing for pregnant people “birthing while Black.” Attention to disparities in health and birth outcomes for Black persons has necessary positive effects, such as the ability to produce data on the deleterious effects of anti-Blackness. However, discourses surrounding Black birthing persons can function to obfuscate the collective action undertaken by Black women and non-Black women of color. In this paper, I argue the hyper-focus on the problems Black pregnant/birthing persons face has at least four issues: (1) it encourages an ontological collapse wherein Black birthers are positioned as problems, rather than human beings facing problems; (2) obscures the collective action and care Black women undertake to support one another; (3) results in state solutions that rely on underpaid and volunteer labor of Black and non-Black women of color; and (4) focuses myopically on the time period of pregnancy and birthing for Black persons.