Paper Title
Location
Evans Room, Third Floor, DiGiorgio Campus Center (DiGs)
Keywords
social movements, hacktivism, blacklivesmatter, sayhername, intersectionality, womanist, feminism
Start Date
March 2016
End Date
March 2016
Abstract
Sanford, Ferguson, Long Island, and Baltimore are all cities that have become known nationally and internationally in households. This attention has not been about their nature of offering reasonably priced hotel lodging for tourists visiting the neighbouring major cities, but due to the killings of black men in America. Since the election of President Barack Obama in 2009, the notion of a post-racial America has circulated. With Congress members referring to the president as a tar baby to the numerous killings of black people by law enforcement and civilians these actions contradict this notion.
Between the years of 2012-2015, America has been plagued with numerous killings of black people by law enforcement and civilians. As a result of these heinous acts, the social movement #BlackLivesMatter was conceived; a form of hashtag activism that flooded social media feeds and gained attention from the mainstream outlets. This movement allowed the names of these black men and boys to become household names; names that may have otherwise only made the local nightly news. While this movement has garnered much needed attention to racial issues that exist in America, there is one thing missing from this conversation: black women and girls. After months of invisibly within conversation around #BlackLivesMatter , #SayHerName was created to pay homage to the lives of black women. In this paper, I examine how black women have been erased from the ongoing movement that is drawing attention to black bodies. Despite the efforts of the creators, who are three queer, black women, this movement has participated in the erasure of black women and made people wonder which black lives do matter. My paper takes an intersectional approach examining race, gender, sexuality, and historical context of silencing black women and girls in an attempt to provide nuanced commentary to this ongoing movement that is shifting and reworking itself in real time.
Included in
Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
From #BlackLivesMatter to #SayHerName
Evans Room, Third Floor, DiGiorgio Campus Center (DiGs)
Sanford, Ferguson, Long Island, and Baltimore are all cities that have become known nationally and internationally in households. This attention has not been about their nature of offering reasonably priced hotel lodging for tourists visiting the neighbouring major cities, but due to the killings of black men in America. Since the election of President Barack Obama in 2009, the notion of a post-racial America has circulated. With Congress members referring to the president as a tar baby to the numerous killings of black people by law enforcement and civilians these actions contradict this notion.
Between the years of 2012-2015, America has been plagued with numerous killings of black people by law enforcement and civilians. As a result of these heinous acts, the social movement #BlackLivesMatter was conceived; a form of hashtag activism that flooded social media feeds and gained attention from the mainstream outlets. This movement allowed the names of these black men and boys to become household names; names that may have otherwise only made the local nightly news. While this movement has garnered much needed attention to racial issues that exist in America, there is one thing missing from this conversation: black women and girls. After months of invisibly within conversation around #BlackLivesMatter , #SayHerName was created to pay homage to the lives of black women. In this paper, I examine how black women have been erased from the ongoing movement that is drawing attention to black bodies. Despite the efforts of the creators, who are three queer, black women, this movement has participated in the erasure of black women and made people wonder which black lives do matter. My paper takes an intersectional approach examining race, gender, sexuality, and historical context of silencing black women and girls in an attempt to provide nuanced commentary to this ongoing movement that is shifting and reworking itself in real time.
