Trayvon Martin and Media Use by
African Americans
"If we can't share it, it almost didn't happen. When something like this happens, we want to be able to fight for justice. And the easiest way to fight is to share these stories, so people know what is happening. And we're just getting better at amassing a movement". - Michael Skolnik, editor in chief of GlobalGrind.com and political director to mogul Russell Simmons
On February 26, 2012 Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old black teenager, was walking back to the home in a gated community where he had been staying in Sanford, Florida after going to the 7-Eleven. Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and carrying his cell phone, a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles which he had bought. Neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman was driving his SUV following Martin when he called 911 to report “a real suspicious guy”, a “black male” walking around. Zimmerman continued to follow Martin and the two of them engaged in some sort of altercation. One of the two men cried for help before Zimmerman fired one shot into Martin’s chest.
By March 8th , when the shooting itself did not garner much attention from the media, Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, created a petition on Change.org and called for Zimmerman to be prosecuted. This online petition had been signed by 2.2 million demanding to know why Zimmerman had not been arrested or charged with the killing. Bhaveeni Parmer, a Dallas attorney who specializes in intellectual property and technology and writes and speaks about social media, said that social media is increasingly playing a role in advancing legal cases and other situations. Bhaveeni states, “We’re seeing example after example of how social media can take a social, political or other public interest matters to the mainstream quickly and with a certain passion that was otherwise either absent or would take weeks or months to create” (Stodder, pg 1).
This case brings to the forefront how the black community is using new technology to bring their concerns and issues to the whole country. Najee Ali, a Los Angeles based activist and director of H.O.P.E., states that, “ Black people were not even aware that [Martin] had been shot and killed until Rev. Al Sharpton and other black celebrities started posting it on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook” (Wood, Daniel, pg. 1). The vice president of Levick Strategic Communications, Derede McAlpin, parallels the Martin case with the Jena Six in 2006 where six black teens were arrested for serious offenses while their non-minority partners received different treatment. McAlpin stated that, “the Jena Six case was largely ignored by the U.S. national media. The Town Talk and The Jena Times covered the story from its inception. But the case didn’t reach a national level until African-American bloggers and [black] media reported on the issue, which resulted in the mobilization of a nationwide network of supporters, civil rights activists, and community groups” (Wood, Daniel, pg. 3).
Use of Twitter by African Americans continues to grow and according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project survey done in 2011, the share of African Americans on Twitter nearly doubled from 13 to 25 percent, while the proportion of whites on Twitter edged up only slightly, from 5 to 9 percent (Bosker, pg 1). According to eMarketer Report, “African Americans own more cell phones and use more features than any other demographic group. And the number of black Internet users is expected to grow 32% over the next several years, from 21.7 million in 2008 to 28.6 million in 2014” (Graves Jr, Earl, pg. 1).
Social media has allowed African Americans an outlet to draw attention to news stories and social issues that might otherwise go unreported in mainstream media sources. With the Trayvon Martin case, social media has provided a population that has grown frustrated with the lack of reporting and stories on their behalf and provides the means to express concern and outrage and to mobilize and turn an injustice into justice.
On February 26, 2012 Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old black teenager, was walking back to the home in a gated community where he had been staying in Sanford, Florida after going to the 7-Eleven. Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and carrying his cell phone, a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles which he had bought. Neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman was driving his SUV following Martin when he called 911 to report “a real suspicious guy”, a “black male” walking around. Zimmerman continued to follow Martin and the two of them engaged in some sort of altercation. One of the two men cried for help before Zimmerman fired one shot into Martin’s chest.
By March 8th , when the shooting itself did not garner much attention from the media, Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, created a petition on Change.org and called for Zimmerman to be prosecuted. This online petition had been signed by 2.2 million demanding to know why Zimmerman had not been arrested or charged with the killing. Bhaveeni Parmer, a Dallas attorney who specializes in intellectual property and technology and writes and speaks about social media, said that social media is increasingly playing a role in advancing legal cases and other situations. Bhaveeni states, “We’re seeing example after example of how social media can take a social, political or other public interest matters to the mainstream quickly and with a certain passion that was otherwise either absent or would take weeks or months to create” (Stodder, pg 1).
This case brings to the forefront how the black community is using new technology to bring their concerns and issues to the whole country. Najee Ali, a Los Angeles based activist and director of H.O.P.E., states that, “ Black people were not even aware that [Martin] had been shot and killed until Rev. Al Sharpton and other black celebrities started posting it on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook” (Wood, Daniel, pg. 1). The vice president of Levick Strategic Communications, Derede McAlpin, parallels the Martin case with the Jena Six in 2006 where six black teens were arrested for serious offenses while their non-minority partners received different treatment. McAlpin stated that, “the Jena Six case was largely ignored by the U.S. national media. The Town Talk and The Jena Times covered the story from its inception. But the case didn’t reach a national level until African-American bloggers and [black] media reported on the issue, which resulted in the mobilization of a nationwide network of supporters, civil rights activists, and community groups” (Wood, Daniel, pg. 3).
Use of Twitter by African Americans continues to grow and according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project survey done in 2011, the share of African Americans on Twitter nearly doubled from 13 to 25 percent, while the proportion of whites on Twitter edged up only slightly, from 5 to 9 percent (Bosker, pg 1). According to eMarketer Report, “African Americans own more cell phones and use more features than any other demographic group. And the number of black Internet users is expected to grow 32% over the next several years, from 21.7 million in 2008 to 28.6 million in 2014” (Graves Jr, Earl, pg. 1).
Social media has allowed African Americans an outlet to draw attention to news stories and social issues that might otherwise go unreported in mainstream media sources. With the Trayvon Martin case, social media has provided a population that has grown frustrated with the lack of reporting and stories on their behalf and provides the means to express concern and outrage and to mobilize and turn an injustice into justice.