Stay Woke

Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement documentary was an extremely powerful and emotional short film that chronologically followed the development and carrying out of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Something that really struck me throughout it was the amount of power social media and video-recording has. Police were not able to escape the proof of their brutal treatment of black people because a camera was on them the entire time. Specifically, the videos of the rallies in Ferguson where black protestors are seen being dragged on the floor, tear gassed, aimed at, pushed over, beat up etc. really helped spark the need to speak out. Even just the making of this documentary, I really got to hear the sense of urgency and pain in the activists voice. Another point the documentary made which connects back to our studies of the Civil Rights Leaders was the split between older Black America and Younger Black America. The older activities preached no riots and a more organized way of gathering, while the young activists felt their own movement was being taken away from them. I think it is important to distinguish the BLM Movement from the Civil Rights Movement, so I am in agreement with young Black America. It was started by a different generation with a different message. I feel the Civil Rights Movement was about equality, and the Black Lives Matter Movement is a push for white cops to be held accountable for what they did, and in general, abolishing police brutality towards black people.

One thing that frustrated me was the way Fox News had twisted the purpose of the Black Lives Matter Movement by saying that it was a hate group that wanted to kill cops. This is just another example of the stereotype of criminalizing black folks at work. Instead of listening to the actual message, the words of Black folks gets twisted and are used against them. I think Dr. Cone would strongly agree with the principles of the BLM Movement, and agree with its methods of assembling. According to him, he would be seeing God at work at each protest. I’m curious and eager to start connecting religion and the movement more in order to see things from a different perspective.