This is one of many in a string of recent accounts of police brutality resulting in the death of an unarmed Black man. It keeps happening. Actually, it's always happened, but what's changed in recent years is the way we share information through technology and social media. Now we can post a video, image, or anything and it is instantly shared around the world where anyone can access it. In the case of Walter Scott, the bystander video of the events changed everything. The officer reported that Walter took his taser and so he feared for his life. In the video, we see that Walter was running away from, not towards the officer, and he shoots him in the back. We also see him putting his taser next to Walter's body. He reported a completely false story, and if it hadn't been for the video someone recorded on their phone, the whole case would have been swept under the rug.
People are pissed about these cases of excess force and brutality. And rightly so. People have been protesting each time these cases come out, like for Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Michael Brown Jr, and more. In Baltimore, people protested peacefully for a week. But the second that a few people decided to burn down the CVS and it became violent, the media was all over it. They didn't cover the peaceful protestors or the community coming together to fight a bigger issue, they only covered the violence of a few. Outlets like Fox only focused on the rioting and talking about how the "thugs" doing so are wrong, not why they're doing it or what the bigger picture is. The coverage leads people to thing that these "thugs" are just being destructive and that they represent all of the thousands of people there protesting, but they don't. Most of the protestors in Baltimore are peaceful, and cleaning up the trash and debris, and even trying to stop the violent protestors. But that's not what we see on TV and in the newspapers. So how do I, who is not from Baltimore, nor do I know anyone from there, know about the peaceful protestors? Social media.
The protestors took to twitter and other outlets to try to get the real message across, and to display their upset in the lack of media coverage of the peaceful demonstrations and the community coming together. People have been using hashtags like #freddiegray and #blacklivesmatter, to get more attention to the bigger picture. It's not just about Freddie Gray, it's about inequality and the history of violence and oppression against Black bodies by law enforcement. Social media has given activists an outlet to let their voices be heard. It creates a space that transcends borders and allows discussion of important topics that we don't see in the mainstream. Resistance is necessary for survival, because without it there would be no change.
Since all of these cases have been widely viewed, there has been talk that police officers will all soon have to wear body cameras at all times. If that happens that could be really helpful, as long as the officers can't control the cameras. Many people now know about the peaceful protests and that the violence in Baltimore is not representative of everyone. People are starting to get that there is a bigger picture, and it's all thanks to social media and the online activism that's been taking over the internet.
