The Role of Black Women Political Elites in #BlackLivesMatter

• In Event: Democracy and Social Movements

Abstract

The rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement and the resurgence of protest politics is one of the seminal social movements of the current time. #BlackLivesMatter is a hashtag used by a network of activists, scholars, and practitioners that seek to create a world where “Blacks lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted for demise” (blacklivesmatter.com/about). While other studies have demonstrated that the news media problematically links Blackness and crime in its reports (Campbell 1995; Lawrence 2000), we seek to access the ways in which Black citizens and elected officials may shape or influence the medias’ portrayal of Black bodies left dead after police encounters. Because the killings of Black men and boys have received significantly more media attention than those of Black women and girls, we examine how the #SayHerName campaign and other activities by Black women insert a necessary but often overlooked intersectional narrative into conversations around Black Lives Matter. In doing so, Black women bring their experiences of race/gendered marginalization into their understandings of how articulate to the unique position of Black communities and why it is important to have an intersectional approach to the analysis of state-sponsored violence. Through a qualitative and humanistic analysis of both traditional and social media, the relationship between state-sponsored violence against Black Americans, race, and grassroots activism and politics, We ask how have Black women used their raced/gendered identities to champion Black Lives Matter initiatives for marginalized communities?

Authors

• Nadia E. Brown, Georgetown University

• Jean Beaman, University of California Santa Barbara