Social Movements

In the reading "I Don't Know What to Do With Good White People", the attitudes of white people towards racism is being criticized. The author does recognize the efforts of white people against those who would be racist against blacks, but suggests that it isn't enough effort or that they expect some kind of reward from it when they shouldn't. Furthermore the actions of apparently "good white people", especially cops, are seen as not good enough. Several deaths of black people by the hands of cops were analyzed and although every one claimed that it was an accident or that they had good intentions, they should still be condemned for their assumptions that racism had no effect whatsoever, because although it is possible that such a thing is the case, it is not always and a hard look should be taken at the situations they have found themselves in. Even after criticism, however, there is praise given to white people because they are on the right track. They just need to make the right decisions for the right reasons. Subsequently, the reading called "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted", is a criticism of the thoughts of blacks themselves and how their movement was or was not aided by social media. The criticism is that people believe social media is what really keeps a movement alive and going, but that isn't exactly true because movements were kept alive in a time when social media did not exist. The reasoning behind this is because the original starters of the movement had personal connections and it eventually spread across the nation. Alternately, social media can be a useful tool because you are connected to people you normally would never meet, but these connections are not personal and therefore do not hold together as strongly as personal connections.