The Online-Offline Dynamics of Black Backlash and White Emboldenment: #blacklivesmatter, #whitelivesmatter and White Supremacist Activity.

• In Event: Online Communities and Offline Violence

Abstract

Advances in racial equality have frequently been met by retaliatory efforts to uphold white dominance. Using a database of all Tweets using #blacklivesmatter or #whitelivesmatter posted between May 25th, 2020, and April 4th, 2023 and data documenting white supremacist protests, propaganda, and violence, we examine the online-offline dynamics of backlash against Black Americans that emerged after increased calls for racial justice following the death of George Floyd. Furthermore, we assess how online calls for White empowerment might embolden or be emboldened by white supremacist activity. Through vector autoregression and sentiment analysis, we analyze the interaction between the volume and hostility of online discourse about race and rates of white supremacist activity. Additionally, we investigate how these activities feed back into and influence online racial discourse. Our findings underscore the critical role of online platforms in both reflecting and shaping racial discourse and tensions and offer insight into the cyclical nature of racial progress, backlash, and emboldened hate.

Authors

• Laura Dugan, The Ohio State University

• Jack Wippell, The Ohio State University