[Air-L] A good way to respond to a query from a student about activism?

Mon Jun 8 13:03:53 PDT 2020

Thank you Steve Jones: you said it perfectly.

Thank you, Radhika. You are present both on the forum and off.

That’s what this list has consistently done and the generosity of bibliographies must not be an end in itself. There might be active discussions that are central to the list: the data of black lives and black deaths in the US, black/POC risks and differentials among US populations right now, US centralism and different methods of charting and responding to Covid-19, pandemic spread and data at local, national, global level and their differences and the social effects of these differences, lack of accurate testing, no real collection of data. . .all of these topics are keywords of AoIR.

I am struggling with being at daily protests and keeping my daughters healthy. So I’m not feeling particularly data-keen or savvy at the moment. But in my corner of the world, the teens are asking the same questions. What is the role of media? Social media? 

I did not catch this thread until now, but am so grateful for this long sustaining listserv and that AoIR has Steve and Radhika keeping all difficult questions on the table. 

Jillana Enteen
jillana at jillana.net

> On Jun 6, 2020, at 9:32 AM, Radhika G <gradhika2012 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Steve
> 
> Thankyou.
> 
> Sarah - I’ll connect with you off list . I’m not opposed to a discussion on
> list but just don’t want to be one of the usual suspects to express my
> thoughts on this issue here (I’ve already shared too much on social media
> and feel I am not the person to take up space there - as I have my own
> visible and invisible layers of privilege in this situation).
> 
> BUT I’d like to reinforce my thanks to Steve for asking about what this
> list does. It was important for him as founder of AOIR to do so at this
> point.
> 
> R
> 
> On Sat, Jun 6, 2020 at 10:18 AM Jones, Steve <sjones at uic.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Dear Sarah, air-l subscribers:
>> 
>> When I saw this message I first felt for the student and appreciated her
>> query. I wondered this, too: What can I do? I didn’t want to dive in with
>> any suggestions because to be honest I have no more beyond expressing
>> support, donating, joining local protests and adding my voice to those
>> calling on elected officials to tell them they should know they will be
>> held accountable. And as an old, white, cis male there are a whole heck of
>> a lot more voices that need to be heard than mine, ones with far better
>> ideas about what to do and how to support black people and everyone else
>> who is not like me. I want to hear them; I want them to be heard.
>> 
>> It’s been longer than 24 hours since this posting and there’s been
>> nothing, no replies. Nor has there been anything from AoIR’s executive
>> committee. Maybe people are struggling in ways I can’t even imagine and a
>> reply is beyond their ability right now. Fair enough. And there are other
>> places where conversations are ongoing. air-l has over the years become
>> more an announcement list and less a discussion list. So it goes. But there
>> are a lot of us on this list and that there has not been a single response
>> to Sarah’s message is troubling to me.
>> 
>> Now, it’s fair to ask whether this is something air-l should be engaged in
>> discussing, and whether it is something AoIR needs to address. Yes, and
>> yes. The struggle taking place in the U.S. is not confined to the U.S.
>> Among the many things Stuart Hall taught me, opened my eyes to, is that the
>> black experience is not a U.S. experience only. He also pointed out that
>> all injustice is to be spoken out against. Now is the time to recommit to
>> racial justice. I have heard some people criticize statements from various
>> individuals and  institutions as too little, too late, or opportunistic, or
>> as face-saving. Maybe, but I won’t judge: I want to hear the voices, plain
>> and simple: Black Lives Matter.
>> 
>> We have studied race online, protest movements online, you might even say
>> we’ve studied the shit out of #Ferguson, Arab Spring, and many other
>> expressions of oppression and responses to it. But what are we _doing_
>> about any of it? Sarah’s student’s question is what I feel we need to
>> discuss. Is there "the potential to leverage social media for positive
>> social change?” Yes or no? If yes, how? If no, let’s find and discuss some
>> other things we can do. AoIR has from the start been the most welcoming and
>> engaging scholarly community I’ve had the honor to be part of; let’s show
>> who we are and what we can do.
>> 
>> Peace and good health to all,
>> 
>> Steve
>> 
>>> On Jun 4, 2020, at 5:04 PM, Sarah Ann Oates <soates at umd.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Dear AOIRers,
>>> 
>>> I wanted to ask this great list a question for our times. See the message
>>> below from a student I taught in an online social media and society
>> course,
>>> in which we had a module on #BlackLivesMatter. Can you think of a better
>>> way to respond than just with a list of campus groups and a note that I
>> was
>>> impressed that she wanted to commit to activism for her beliefs? That's
>>> what I did, but I'd like to help a bit more because it's heartening both
>> to
>>> see students wanting to put their scholarship into action. Thanks in
>>> advance. BTW, I asked her if I could ask the list and she said that was
>>> great.
>>> 
>>> Here is her message:
>>> 
>>> As a young black woman, I am struggling to cope with all that is
>> happening
>>> in our country right now. Looking at social media I am further saddened
>> to
>>> see images of Black men being murdered and their deaths reposted and
>>> reposted for all to see. I fear people will become desensitized to these
>>> images and names like George Floyd will just become another hashtag and
>>> forgotten victim of a corrupt system.
>>> 
>>> *... I was wondering if you had any advice or resources for action beyond
>>> social media. I know the Black Lives Matter module discussed the sort of
>>> "wind tunnels" we create where like-minded people swirl ideas among
>> mutual
>>> followers, but little action is taken beyond likes and retweets. I want
>> to
>>> do something that goes beyond liking a post or ranting about it on
>> Twitter.
>>> If you have any ideas or resources regarding the potential to leverage
>>> social media for positive social change I'd love to learn more about
>> them!*
>>> 
>>> Sarah Oates
>>> Professor and Senior Scholar
>>> Philip Merrill College of Journalism
>>> University of Maryland
>>> College Park, MD 20457
>>> Email: soates at umd.edu
>>> Phone: 301 455 2332
>>> www.media-politics.com
>>> Twitter: @media_politics
>>> 
>>> *Support the UMD Student Crisis Fund
>>> <https://giving.umd.edu/giving/showPage.php?name=crisis-funding> today.
>> *
>>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
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> 
> -- 
> ___
> Radhika Gajjala
> Managing Editor: Fembot Collective
> Co-editor of Ada: Journal of Gender and New Media (adanewmedia.org)
> 
> Professor,
> School of Media and Communication
> and
> American Culture Studies Program
> 
> Bowling Green State University,
> Bowling Green Ohio
> http://www.radhikagajjala.org
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