How to create effective Social movements
Political movements across the United States are the reason that America is a democracy. When things are not headed the way that people want in America political movements like protest, social media, sit ins, and marches are the way that people vocalize these feelings and it many ways it is the way of letting government and people in power know how the citizens feel. Political movements are a way of change that allows the government to give the illusion that they are giving the people what they want. When political movements do not follow through with their agenda in more ways than protest and actions demands are not met. The real question that many people in America need to consider is what is the best way to create real sustainable change?
Social media
Social movements have evolved through the years and in many ways this has allowed for improvements but has also allowed for a lot more confusion between people in these social movements. For many years social movements were told to people by word of mouth and information was found out through things like newspapers and flyers. Now however there is a whole new world in the way information travels. It is passed around through social media such as facebook, twitter, and instagram which allows a lot more information to circulate and in many ways draws a much larger crowd. However in many ways internet movements causes this sense of comfortability in social movements, “But the problem with pointing to the Internet’s centrality to these well-publicized movements is that it selects on the dependent variable. What this means is that much of the hype around structureless activism in the digital era has focused on very visible movements with high levels of digital engagement. Left out of the picture are the everyday practices across a range of political movements with differing levels of organization and online engagement.”(Berkeley Journal) For instance when the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag was circulating social media it structured many conversations but since people were talking about it more with people they never had to meet they felt that they were drawing enough attention to it and therefore did not have to act and fight for their beliefs.
the right way to create change
Another controversy that surrounded the Black Lives Matter campaign is the way that people in Ferguson were protesting. Although many people kept it calm others were infuriated with the verdict to not indict Darren Wilson and because of that some people rioted. This was ultimately frowned upon by the president, government, and some of the people of Ferguson. Many people have the thinking that if democracy is not given through the legal system is in place then why should other rules of democracy be followed. Rioting has evolved into victim blaming and the government has gotten very upset because it is not following the rules of going against their decisions that they have put in place. “The narrative of “progress” steadily advances divorced from the reality on the streets. For all the online discourse about oppression, identity, and ‘shaming’, there is a disturbing lack of insight and nuance when it comes to riots, vandalism, and looting in the wake of these unsettling acts of violence against people of color.” (Mask Magazine) In the wake of Ferguson an article came out where these ideas behind Ferguson were expressed and a very critical statement was made against riot shaming, “Don’t ask kids to wait around and dodge bullets until the system treats us fairly. Just stop putting that on them. Believe it or not, you don’t have to save the world. And you sure as hell ain’t going to do it on Twitter. Just step back with the riot shaming, and work on your perspective.” (Mask Magazine). Although rioting may not be the most effective way to get a point across more people are getting fed up about justice not being served and are looking to find a way to have this happen.
It is difficult to come up with models of change as a citizen that are effective though. According to Grace Lee Boggs this change is not solely going to happen through protest, “Still, it becomes clearer every day that organizing or joining massive protests and demanding new policies fail to sufficiently address the crisis we face. They may demonstrate that we are on the right side politically, but they are not transformative enough. They do not change the cultural images or the symbols that play such a pivotal role in molding us into who we are.” (Grace Lee Boggs) The idea that is currently had about changing America is not as cookie cutter as having a protest. There needs to be more discussion through elected officials and citizens, when protest are organized there needs to be clear demands, and when America claims it is a democracy it needs to really act like it.
It is difficult to come up with models of change as a citizen that are effective though. According to Grace Lee Boggs this change is not solely going to happen through protest, “Still, it becomes clearer every day that organizing or joining massive protests and demanding new policies fail to sufficiently address the crisis we face. They may demonstrate that we are on the right side politically, but they are not transformative enough. They do not change the cultural images or the symbols that play such a pivotal role in molding us into who we are.” (Grace Lee Boggs) The idea that is currently had about changing America is not as cookie cutter as having a protest. There needs to be more discussion through elected officials and citizens, when protest are organized there needs to be clear demands, and when America claims it is a democracy it needs to really act like it.