ABSTRACT

The deaths of numerous black Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers have thrust the issue of police brutality against minorities onto the world's stage. Social media have publicized spectacles of police violence to this global audience. In the twenty-first century, everyone with a cell phone can document and disseminate what is happening nearby in real time. In the summer of 2016, the videotaped deaths at the hands of police of Philando Castile in suburban Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge made the rounds on mainstream media. Social media provide essential tools for activists to tactically adapt, creating frames, mobilizing people, and witnessing these events as they unfold. Social media are effective tools in modern uprisings: they rapidly mobilize people and resources. Finally, social media allow those on the ground to counter dominant narratives provided by mainstream media to show the complexities and nuances present in uprisings.