Mandy Hui’23
The past few months were filled with tension and uprisings predominantly within the American community but also foreign nations, followed by a series of social movements in person and online. The killing of George Floyd on May 25th, 2020, especially, resulted in one of the largest social movements in history: the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement focused on bolstering Black Lives and conveying detest towards police brutality. In addition, a lot of people expressed their thoughts and support on social media platforms like Instagram, using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, #BLM, and #ACAB.
However, along with this support, numerous individuals demonstrated activism on their own social media pages that were considered performative: activism that only better one’s social capital instead of genuinely supporting the cause. Groups of people began to become suspicious and concerned that a large portion of posts about the Black Lives Matter movement on social media was performative; the posts only wanted to seek attention and social clout by exploiting the movement, thinking of it as a ‘trend’.
An example of a time when performative activism caught the attention of many during this movement was #BlackOutTuesday. On June 2nd, 2020, millions of users on Instagram posted black squares to publicly display their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Even though this day was for allies to voice their solidarity with the Black community, the bombardment of posts inadvertently filtered out vital information about the movement. Also, people suspected that others posted only out of pressure for social approval, proving to their followers that they have good intentions and are good people.
Performative activism may be unintentional; nevertheless, it is important to realize if your own allyship is performative as some people can fall into the trap of believing your activism is just a singular post with a hashtag. Being an ally is not just about posting hashtags and images, but it also includes engaging in uncomfortable conversations, educating yourself on the roots and history of the movement, and never stop learning.