If your your idea of activism only includes sit-ins it's time for a twitter update.
At any given time, there are probably five Baby Boomers or Generation Xers complaining about millennials ineptitude. We are, according to everyone else, lazy, narcissistic and unmotivated when compared to the generations that preceded us.
When I hear these cries of concern from my elders, I can’t help but scoff at their blatant ignorance to the millennial ability to mobilize movements in new ways. Specifically and more relevantly, Twitter.
Most people, whether they use it or not, are familiar with Twitter and its interface. With just 140 characters at their disposal, millennials across the globe convey their stories, emotions and thoughts every second. Increasingly, these thoughts are to promote their personal activism and beliefs.
When Mike Brown was shot, Twitter was not just a hotbed of emotions — it was a news outlet. After riots broke out in Ferguson, Twitter was one of many social media outlets that became the forefront of a movement that everyone could join.
#SayHerName, #HandsUpDontShoot, #StandWithPlannedParenthood, #BlackLivesMatter, all these hashtags sparked conversation throughout the world. Millennials have opinions, they have views and they have passion. Chalking up the millennial attraction to social change through social medias is extremely ignorant.
I’d always been a real Tumblr activist. Reblogging long form post after post, I felt satisfied with the number of things I learned, the number of things I found myself having a stand for. As I watched movements make their way from the social justice Mecca that is Tumblr, slowly onto Twitter, I was delighted with glee.
Twitter is no jail cell and a hashtag is no march, but that doesn’t exclude this generation's efforts. As with any young generation, millennials have found an avenue through which they can feel empowered. Activism is not only to seek change, it’s to seek empowerment and change.
More and more I’ve seen friends of mine, who never cared for social justice or activism, scrolling through recent hashtags, voicing their opinions and demanding change.
How can Baby Boomers and Gen Xers deny the passion and motivation required to mobilize people you’ve never met across the world?
Recently, with the coming of the 14th anniversary of the Sep. 11 attacks, Twitter became a hub for young people not only to tweet the memories of the tragic day with #Neverforget, but the site was also filled with millennials addressing the disturbing air of islamophobia and xenophobia that plagues the United States.
These tweets are important. They have led to organizations, meet ups, marches and vigils. The Twitter generation has not turned its back on traditional forms of protest.
Millennials are more prepared than ever to pull out facts to support their opinions. As race relations in the United States make their way to the forefront of American issues, we’ve seen the same trend of popular social justice activists live tweeting important events.
It may be trendy to harp on the Twitter generation’s addiction to technology and their disinterest in politics and social change, but the trend is vastly inaccurate. Young people are shaping the face of 21st Century activism.
Kenyetta Whitfield is a sophomore studying journalism. What do you think of Twitter activism? Email her at kw162913@ohio.edu.
