Strategically Communicating

#DontShootPDX protester hold a die-in on the Burnside Bridge on September 2016.

Reading “Media ecology and hashtag activism: #Kaleidoscope” brought me back to first-hand observations of local protests with national hashtags.

While covering a march in September 2016, I remember the unusual silence on the Burnside Bridge as protesters lay on the span for 4.5 minutes, representing the 4.5 hours Michael Brown lay dead on the street after a police shooting.

#dontshootpdx organizer says group lying on Burnside for 4.5 minutes to commemorate 4.5 hours Mike Brown was unattended after being shot. pic.twitter.com/x0yDLpMG1k

— Tony Hernandez (@tonyhreports) September 23, 2016

Another view of the Burnside Bridge die-in by #dontshootpdx protest. pic.twitter.com/Hk5u8MOy4f

— Tony Hernandez (@tonyhreports) September 23, 2016

The die-in on the Burnside drew a lot of local attention, but those local voices were part of 1,000s nationwide who spoke up against police violence to black communities.

Heather Crandall and Carolyn Cunningham, our reading’s authors, point out that die-ins related to Brown’s death and the Black Lives Matter movement were fueled by hashtags, such as #Ferguson #BlackLivesMatter and from my observations #DontShootPDX, a hashtag that remains active today (click here to take a look).

Crandall and Cunningham point out that social justice movements and statements, like #BlackLivesMatter, allow activists the opportunity to “reclaim public spaces that have been used for racists or violent means.”

In Political Violence @ a glance, Oliver Kaplan for Denver Dioulouges writes that die-ins have been around since the 1960s and 1970s. Their power comes from quick mobilization of people with few resources needed, while still having an “outsized effect on public attention,” he wrote.

I remember that die-in during that September afternoon disrupted traffic for longer than 4.5 minutes on the Burnside. Images were shown on the news, and importantly, dozens of people were sharing their own images on social media, including myself.