IB Docs (2) Team
Part 1 - The Language of a Movement
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Our Language and Literature course offers us the opportunity to tackle difficult, complex, and relevant current issues. We have the opportunity to address, discuss, dissect, and analyze the language and images being used by the media, activists, politicians, and everyday people on Twitter and Facebook in relation to almost any topic of our choosing.
When George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing of Trayvon Martin in 2013, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter began trending on Twitter. In 2014, after the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City, the movement gained even more prominence. In the summer of 2016, when two more Black men were killed while in police custody, along with the killing of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, the United States began to more openly converse about race, policing, bias, and discrimination. And in the spring and summer of 2020, after the killing of George Floyd, massive protests erupted across the United States and around the world.
This post, the first of five in a series dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement, asks students to dig into and unpack the meaning behind slogans and hashtags often heard in the media. It is an introductory lesson meant to set students up for further study. The materials and resources below focus on those individual words themselves. It is a starting place for entering the conversation about race in the United States today.
This unit has been placed under the area of exploration "Time and space" as it asks students to explore the impact of the racism African-Americans have faced in the United States over a substantial period of time. However, you could choose to use it in another part of the course (readers, writers and texts) or by using a course concept such as "communication" and/or "representation." That decision is up to you and how you have designed your course. As always, use the resources and materials that work for you and your students in your individual context.
Area of Exploration Guiding Questions
1. How important is context (historical, cultural, political, or other) to the production and reception of a text?
2. In what ways can a text illuminate an aspect of the political or social environment? How does a more nuanced understanding of events and history affect one's understanding or interpretation of a text?
Guiding Conceptual Question
1. How does a social justice movement communicate its aims and objectives? How and why does that communication change and evolve over time?
Hashtag Questions
To kick off this study, have students answer questions about the words and meaning in three popular hashtags: #BlackLivesMatter, #AllLivesMatter, and #BlueLivesMatter.
Questions for #BlackLivesMatter – Context of Reception and Production
1. What does the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter explicitly mean and what does it implicitly mean?Look at the denotation and connotation of each word.
2. What is the subtext behind this hashtag?
3. How do you, individually, react to this hashtag? Why? How might others – in your school, in your community, and in the larger world – react to this hashtag and why?
4. Using your answers from #1-#3, how does the hashtag play upon our emotions, prejudices, and rational thoughts? In what ways and to what effect?
5. Using your answers from #1-#4, come to a conclusive answer about how language being used and to what effect in this hashtag. Turn this answer into a strong and concise claim or argument.
Questions for #AllLivesMatter – Context of Reception and Production
1. What does the hashtag #AllLivesMatter explicitly mean and what does it implicitly mean? Look at the denotation and connotation of each word.
2. What is the subtext behind #AllLivesMatter?
3. How is #AllLivesMatter a response to #BlackLivesMatter?
4. “All” versus “Black” is the only difference between the two hashtags and yet they are very, very different in what they want to convey. How so?
5. How do you, individually, react to this hashtag? Why? How might others – in your school, in your community, and in the larger world – react to this hashtag and why?
6. Using your answers from #1-#5, how does the hashtag play upon our emotions, prejudices, and rational thoughts? In what ways and to what effect?
7. Using your answers from #1-#6, come to a conclusive answer about how language being used and to what effect in the #AllLivesMatter hashtag. Turn this answer into a strong and concise claim or argument.
Questions for #BlueLivesMatter – Context of Reception and Production
1. What does the hashtag #BlueLivesMatter explicitly mean and what does it implicitly mean? Look at the denotation and connotation of each word.What does “Blue” stand for in this context?
2. What is the subtext behind #BlueLivesMatter?
3. How is #BlueLivesMatter a response to #BlackLivesMatter?
4. “Blue” versus “Black” is the only difference between the two hashtags and yet they are very, very different in what they want to convey. How so?
5. How do you, individually, react to this hashtag?Why?How might others – in your school, in your community, and in the larger world – react to this hashtag and why?
6. Using your answers from #1-#5, how does the hashtag play upon our emotions, prejudices, and rational thoughts? In what ways and to what effect?
7. Using your answers from #1-#6, come to a conclusive answer about how language being used and to what effect in the #AllLivesMatter hashtag. Turn this answer into a strong and concise claim or argument.
8. Can words on Twitter – and hashtags in particular – lead people to commit acts of violence?
Controversy - #BlueLivesMatter Vs. #BlackLivesMatter
Begin with a discussion of the billboard below. Project it on the board and have students discuss what they notice about the words, images, and the additional hashtag in the bottom right corner.
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Next, have students read this short news article in USA Today from 2015. After reading the article, you can have students answer the questions below or just engage in a discussion using the prompt or something of your own choosing.
Questions and Discussion Prompt
1. Does this billboard and the statement Blue Lives Matter co-opt the message of the #BlackLivesMatter movement?
2. Does the hashtag #BlueLivesMatter and/or the billboard itself “belittle” the #BlackLivesMatter movement?
3. Should an advertising agency (Lamar Advertising) engage in this type of activism and political activity? Is it ethically appropriate for a business to do so?Why or why not?
Discussion Prompt
1. Who has the right to use ___ Lives Matter? Why?
Controversy - #BlackLivesMatter Vs. #AllLivesMatter
Have students read the blog post by Alicia Garza in The Feminist Wire. It is a bit long, and does use terminology that may be foreign to students. However, it does provide a very clear argument about why it is important to use #BlackLivesMatter and not #AllLivesMatter. The last paragraph in particular sums up her argument quite succinctly.
Questions
1. What are Garza’s various claims or arguments in this blog post?
2. What evidence does she provide to support her claims?
3. Do you agree with Garza’s claim(s) in the last paragraph of the blog?Why or why not?
4. What counterclaims could be made to Garza?
5. So, do #AllLivesMatter or do #BlackLivesMatter?Discuss as a whole class.
Discussion or Debate
After having students closely analyze the words in all three hashtags, with particular emphasis on connotation and subtext, and after having students read the USA Today and The Feminist Wire articles, provide students an opportunity to enter into a larger conversation or debate. Choose one – or more – of following to get that discussion started.
Discussion Questions
1. What hashtag has the most social impact and why?
2. Are some lives more important than other lives? Why or why not? And how do the individual words in the hashtags imply this or not?
Debate Questions
3. This house believes that #AllLivesMatter is more inclusive and accepting of the lives of others.
4. This house believes the #AllLivesMatter hashtag diminishes the systematic racism and oppression Blacks experience in the United States.
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