Black Lives Matter

Screenshot from the video of the incident (Image courtesy of Flickr)

March 3rd, 1991 history was made when taxi driver, Rodney King, was tazered and beaten multiple times after a traffic stop had gone bad. King was reported to be speeding and was assumed to be high on PCP after refusing to exit his vehicle. King suffered many brutal injuries after the incident. Eleven days later, the officers who were present in this incident were acquitted for their crimes and with that the riots of 1992 began. This incident, which had many similar incidents beforehand, had received so much attention throughout the nation because it was one of the first incidents where visual footage was broadcasted nation-wide. The raw footage of the beating moved many people to emotionally react towards the outcome of the acquisition of the officers and educated many on something they may not have been aware of before. 

The 1992 LA Riots (Image curtesy of The Society for U.S. Intellectual History)

#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012, after the death of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman was acquitted for murder. Since Martin's death many similar incidents have been brought to light through visual footage and pictures. Popular to what many believe, Black Lives Matter goes deeper than the police brutality movements that have taken social media and news outlets by storm, but is used to bring attention to all aspects of minority mistreatment. 

"Not a moment, but a movement." (www.thebaynet.com)

The spreadability of this footage created an uproar of those who felt, with what little they could really do, they should somehow or someway speak their minds. Other than protesting and rioting they took to the internet. Thus #BlackLivesMatter took to the trending topics and still remains a popular hashtag today. The use of this hashtag has connected many of those with the same ideas, interest, maybe even relatable scenarios within this community. This information is relevant to class concepts because this was one of those activist groups that was solely built through social media and a single hashtag. This movement is linked throughout Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It has made a major impact throughout our country and even internationally. Details were brought to light that might have otherwise been overlooked. Regardless if you agree or disagree with the topic that is being argued there is a part of you that has to admit the impact is impressive.