Take a Knee: The Efficacy of Social Media
The NFL currently resides in the aftermath of its athletes taking a knee to protest racial disparities and injustices in the United States. A few players prominent in the weekly demonstrations, including Eric Reid and Colin Kaepernick, consider whether to continue their activism during the National Anthem as they seek employment. The movement during NFL games reached its pinnacle following Donald Trump's comments disparaging the athlete activists. After athletes, managers, and owners made joint demonstrations, either before or during the anthem, which received mixed results, the on-field activism seemed to quell.
Regardless of the off-field charity done by Kaepernick, the media placed much of the emphasis on his kneeling stance. We associate this with the quarterback and bring up many discussion about its appropriateness, message, and place within the public conversation. Coinciding with this weekend, a social media hashtag trended in response to Trump. #TakeAKnee
Hashtags also arose, both antagonistic of the movement (#BoycottTheNFL) or complimentary to it (#VeteransTakeAKnee). However, most of the activism stemmed from #TakeAKnee. While it reached its height the weekend of September 24th, 2017, a few individuals still utilize the hashtag.
Recently, 11x NBA Champion and Hall of Famer Bill Russell posted a photo of him kneeling, while wearing his Medal of Freedom, in response to the police shooting of Stephon Clark. This exampled a historically prominent figure in sports and social activism utilizing the hashtag to raise awareness to the cause. This is a strong suit of addressing social issues on social media. Authorities figures can promote problems in society to large audiences in a limited amount of time.
https://twitter.com/RealBillRussell/status/979523718975123456
There are examples of the strength of bonds in the movement within the NFL. In the initial case of Colin Kaepernick’s, several of his teammates joined him in his stance and protest. The teams that participated were dependent on the vocal and on-field leaders who came out in-support, against, or indifferent to the cause. On social media, you can think of this being similar. The social circles and attitudes impacted whether someone made a #TakeAKnee statement or post on their platforms. However, its unlikely that Twitter users got together to decide whether to make the statement or not.
Thinking of an article by Malcolm Gladwell, there is also a difference between the players taking a knee during the National Anthem and bystanders making a post on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. There were several discussions and hot takes about discipline and action against players who demonstrated on the sidelines. These included Trump and Texans owner Bob McClain. There was threat of teams blacklisting the Kaepernicks and Reids. Social media users don't face that inherent risk of unemployment and public ridicule or antagonism by posting #TakeAKnee photo. However, I expect if those same individuals kneeled during the National Anthem or a public display of the American flag, the environment would become more hostile and the statement more active within the movement.
I personally don't disagree with people posting the hashtag as raising awareness for racial injustice and support for the NFL players, but it doesn't quite create the effect of a public demonstration.
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