Black Lives Matter “Nothing Less than the Liberation of Our People”

Black Lives Matter – see their site and check out twitter #BLM – is a great social justice movement. As a European living in the U.S.A., you cannot help but notice that institutionalized racism is still very much a a thing. Maybe even more so than in my own country, where people still dress up in blackface around christmas. CNN has a great documentary about this racist Dutch tradition, that can be seen here. Even Donald Trump would not dress up as.. ok, maybe Donald would.
However, the racist traditions of the Netherlands do not erase the need of the critical intervention of Black Lives Matter in the U.S.A.

Black and yellow tape is used to keep people away from crime scenes. It warns us that a place should not be entered, is dangerous, that the public should keep on walking and preferably ignores what is happening. At the same time it’s cautioning us, the tape draws attention to a scene we might otherwise overlook.

It is no coincidence the Black Lives Matter website has the same colors. BlackLivesMatter is dangerous, because it, sadly, is challenging the status quo and is therefore a disruption of everyday life. The caution tape signals both that something is going on, and that we should continue our life. BlackLivesMatter is not only about drawing attention to the crime scenes, to the obvious state violence we read and hear about in the news every day. It might even want us to continue walking when we see a crime scene, to direct our attention somewhere else. The use of colors might be read as the wish to draw our attention to other forms of state violence, in the same way as the tape draws our attention to a crime scene. It might mean: drive slowly, it’s dangerous to proceed to fast when you’re living in a society where black lives do not matter. While police brutality results in the unjust taking of a lot of black lives, the disproportionate killings of blacks is a symptom, but not the main problem, of racism in the United States. State violence is much more, and not all state violence results in caution tape that draws our attention to it. The most insidious state violence is happening every day and does not draw our attention. State violence is also, “Black poverty and genocide”, it is mass incarceration of black people, it is “black women bearing the burden of relentless assault on our children and families”, it is Black queer and trans folks being disposed of like garbage while simultaneously being fetishized, it is undocumented black immigrants being relegated to the shadows, it is the state experimenting on black folks with disabilities and different abilities and it is black girls used as negotiating chips during times of conflict and war (website). All these are forms of state violence, and they are all less capable of drawing our attention. The use of colors on the website might imply that what is at stake is not the end of police brutality, but “nothing less than the liberation of our people” (website).

The website clearly conveys something else as well: that you, no matter who you are, are the active agent of change. It does this both in form and content. Through its layout by having the “get involved” button stand out and by having its principles made in such a way that it requires action from you in order to read them. Through its content by saying that blacks liberation is also your liberation. If you’re a white cis -gendered man, you are invited to join through the form and content of the website. However, if you’re a woman of color, you are not more actively encouraged to join than others, but are shown a lot of examples of other women involved. The idea that only men can be leaders is actively challenged by the picture choice, the quotes around the website, and its content. One of the “major misconceptions” about BlackLivesMatter is that it is a leaderless movement. On the website is stated it is instead a leaderfull movement.

The first thing you can select on the website is the “get involved” button. The “How you can help” link stands out because it is yellow, while the other two main links to click at, “who we are ” and “what we believe” are black. This brings across the idea that help is appreciated, necessary, needed, even if you don’t know everything yet. It could convey the message that the most important goal of the website is not to deepen our understanding or even further raise awareness, but that what is needed is people to help. Emphasizing this messages makes it easier to do so. I don’t need to know everything or be an academic or a professional activist in order to be an ally or supporter, because they’ve clearly invited me to join or help no matter what. This is inviting, it opens the possibility for everyone to get involved, and takes away the pressure to ‘know everything’ before expressing solidarity or alliance. We can read on the website that “#BlackLivesMatter is an online forum intended to build connections between Black people and our allies to fight anti-Black racism, to spark dialogue among Black people, and to facilitate the types of connections necessary to encourage social action and engagement”. Not only black people, but also allies, are welcome to get involved. BlackLivesMatter emphasizes the importance of connections, and shows this through her lay out.

And connections are really important. Not only because “when black people get free, everybody gets free”, but also because a lot of white people have been complicit in some way to state violence against black. “Until white women decide that we will no longer be used as an excuse for violence, until we decide that we will no longer tacitly can done and benefit from violence we will continue to have blood on our pale, “perfect” hands”, writes Angyal (3).Not recognizing white privilege is already something that adds to the marginalized position of people of color. So white people need to be involved as well, by educating themselves and by speaking up. Especially white women should be concerned with Black Lives Matter, because “that we are victims of sexism does not erase our culpability in American Racism” (Angyal, 2). Our ‘purity’ has long been an excuse for racist violence (Angyal, 2). Because violence has been undertaken in our name, we, white women, are called upon to speak out against this.

BlackLivesMatter encourages us to think about intersection of identity and struggle. Because state violence affects all sort of non-normative people who disrupt the status quo, who are considered less productive, who are considered profiteers of the welfare state or dangerously challenging the superiority of the white nuclear heterosexual family. “In radical queer theory and a politics of people of color, the queering of, and connection between, Derrion and Carl is inescapable and the rebirth of queer politics becomes possible”, writes Cathy Cohen (128). A rebirth of queer politics, a drawing of new alliances, and a comprehensive analysis, is necessary to be a truly productive movement. Black Lives Matters website knows this, and emphasizes its wish for everyone to become involved. They “are committed to fostering a queer‐affirming network”, and explicitly condemn not mentioning the work of queer Black women:, because ”that is racism in practice”, and “it’s also hetero-patriarchal. Straight men, unintentionally or intentionally, have taken the work of queer Black women and erased our contributions” (website). The contribution of black women should be shown and honored, because especially the contributions of marginalized people should be shown and appreciated. This re-centering opens the possibility to really listen to wishes and demands of people seen as ‘other’, rather than thinking that assimilation in an inherently oppressive capitalist system is the goal of a social justice movement. Andrea Smith, Beth Richie, Janelle White and the INCITE anthology co-editors write: “we must remember that our goal as women of color is not to secure promises of a more diverse workplace, or inclusion in white feminist organizations” (Incite, 10). Like the website also states, “our goal is nothing less than the liberation of our people” (Incite, 10).

The website gives people who are otherwise not seen as leaders extra nudges to be involved, in form by having more pictures of women and by showing only inspirational quotes of women, and in text by challenging that only ‘charismatic Black men” can be rallying around. There are certain stereotypes that control both people’s perception and the behavior of black women. “Challenging these controlling images has long been a core part of Black Feminist Thought” (Collins, 67). Black Lives Matter challenges these controlling images not only offline by putting forward female leaders and re-centering, putting the focus on queers of color instead of only on heterosexual men. The focus on the website is not on “charismatic Black men”, but on the “Black queer women in this society” that are normally rendered invisible and non-relevant (herstory). The layout in the Herstory section is very “in your face”. The accusation that it is racism to ignore the work of Trans women of color is way bigger than the other parts of the text. It stands out. Not only the website and movement on its own, but especially this accusation that is big and bold and angry, does not try to mitigate anger. Ahmed writes about the feminist killjoy, and how disturbing someone’s happiness by bringing the unhappy news that we sadly still live in a racist and sexist society is sometimes necessary. Often, white people expect of the woman of color “to let go of her anger”, in order for “the white woman to move on” (Ahmed, 6). BlackLivesMatter does not do this, and is very clear about its message.

Some parts of the website ask active participation from you. Not only are visitors explicitly urged to do something in real life through the option of adding and finding events, some parts of the website itself are already asking participation in form, enabling the visitor to enact agency about their choices. The design of the principles section is such that you cannot be passive. In order to read the principles, you have to scroll over them. The principles are not put in a linear text, but are spread around like cards in a game of memory that you have to turn around yourself . This implies that the founders did not have a hierarchy of principles in mind, and do not want to dictate you what to think but want you to find out yourself. Giving the visitor of the website the opportunity to decide themselves what they is most interested in, gives agency that a linear text doesn’t imply. It yet again shows that you are the one in control of your life, that you should decide what you find important and shouldn’t let some other authority decide what is valuable and what is unworthy.

BlackLivesMatter can be supported by buying their products, for example a t-shirt for $38,50 by “Greedy City Foremost Apparel”. However, this isn’t prominently advertised on the website, and even more important, in order to can buy either t-shirts, candles or wristband, you’re directed to another website. This demarcates activism from consumption. A lot of websites selling merchandise feature it prominently. On this website, inspirational quotes, get involved links and pictures of black women activists are featured more prominently. The most important thing clearly isn’t buying products, but is getting involved in some way.

Thus, the website signals that something important is happening by using the colors yellow and black. It’s design is made in such a way that it asks active participation, thereby empowering the visitor. The lay out is such that we are reminded that we are welcome to contribute to the movement. The use of photographs is there to counter the controlling images that we have that do not see the value of women activists. In text the intersectionality of the struggle continues to be emphasized. Last but not least, building a separate website for the commercial activities clearly demarcates activism from consumption. The black and yellow tape does not prevent the visitor of the website from lingering, searching, looking around the scene, wondering what happened and knowing how to help or be an ally in making the use of caution tape redundant.

Harriet Bergman
harrietmbergman@gmail.com
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