
In the year 2016, a tweet on Twitter, a post on Facebook, or a picture on Instagram can be more powerful than any everyday conversation. Social media has started to dominate society's mind and has almost completely replaced the newspaper. Media is instant, wide-spread, and even unites people together over common interests. This makes it easy for one person's voice on a topic, such as racism, to be heard by many and often creates a snowballing group of people that agree. This is true with the new social movement about racial equality that goes by the name of BlackLivesMatter. This activist group has connected over media and spread like wildfire in the view of the public's eye. Now pop stars like Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar are doing performances to support these ideas. Even TV shows like "The Wire" and "Black-ish" are addressing racial issues in society. With media, this group's ideas are spread to affect every American in some form. This shows that media amplifies the ideas of one person into a large group fighting a war for a change in racial inequalities.

On July 23, 2013 one of the most important verdicts came out. George Zimmerman was acquitted after killing an unarmed black teenager named Treyvon Martin in a gated Florida suburb. Not only was this a day for a very important verdict but also for an essential Facebook post to be created. Alicia Garza was appalled by the decision to release Zimmerman after the killing of this innocent man. She took to Facebook and ended it with, "Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter," which is how #BlackLivesMatter was born. Her post was then shared and people that agreed started a trend. This shows how the BlackLivesMatter movement not only has sped through media but even began a popular website. If this statement were said in a personal conversation, it could have never reached the public eye. Social media allows people to unite and rally about a common concern, like the wrongful verdict of Trevon Martin's case.  Garza knew that many black people felt the same way she did when the verdict was released and used her post to try to bring everyone together. She explains, "Seeing these black people leaving the bar, and it was like we couldn't look at each other. We were carrying this burden around with us every day: of racism and white supremacy. It was a verdict that said: black people are not safe in America" (Day). This shows that media is a way to present a common idea like racial inequality and to get people to unite together to make a change. The Guardian explains, "The new movement is powerful yet diffuse, linked not by physical closeness or even necessarily by political consensus, but by the mobilising force of social media" demonstrating that this social movement was of the new generation. The black community was struggling to see changes and turned to social media to make their battle more efficient. The hashtag was not only created to come together and discuss the issues they face in society but it was a battle cry. TIME magazine explains, "The prevalence of the Black Lives Matter hashtag prompted media outlets to seize the phrase as shorthand for the struggle writ large. The new civil rights movement had its rallying cry", proving that the movement was ready for change (Altman). After many years and successes, the black community is still not equal to the white community. At this point, they are ready for that to end and finally live a comfortable life. 

Although the BlackLivesMatter Movement gets plenty of attention, if they have pop star, Beyonce supporting their cause, they will only receive more attention. Beyonce presented her own rallying call in her song "Formation." Her song starts off sounding playful with small giggles and a catchy beat. However, when watching the music video, it is clear to see that there are underlying themes and statements that are really being said. She is showing that she loves the things, even the stereotypes that make her black. Alex Macpherson of The Guardian explains, " ...  Formation's declarations of identity are carefully chosen for political weight and layers of meaning. 'I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils,' she declaims in the half-rapped, half-sung cadence that's served her so well." This proves the song is about recognizing that society cannot tell her what to love and hate about her culture. Often the stereotypes about blacks are negative and offensive, so by saying they do not hurt her, it jabs at the racist white community. Beyonce uses these exclamations of love for her black southern culture as a political statement as well. The political statements that she makes are important because they affect who she is and the world she lives in. This song is not just for Beyonce's album success but serves as a voice for many black people that are ignored because they are just average people. For example, Macpherson claims "Most effective of all is an extended shot of a child dancing in front of a row of riot police, who raise their hands in response to his moves before the camera cuts to graffiti reading "STOP SHOOTING US" demonstrating how Beyonce wants a change for the entire black community. She is using her fame and power to amplify the voices of average people that are overlooked.  With her large amount of followers and fans, she is able to reach many with this message to make a change in the inequalities the black community faces. This then classifies the song "Formation as a rallying cry, similar to that of the hashtag "BlackLivesMatter". Macpherson states, "Ultimately, it is a rallying cry, and it couldn't be more timely; when Beyonce begins to exhort her ladies to get in formation, it's the sound of a militia being prepared for battles ahead" showing that the black community is ready for a change no matter how hard the fight turns out. Beyonce is careful in her choices about this song to truly show that she loves her "blackness" and it should not cause their community to receive different treatment. 

Beyonce knows that her fame and media presence is essential in spreading her message of a want for change. Therefore, a powerful performance at the widely-watched Super Bowl 50 would be a perfect opportunity to introduce her rallying cry. This performance was the reason why the chatter on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites started about her new song. The fact that so many people of all ages watch the Super Bowl was the most important part. The Game, an online news source, claims, "The game, which saw the Denver Broncos win a defensive battle over the Carolina Panthers 24-10, averaged 111.9 million TV viewers" showing the large amount that tuned in to watch the big game on Sunday February 7th, 2016 (Pallotta and Stelter). This is an important fact because it shows about how many people viewed her performance or at least heard about it due to their interest in the topic of the Super Bowl. This means that people that may not have watched her music video before this were impacted in some way. A social movement like this one wanting to eliminate racial inequalities needs to reach a variety people. These people may be come from different backgrounds, differ in gender, race, and socioeconomic status but all share the same want for change. In this generation, the only way to accomplish that is by using media, viewers, and followers to one's advantage. This is exactly what Beyonce did at the Super Bowl performance. The Game even goes on to state, "The peak of this year's game came from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. ET when an average of 115.5 million people tuned in. This was during the halftime show that starred Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars" demonstrating that the halftime show was the best part of the entire show. This could be due to the fact many fans of Beyonce were excited to watch her new song be performed or possibly people communicating through media about her performance. Other influences could be the common knowledge of the excellent quality of previous halftime performances or just knowing its culturally important in America.  Either way, Beyonce increased her ability to be persuasive by taking advantage of the many viewers tuned into SuperBowl 50 and her large fan base.

Not only has Beyonce joined the rally, but Kendrick Lamar soon followed with his intense performance at The Grammys on February 16, 2016. The performance starts on a dimly-lit stage with the jingling of shackles. Once in the light, the audience can recognize Kendrick Lamar handcuffed to his dancers. From the very beginning, it is clear he is making a political statement. The Atlantic describes the meaning to this in their review stating, "Lamar arrived bound to other mock-inmates, slouchily walking with a hint of rhythm: every few beats, a twitch. This was clearly an image for the age of mass black incarceration" (Kornhaber). This demonstrates how Kendrick draws attention from the audience immediately with this use of powerful imagery. He helps them to visual how many black people's lives look in today's society. Due to stereotypes and inequality, "According to recent estimates, African American males are imprisoned at an overall rate of nearly seven times that of white males" which demonstrates that Lamar's stereotypes are backed by a real statistic. This is just another inequality that blacks have to face (Johnson). By taking advantage of his media time to make this statement, he is spreading the message to a mix of young fans and older viewers. Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks explains, "If Kendrick, who is very popular, is challenging that [racism] through his music which reaches more people, especially young people, that is awesome" proving that the power of media and performances like these are essential to spreading a message in today's generation. Due to his popularity and the audience of 25.3 million viewers, aged 18-49, tuned into his performance he is able to promote a deep conversation about how America needs to see a change in racial equality (O'Connell). After performing the first verse of "Blacker than Berry," Lamar and his dancers break free of the shackles and start to dance around a fire pit to sing "Alright." This song is commonly referred to as a rallying song for the BlackLivesMatter Movement. The Atlantic claims, "The image of a roaring African celebration is an image of joy outside of the tangle of American problems and slippery solutions Lamar's lyrics describe" which shows why this song would be a good rallying song (Kornhaber). It shows that even though the inequalities have decreased the black community cannot celebrate until America makes a change. Many people that are not active in the BlackLivesMatter movement probably have never heard this song, but due to Kendrick Lamar's performance they have now been exposed to it. Even if people were not tuned into the Grammys, due to social media and tweets like, "It's three days later and I'm still watching @kendricklamar       at the #GRAMMYs       over and over #brilliant      " from Ben Goodwin and many more, the video spread like wildfire. He impacted so many people with his intense performance that his sales went up a drastic 411% after the Grammy's (Schwartz). This automatically communicates that with media, Lamar was able to spread the message of a need for racial equality to so many Americans and start a conversation about making a change. 

The music industry is starting to be dominated by songs filled with cries for change and declaration of preparation for a political battle. Now it is not only limited to the radio and spilling from headphones, but is present at the click of the TV remote control. TV shows like "The Wire" which aired on HBO in 2002 was a police drama based in Baltimore and most episodes were based on local headlines, ranging from brutality to the war on drugs. Denise L Bissler and Joan L. Conners both dissect the 12 episodes of the third season. They discovered many important things including "About two-thirds of the police officers were white males ... This serves a stark contrast to the characters listed under 'The Street'" demonstrating that the positions of power are generally given to white males and the label of criminal is more commonly put on black males (176). By showing this is in the media, it makes the audience think about stereotypes they hold about what skin color a cop and a criminal usually have. Many may question why they think this and how to eliminate that stereotype from society.  "The Wire" also displays how the white cops of Baltimore often abuse their power, " ... power is positioned symbolically and literally, as the officer yells threats from the top of a car. Yet power is also gained through control of another person's body ( i.e. frisking corner boys) ... " (Bissler, Conners 177).  This show uses its ability to present facts in the media to show how black males are used as a way to make white officers feel powerful and masculine. Many people can understand how wrong and unequal these actions are and how a change needs to be enacted to prevent this. More recently, ABC's "Black-ish" has addressed racial issues in their current episodes. On February 24th, 2016 an episode about a black family waiting to find out if a police officer will be indicted after killing an unarmed black man. This can easily be seen as mimicking the events of the Trevon Martin case in 2013 and the many reported incidents of police brutality following. During the episode, Dre, the father, states "Obama ran on hope. Remember when he got elected and we felt like maybe, just maybe, we got out of that bad place, and made it to a good place?" but continues on to explain how society actually is, "That is the real world, Bo. And our children need to know that that's the world they live in" (Blackmon). In this moment, the audience can feel the frustration the black community has to face. Even with how the steps that have been made in a positive direction, there is still so much inequality in their lives. Many took to social media to describe their feelings, Khadija tweets, "That #Blackish       episode dead made me cry. It was too #real      ", showing that these feelings are ones carried by black people on a daily basis. It is clear that media source like the "The Wire" and "Black-ish" spark conversation about inequality and spread the feeling of needing a change in society. 

Many white people claim that racism is not a modern issue and ended when slaves were freed. This is simply not true as many stereotypes and inequalities still exist in 2016. I conduct my own field research to see how the population near me feels about racism. Through a survey online, I discovered that out of 211 people, 77.7% of people responded that they believe racism is an issue in today's society. Only 3.8% think their race is superior to others and 30.3% have experienced racism personally. These results show that many people are afraid to admit they are racist but have subtle prejudices that are leading a majority to believe it's a modern issue. This is due to many stereotypes that are stuck in society and cause the inequalities that occur which is classified as racism. BuzzFeed released a video called "I'm Black, but I'm Not ... " to address stereotypes that many blacks have to face on a daily basis. Many of these stereotypes are hurtful and cast a bad image on them simply due to their skin color. For example, the words "thug," "aggressive," "violent," "hyper-masculine," "ghetto," and many more to fill in the blank. This shows that society holds biases against black people simply based on their skin color. Also due to the negative terms that are used, it shows that whites believe they are superior. The second half of the video they talk about what they are instead of not. This part is essential to showing that they are very similar to whites, meaning they are equally as human. By doing this video, it shows that normal people feel the same way as Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar, but their voices are overlooked at times due to lack of media reach. This video has thousands of views, proving it impacted many, but this is still far from millions. The need for Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar to speak about racism still being existent is essential to keep increasing the number. Even with videos like "I'm Black, but I'm Not ... ", the white population believes that racism is just feelings and there are not hard facts. This is quickly disproved when "Brave New Films" released the video "Racism is Real" on YouTube. This video includes statistics about everyday problems blacks face that whites will never have to experience. For example, blacks are charged 700 more dollars than whites when purchasing a car, are incarcerated six times more than whites, and called back 50% less by employers due to a black sounding name. At the end of the video, the viewers are asked "If this isn't racism, what is?", which is the most powerful part. It shows that facts like the ones mentioned are easily overlooked by whites who do not face them and claim racism is not an issue today. The video reached 2,308,406 viewers showing that media has the ability to spread messages to a larger crowd than an everyday conversation. The producers of this video were able to present hard facts about the presence of racism in society to such a large crowd in hopes to show doubters the truth. Racism is still very present in today's society and, with the use of media, a change to fix that many come soon. 

A few people strongly believe that the elimination of racism is highly impossible due to the head-start whites got many years ago. Daria Roithmayr, author of Reproducing Racism: How Everyday Choices Lock in White Advantage points to a moment in history when this happened: Jim Crow laws. She explains, " ... a number of black workers had been slotted into historically white positions, and a few whites occupied historically black slots when the occasion demanded it" (Roithmayr 26). This shows that there are positions that are labelled as "for blacks" and "for whites" and during the building of the railroad it was common for the whites to have better jobs. Her claim is that whites only recommend white friends for jobs and this gives them an advantage. This is simply irrational due to the fact that change happens every day. This author fails to look at the fact that many changes have been made since the time of Jim Crow laws including the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which insured that all races were giving equal opportunity to housing and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which prohibits racial discrimination in the voting process. Laws like these show that change can be made and job positions are not set in stone to be for white or black people. This shows that with the use of media, and therefore the ability to reach a majority of the population, changes like these laws can be made in today's society. 

Social media, videos, and online newspapers are replacing sit-ins and protests. They reach many people and spread ideas farther than they have ever gone before, uniting people from miles away over a common interest to fight for change in issues, such as racism. Even with the many changes that have happen since the Civil War, there is still more room for improvement and change. The BlackLiveMatter movement, Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar, and many others are teaming up through social media to accomplish this change. Media is necessary in this generation for your message to reach many and is proving to be more powerful than a personal conversation. Just think if a tree falls in the woods, without a retweet, share, or like, can anyone hear it. 


