Policing Society

This theory paper is about the Black Lives Matter Movement.

I theorize that the Black Lives Matter movement is a rhetoric of renaming. A rhetoric of renaming consists of reusing successful methods of past black movements and modernizing them. Reclaiming rights of blacks like accessible health care and shedding light on police brutality encompasses this rhetoric of renaming. Using social media as a way to humanize those lives lost to racialized violence is another characteristic of this rhetoric. This rhetoric acknowledges, respects and values all marginalized lives and emphasizes the struggles each faces in their daily lives.

The rhetoric of renaming focuses on shedding light on issues like healthcare, that were not much of a focus in past black movements. The audience of this movement is more diverse and inclusive compared to past black movements. Specifically, this movement focuses on recognizing the injustices marginalized groups experience on a daily basis. An example of this is how black and brown people are not given proper healthcare. The health care system does not provide equal medical treatment to marginalized groups, which leads to the deaths of people from those groups. When black people go to health care clinics and complain of pain, their needs are not understood or dealt with properly. Farai Chideya shared how her grandmother died from colon cancer because her doctor did not give her grandmother a colonoscopy. Her grandmother constantly brought up intestinal pain she was having, but her voice was not being valued or heard by the medical physician. As a result, Farai’s grandmother died of colon cancer. (Chideya 2). The Black Lives Matter Movement not only focuses on how institutional racism is embedded in the health care system, but is visible in other aspects in society.

Farai Chideya

Just like black men face police brutality, so do black women, queer women and other marginalized groups like the LatinX community. Many black women are killed because of police violence. Today, campaigns have been created to remember the lives of these women. The “Say Her Name” campaign reminds us how the Black Lives Matter Movement encompasses all groups of people receiving racialized violence in all forms. Instead of only focusing on black men’s lives, this movement focuses on all marginalized lives being mistreated because of their race. This movement is more inclusive by respecting all marginalized lives who are being mistreated.

The main leaders of the Black Lives Matter Movement are queer woman of color. This depicts the rhetoric of renaming. Past black movements have had black men be the faces of the movements and were more focused on bringing attention to the injustices black men faced. By having black women as the faces of the movement it shows how modernized black movements have become. This also allows for the movement to be more modernized and inclusive. Since the founders of the movement are apart of three minority groups in society (black, queer and women), they understand how to best address struggles of not just one marginalized group, but all. This movement intersects across groups and focuses on bringing attention to the institutional racism that targets all marginalized groups.

Black Lives Matter Founders (left to right): Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors & Opal Tometi

Social media is an aspect of the rhetoric of renaming and works to globalize the Black Lives Matter Movement. The injustices being inflicted upon marginalized groups, happens not only here in the U.S., but in other countries around the world. This extends the network of people attached to this movement. By being more inclusive it strengthens the power and effect of the movement. News and stories of police brutality are able to be spread easily. Messages of hope and reconciliation in response to this racialized violence depicts the rhetoric of renaming. Martin Luther King Jr. used nonviolence as a tactic during the Civil Rights Movement. This nonviolence has become retransformed. Instead of having sit-ins, they have die-ins and instead of passing out flyers, they post, share and tweet. These are ways that the black movements have become renamed in the Black Lives Matter Movement. This is a powerful rhetoric because it shows the legacy of the black movements and how many past tactics have been reshaped to fit the current time.

The rhetoric of renaming is visible in the Black Lives Matter Movement because it continues past black movements and focuses on rehumanizing victims of racism. Those within this movement face the challenge of overcoming the institutional racism embedded in society. Just like whites justified lynchings, today there are similar cases where shooting an unarmed innocent civilian is justified. In the case of Trayvon Martin, he was shot by a community watchmen because Trayvon was viewed as a threat to this man’s safety. After events like these occur, people try to justify shooting at a black man. They create an imaginary reality, where they believe any black person is a dangerous threat. When reporting about these deaths, it differs on who the victim is. If the victim is a student, then they are remembered as being a smart student who had good grades. However, if the victim was an adult, then they are either depicted as being hard-working or having a past criminal record. By including that a victim of racialized violence had a criminal record, creates a way for justification to exist. Social media does remember victims, and remembers these moments where innocent lives were lost.

Trayvon Martin (1995-2012)

The Black Lives Matter Movement has instituted new ways of remembering victims, while showing the public the effects of these injustices on marginalized groups and their communities. Technology allows us to share videos of police shooting and killing an innocent black person, or someone from a marginalized group. Families of these victims choose to share these videos with the public because it defends and upholds the life of the victim. It is used as evidence to support how that shooting cannot be justified. Since some police officers claim that the person they shot was armed, they say it was a justified shooting. Videos showing a black person running away from the officer with nothing in their arms, can be used to show how they were innocent and not an imminent threat. This relates to Emmett Till’s case. After Emmett Till was unrightfully beaten to death, his mother had an open casket for his funeral. She wanted to show the world what those white men did to her son. This shows how these videos serve the same purpose as Emmett Till’s open casket. Holding the dominant white culture accountable for their actions is seen in both present and past black movements, and shows how modernized the BLMM is. This shows the rhetoric of renaming, because it shows how the BLMM reuses successful methods from past black movements.

Emmett Till (1941-1955)

Today, the rights of marginalized groups are reclaimed through the actions of those who have high platforms in society. Colin Kapernick risked his NFL career because he kneeled during the “National Anthem'' to protest the police brutality of blacks. He uses the same message as Malcolm X when he says, “To again quote Malcolm X, when he said that he, ‘will join in with anyone-I don’t care what color you are-as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth.’ I am here to join with you all in this battle against police violence” (Kapernick 3). Colin Kapernick’s speech and message of love embodies the whole purpose of the Black Lives Matter Movement, which is one of unity. This theme of unity has become renamed throughout the black movements, but its purpose has remained the same.

The Black Lives Matter Movement causes us to look around at our current society and see how a history of racism has continued to live on. The methods of addressing this racism have become renamed so we can apply them to the present. By focusing on all marginalized lives who face institutional racism on a daily basis, we are able to unite and be a strong force together. Even though there has been a long history of blacks struggling for their rights, the fight for equality for those who are marginalized continues to be a main goal of the BLMM. They continue to push onward with the hope of small changes occurring. This movement is centered around love, by not using violence against the oppressive dominant culture. This rhetoric of renaming allows everyone to unite to bring attention to the human dignity of marginalized groups in society.