#BlackLivesMatter Vs. #AllLivesMatter

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement or #BlackLivesMatter is a movement that started in response to the treatment and mistreatment of African Americans during slavery times as well as post-slavery but is especially a response to recent incidents that took place these last few years. Coming off the heels of the Trayvon Martin case where his shooter, George Zimmerman, was not found guilty of second degree murder then onto victims of police brutality such as Freddie Gray, Michael Brown and Sandra Bland, the BLM movement has gained massive support nationwide fulfilling its purpose to raise awareness of the racial injustice in terms of the brutal treatment of African Americans. Main supporters and activists of the movement participate by commenting and sharing their thoughts on issues involving the brutal treatment of African Americans on Twitter and other social media platforms using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. With awareness being raised of the BLM movement, those who are in favor of racial inequality has started making an attempt to depreciate the value of the BLM movement by contending it with the All Lives Matter (ALM) movement or #AllLivesMatter. The logic or mentality behind the ALM movement is to discard, belittle and make insignificant the BLM movement by stating that it’s activists should not only advocate for Black lives but for all lives when in fact all lives aren’t being threatened based upon its racial identity. This image has been shared many times on various social media sites in hopes that viewers understand the depreciation of the BLM movement because of advocates the ALM movement. This essay will further analyze this pictorial representation of this image as it relates to topics such as the power of an image and also the framing of a message.

This image is a pictorial representation of the tension and discord between activists of the BLM and ALM movement. The image shows an African American female, who actually represents all of the African American community as well as those who are in support of the BLM movement, whose mouth is being covered by the hand of a Caucasian female, who is representing those who are in support of the ALM movement, presumably Caucasians. The image was created to bring to light the contention between the ALM and the BLM movement while putting into perspective the negative impact the ALM movement is having on the BLM movement as it is only trying to rectify a prominent issue within our society. The image allows social media users to understand the value of the BLM movement and in turn the betterment of the treatment towards African Americans without being silenced by ALM supporters.

The power in this image can be analyzed in many ways according to Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright in their article “Practices of Looking.” Peter de Jong further explains the power an image can have and goes into depth to explain all the factors to consider while observing a photo. His presentation comes from his background knowledge as a photographer.