Communication Arts: Faculty Publications

Race and Communication: Keep Your Knees Off of Our Necks: Black Girl Video Prowess Bearing Witness against the Grisly Minnesota Police Murder of George Floyd

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

1-1-2022

Publication Title

Communication in the 2020s

DOI

10.4324/9781003220466-5

Abstract

U.S. history is one marked by racial oppression and a quest for racial justice. On May 25, 2020, a graphically raw and intense YouTube, Facebook video filmed by a 17-year-old African American went viral, and Darnella Frazier became a 21st century anti-racist crusader simply by using her cell phone. The Black Girl video, vocal and social media prowess ultimately helped people globally bear witness and protest George Floyd’s cruel death. In 2020, Reverend Al Sharpton’s powerful Floyd eulogy admonition and warning to racists to “Keep your knees off our necks” ultimately became the foremost global protest catalyst rallying cry. This chapter explores race, communication, and the events of 2020.

Comments

Georgia Southern University faculty member, Elizabeth Desnoyers-Colas authored, "Race and Communication: Keep Your Knees Off of Our Necks: Black Girl Video Prowess Bearing Witness against the Grisly Minnesota Police Murder of George Floyd."

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