#BlackLivesMatter
Investigating brand solidarity.
Objective:
Visual communication and online knowledge has virtually redefined the nature of our influence and persuasion. Online information moves quickly and just about anyone can create content for a wide audience, covering every imaginable topic, many of them focusing on political or social concerns. With hashtags, it has become significant in archiving and documenting the movement of social justice issues in its rawest form. #BlackLivesMatter is a significant topic that showed its power in the sheer number of people weighing in on the topic, expressing their sentiments succinctly, but also accumulating a sense of direction, solidarity, and gravity – all while engaging in attacks and counterattacks. Audiences, allies, and consumers are now demanding accountability for large platforms, rich public figures, and big corporations to mirror their social conditions and interests.
Readings:
Danez Smith – Dear White America
Claudia Rankine – Weather
TIME – The Body of Emmett Till
Childish Gambino – This Is America (Official Video)
Black Lives Matter: Crash Course Black American History #51
Writings:
We are exposed to the same events, but each person interprets them differently. Public figures and large corporations also interpret them differently. We are constantly bombarded by Kim Kardashian and Chick-Fil-A so what they achieve and say is so crucial. Corporate solidarity does not exist in isolation: they are influenced by and contribute to ongoing conversations, debates, cultural trends, and MONEY. Your goal in analyzing a text is to lead readers through careful examination of this information and some kind of interpretation or reasoned judgment. Written analysis of a text is generally supported by evidence from the text itself by quoting certain words or passages from a text or referring to images or sounds in a visual text but do not summarize the source. The support you offer for your interpretation need only be “reasonable” – there is never only one way to interpret something and this is where the classmate’s feedback builds the conversation.
Find a brand, company, or high profile person that used their platform to bring awareness to a social justice issue (or lack of, or failed at it, etc.). Then, use that example to analyze your thoughts on corporate solidarity. Please feel comfortable to share your findings as I am protecting this space and conversation as the moderator. However, if your posts or comments are hateful, inappropriate, threatening, or harassing – I would be addressing you privately. We can agree to disagree but in a respectful manner. These conversations can be both uncomfortable and productive. Thank you for being you. We are all works in progress!
In about 200 words (a few strong concise paragraphs), analyze your thoughts on corporate solidarity using one example of your findings.
Please link a video or article with your post to provide a reliable source (do the CRAAP test).
In about 100 words, please respond to one classmate in the comment box underneath their post to start a thread. This can range from further questions for your classmate, support that references to more sources/examples, gentle and respectful disagreements that help push for a more productively uncomfortable conversation, or positive reinforcement of something you learned.
