I attended the Mark Anthony Neal
lecture on Social Media and Social Justice in the Age of Hip Hop. The lecture
focused on the question of whether social media had been around during the
civil rights movement, and how that could have changed the dynamics of it.
Professor Neal started out his lecture by talking about the concept of “fictive
kin,” which is a concept that African Americans acknowledge each other in
public settings even if they do not know each other or not. This is a type of
community building that has been around since the time of slavery. After this
he moved into the history of Hip Hop. He started by comparing the slave songs
that they sung in the fields to hip hop and how it was a form of social media.
These songs would often be codes that an uprising was occurring or they were
meeting somewhere to speak about their rights and how they could escape the
bondage of slavery. After this he moved in the Civil Rights movement and
brought up one of the more interesting topics of the lecture. He compared
Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and how they could have acted if they had
mobile technology. What would a texting conversation look like between the two
men? Professor Neal then continued to talk through the civil rights movement
and pointed out times where “social media” was used through word of mouth and
leaflets to help the cause. He finished the lecture by talking about hip-hop
and how it was truly a form of social media.
I
was incredibly impressed by Professor Neal’s lecture. He talked about poignant
times in African American history by relating them to a modern phenomenon. The
end of lecture resonated with me, because he talked about how social media can
used so effortlessly to get out a message and to start a movement. It does not
take a “March on Washington,” to start a movement. The only necessary steps are
to upload a video or a link and post it online. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube
have revolutionized how people see the world because we have grown up in a
generation where having all this technology is the norm. We use computers and cell
phones on a regular basis without even thinking of the power that they hold.
People 50 years ago would be amazed at how far media has come, and we take for
granted how much influence we can have on a global level. If you want to make a
change, then you can put something on the Internet that allows other people to
see it and can join. We live in a World where accessibility and groups can
easily be put together to help a cause.
I completely agree with your argument about social media. The use of social media is exponentially increasing and the functionality needs to be maximized. I agree that social media can be successfully used to get a message out and start a movement, however I think there is also a lot of room for poor use of social media that is detrimental to the progress of racism. There are many twitter accounts that don't necessarily support racism, but definitely encourage and provide it. Twitter handles such as @TheFunnyRacist and @YesYoureRacist constantly tweet appallingly racist statements or jokes aimed at a variety of races, but mostly African Americans and Arabs. The tweets are obviously not causing physical danger, however I feel that they are contributing to a significant amount of harm by sending out extremely insulting posts which gets spread as people retweet the original tweet.
ReplyDeleteI know it would be extremely difficult to censor or monitor the entire web, but there needs to be some tool to block extremely racist posts from being posted. I am aware that some people are just practicing their freedom of speech, but when the posts are insulting to large races of people, that is going too far. Furthermore, I agree with Gabe in that social media has the potential to spread such great messages; therefore people need to take advantage of the great opportunity to make a positive difference towards decreasing racism. It is so easy to post a positive article or message about the progress that has been taking place, and others will see it and continue to share.
I also attended this lecture and was very intrigued by what Professor Neal had to say. The concept of "fictive kin" was particularly interesting. Professor Neal went on to explain that in addition to the familiarity that African Americans show towards each other over social media, they are also more adapt at using social media sites such as twitter and Facebook. According to Neal, African Americans are also ahead of the technological curve. Neal presented data that also showed how African Americans are more receptive to online advertising than any other race. All of this goes to show that there has been an explosion of growth among African Americans who are on social media and accessing technology. I think this could be largely attributed to the efforts to silence African Americans for hundreds of years. During chattel slavery, slaves were prevented from learning how to read and write and often faced brutal punishment if they attempted to teach themselves. In the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans who sought to make their voices heard were met with serious opposition. While there is still a long way to go in attaining racial equality in the United States, I would say that for the most part we are at a point in history where African Americans are free to express themselves and openly make their voices heard. It has also never been easier to make one's opinion known over the internet and social media, regardless of what race you are. I think that both continued efforts towards racial equality and advances in technology have contributed to African Americans' unprecedented involvement in social media. After hundreds of years of oppression, African Americans are more capable of making their voices heard. Not only are African Americans becoming increasingly active on social media, they are at the forefront of its growth.
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