How Black Lives Matter Shapes the Rhetoric of Black Elected Officials

• In Event: Representation or Pandering? Elected Officials, Candidates, and Parties

Abstract

The murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, motivated the largest set of protests in American history. These protests represent an increase in frustrations among African Americans about continuing racism in government institutions. This sense of anger from the population is likely equally as high among black elected officials who have in recent years increased their efforts to combat racial inequality in the United States. In this study, we explore whether events around the George Floyd murder increased expressions of anger among black elected officials. Using Twitter data for U.S. House Representatives in the 116th Congress, regression discontinuity, and difference-in-difference design, we show that black members of Congress display significantly more anger in their tweets directly after the murder of George Floyd. In contrast to conventional wisdom, we also show that this expression of anger among black elected officials receives more positive feedback in terms of likes and retweets than the same expressions of anger from white elected officials.

Authors

• Christopher T. Stout, Oregon State University

• Davin Lanier Phoenix, University of California, Irvine

• Gregory John Leslie, University of California, Los Angeles