#blacklivesmatter 1

Marcus Spell, Eric Duncan, Derek, Chris Edwards, Chris Dorn

Dr. Carrie Silver
UWRT 1102 011
31 January 2016
Black Lives Matter Inquiry
The Hashtag of black lives matter has become a major topic of concern for not only the
United States but also other countries around the world. Black lives matter is a saying that was
created on social media during the year of 2014, in response to several instances of unjust actions
performed against people of color. We believe that the saying black lives matter not only refers
to African American people but also to minorities that are constantly mistreated because of their
color, or religion.
The #blacklivesmatter arose on social media shortly after the realization of countless
minority lives being taken by not only police but also citizens. Many killings of innocent
minorities is due to incorrect and highly exaggerated stereotypes that prove to be more harmful
than helpful. The topic of black lives matter is an issue due to the fact that it affects millions of
people around the world and debates based on past and current events that are arising. An overall
solution that is being sought out is the stop of the loss of life to minorities due to police brutality
and stereotypical beliefs. While seeking a solution we will also spread the word that not only
black lives matter, but everyones life should be seen as important in order to coexist in society.
The Black Lives Matter movement is targeted to everyone, not just the black community.
The organization wants to get the word out to everyone so people can see how the black

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community is being treated and how we feel. However, it is the black communities that are
affected by the issue of racism and destruction. The goal is to unite us together so the black
communities that live in fear do not have to anymore. If this is done then there would be more
peace spread through media instead of talks of violence and the torturous acts done in these
communities. The black communities have been in fear too long and something needs to be done
to fix it.
The recent reports of police shootings in African Americans communities has been the
main reasoning for their fear. The black communities need to feel like they can trust the officers
and not be afraid of them. Minorities want to be identified as a whole and not something
separate. Not only do African Americans want to be noticed, but they also want change.
The Black Lives Matter initiatives goal is to reach more than one type of audience or
source. Since the source of the Black Lives Matter movement comes from African American
individuals being wrongfully convicted and abused by police officers, one of the main audiences
we would be trying to reach are local sheriffs departments. The way we would reach these
departments is to look at the areas where there are the most lawsuits that are brought about by
harassment or mistreatment from law enforcement. We would start at these departments then
expand from there with the purpose of reaching every police department in the nation with our
concerns. The main topic that the institutes would need to know from us is our opinion on police
brutality and why it is necessary for these actions to stop; so lives can be saved.
Another audience that is vital to the cause and needs to be informed is middle and upper
class Caucasian Americans. The main reason for this is that most of the police brutality that is
being perpetrated is taking place in low income neighborhoods, with a majority of residents that
are of African American descent. The only information that the white middle and upper class

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receive on this issue is what they get from the news, which often doesnt report on much of the
injustice and mistreatment that is going on in the lower income areas of the United States. Our
main goal would be to spread the facts on the injustices happening to minorities and to acquire
the support of the majority middle and upper class.
We also need to look at the main group that is being targeted for their status as a minority
which is African American youth. The black youth that started the #BlackLivesMatter movement
were already aware of the facts and the mistreatment because they were dealing with it every day
of their lives. In this situation, since our audience is already aware of the problem, our main
goals would be to work with African American youth on getting involved in the community to
make sure that this injustice is ended before it spreads even more.
Many citizens of the United States know about Black Lives Matter through social media
and television. Social media has a huge impact on informing people about brutality and the
murders of young and old African Americans. The biggest website that has all of the information
on Black Lives matter is blacklivesmatter.com. They provide a great amount of information on
who they are, what they believe, and how all people can help with their website and through
communities. Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where
Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black
folks contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly
oppression (Black Lives Matter). Blacklivesmatter.com believes that the treatment of black
people is absurd and majority of the black people in the United States would agree one hundred
percent on their statement. Many people learn about Black Lives matter through events that are
held all throughout the United States. There are rallies that are held all over the country every
month as well as boycotts.

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Twitter has a huge impact on informing people about Black Lives Matter. It has a huge
impact because there are often trending hashtags and one of the biggest ones is
#BlackLivesMatter. Not only are there hashtags that support it there are often twitter accounts for
Black Lives Matter in some of the biggest cities in each state. The biggest Black Lives Matter
twitter account has about ninety-three thousand followers and is growing by the day. CNN is also
a big contributor on informing people about Black Lives Matter and the police brutality of black
people. Social media was going crazy during the trial of Trayvon Brown and George
Zimmerman. Then the Missouri riots were happening close to a year after. Social media and the
internet has a huge impact on informing people about important information that everyone
should know and need to know.
We believe that the best way to reach this audience is to use social media. Almost
everyone is on social media these days. By spreading the message through these mediums, we
have the ability to reach a very large audience. As of 2014, 74% of online users are on social
media according to http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/. These
range from Facebook to Twitter to YouTube. Knowing this information, we could launch many
different types of platforms on each.
Since each site is different, we could use each in a different way. For example, on
Facebook we could have a page that has stories from around the country on how someones life
was affected by #blacklivesmatter. There could also be event info pages to announce where we
are having rallies for #blacklivesmatter, where we invite people from the local community to
come and join in. On platforms such as Twitter, we could post facts about #blacklivesmatter to
increase peoples awareness on this topic. We could also post pictures from local rallies, our
follows pictures and whatever else could be supportive to our cause.

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YouTube is different from the rest of the other social media platforms. There are different
types of ways to involve people. We could have our own page where we could post videos from
rallies and types of PSA videos. People could follow the channel and they would see all of the
new videos that we put out. But we could do more, especially for the people that do not know
about our program and YouTube page. We could make advertisement videos supporting
#blacklivesmatter. These videos would be performed as a skit in order to grab peoples attention.
Usually if there is an ad that grabs someones attention, it is because it appeals to their senses
and/or it is entertaining to them. If there is a big enough appeal to the viewer, there is a chance
that they will watch the ad all the way through and they will want to learn about our cause.
#blacklivesmatter is a major issue these days and people need to be made aware of this
cause. Without the support of the community, minorities will continue to be oppressed. By
increasing awareness by the ways that we have listed, we will be able to make an impact on
society.

References
"Social Networking Fact Sheet." Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. N.p., 27 Dec.
2013. Web. 01 Feb. 2016.