Race, Rioting, and Black Lives Matter - An Exploration of the Perception of Black Peoples and Their Movements in Media

Abstract

This article explores how mainstream sources such as social media, broadcasting, and journalism, have shaped and continue to shape the perception of race, racial justice, and minority opinions with a focus on Black communities and movements such as Black Lives Matter. Media is critical in the distribution and dissemination of information, especially pertaining to issues and organizations that rise in response to critical events, opinions, and injustices. The growing prevalence of technologies and internet sources such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and others, along with more traditional forms of communication such as CNN and Fox News, have increasingly given a platform to large-scale social issues such as the George Floyd racial justice protests and calls by Black communities for systemic and social change. This article also explores the utilization of racialized stereotypes and unconscious biases present in media that have shaped the language used when discussing social justice movements such as Black Lives Matter, and the perceptions formed around Black Americans.