Could Black Lives Matter be more successful with a more inclusive identity?
The purpose of this project is to create a conversation surrounding the structure, leadership, and identity of Black Lives Matter, with the goal of encouraging a more inclusive identity that will be more successful as the movement and organization continue to develop. Movement organization’s capabilities are largely dependent on their connection with mainstream society and in this project I address BLM’s reputation as of 2020 with the aspiration of enhancing the movement and organizations ability to incite societal change.
After the murder of George Floyd the Movement and organization reached new heights in participation and activism, however, unfortunately BLM was met with a heavily negative response and support numbers have fallen sharply since. BLM participants must ask themselves, “why would this be”?
It was necessary for me to comment on topics such as the violent perception that surrounds the Black Lives Matter organization and movement, important media voices, and the violent response BLM has received. Using an infographic visualization with these topics helps the audience understand the significance of these issues, comprehend the impact, and encourages them to consider more deeply what perception they or those they know have developed. Using data like arrest statistics juxtaposed with demonstration statistics clarifies what is happening and creates emphasis surrounding the seriousness and pattern of misinformation related to BLM.
Counter protest, police brutality, demographic statistics, and political divisiveness are also topics mentioned in this publication. The project also includes spreads consisting of text alone that dive deeper into the academic content that inspired the previously mentioned infographic spreads; these include narrative control, social identities, and social leadership. This is done to help create an understanding and provide context for each of the topics making their revelations more impactful.
My process began by exploring previous movement organizations tactics, language, and appearance/visual identity to learn what made significant contributions towards their success over time. This information was combined with social identity research to better understand how BLM could be more effective at connecting with their audience.
The lenses I used were historical activism, marketing communication, and anthropology. The combination of these lenses allowed me to establish the necessary connections observed throughout BLM’s activity and notoriety to draw conclusions revealing what could potentially be done to benefit the movement and organization.