#MikeBrown

Overview

#MikeBrown is a hashtag campaign launched in remembrance of Michael Brown, an African American teenager from Ferguson, Missouri, who was shot and killed by the officers of St. Louis Police Department during an physical altercation that allegedly took place on August 9th, 2014. The news of the teenager’s death, which happened less than a month after the controversial death of Eric Garner, instantly prompted backlash against police brutality and racial profiling in the social media, similar to the large-scale protests that erupted in the wake of the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012.

Background

On August 9th, 2014, Michael Brown,^[1] an eighteen-year-old African American, was fatally shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was unarmed at the time of the shooting. On August 10th, Jon Belmar, the police chief for St. Louis County, gave a statement explaining Brown had been shot after he assaulted a police officer and attempted to gain control of officer’s gun. The hashtag #MikeBrown was introduced by Twitter user Twists_nd_turns^[2] who listed it with a collection of names of young men killed by the police, including Trayvon Martin.

Notable Developments

News Media Coverage

The hashtag and surrounding discussion was covered by many websites on August 10th, including Bustle^[7] and Christian Science Monitor^[8]. Within 48 hours the hashtag^[3] was tweeted out over 130,000 times.

#IfTheyGunnedMeDown

On August 10th, Twitter user CJ_musick_lawya^[5] introduced the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown, which African American twitter users can use to post to pictures of themselves, one featuring a very positive, accomplished image and one that could be perceived as negative based on negative racial stereotypes.

The hashtag was meant to criticize a picture of Brown NBC News tweeted^[6] earlier on August 10th, which seems to portray Brown negatively based on racial stereotypes.

CJ_musick_lawya’s original tweet gained over 1,000 retweets within 24 hours, and the hashtag^[4] was retweeted out over 110,000 times.

#OpFerguson

On August 10th, 2014, Anonymous^[9] posted a press release on PasteBin^[10] titled “Anonymous Operation Ferguson – Press Release.” The release explains Anonymous was “outraged” by Brown’s death, and explained they would be taking action, explaining:’’

“Anonymous demands that the Congressional Representatives and Senators from Missouri introduce legislation entitled “Mike Brown’s Law” that will set strict national standards for police conduct in the USA. We further demand that this new law include specific language to grant the victims of police violence the same rights and prerogatives that are already enjoyed nationwide by the victims of other violent criminals. The Equal Protection clause of the US Constitution demands nothing less."

They went on to say that should any of those protesting Brown’s death be harmed by police, Anonymous would attack their computer systems and release the personal information of their officers. The same day the Twitter account OpFerguson^[11] was created, within 24 hours it gained over 1,000 followers. Also that day the hashtag #OpFerguson was introduced, within 24 hours it has been tweeted out over 6,000 times. That night Ferguson’s town website was hacked^[13] leading their mayor to have city employees’ personal information removed from several websites.

External Links