“I’m So Sick of Social Media Activists”

Why tho?

It was August 28, 1963. Over 250,000 people traveled from every corner of the country to a meeting in the nation’s capital. Bayard Rustin, the architect of the March on Washington, had spent months placing calls, sending letters, mapping routes and spreading the word about one of the most pivotal events in the Civil Rights Movement.

They loaded buses, vans and cars on a mission to join forces, share ideas and hear from the great voices of the fight for justice and equality. If there were an Internet back then, it would have broken on August 28, 1963.

The images of that day are perhaps still the most iconic and widely known in America’s visual history. They lined the reflecting pool, sang familiar songs, carried placards, and marched, leaning on strangers when standing became too much.

I imagine them reflecting on a Baptist preacher’s speech about a dream on their way home… and waking up the next morning to share the story with those who didn’t make the journey. So powerful and so impactful was that day that we still harken back to it as the paramount of what a movement “really” looks like.

But, was the storied March on Washington so different from the “movement” of today? I think not. Is it misguided to pit the ’60s organizer against the “social media activist” of 2016? I think so. 
 
First came YouTube, then Facebook, then Twitter, then Instagram, then Vine, then SnapChat, then Periscope… and on, and on. Over the past 10 years, social media has changed the way we do everything.

We are still getting used to the new reality that anyone can generate and share content with the world in a matter of seconds. We’re all news reporters and one-man production teams. The social justice sphere is not immune to this wave of social innovation. We shouldn’t expect it to be. We shouldn’t want it to be.

Of course activism doesn’t stop with sharing the story, making your point and demanding change, but that is largely what a “movement” is made of… it’s definitely how movements start. Activism is about organizing around a cause and lifting it in the consciousness of the masses in order to effect collective change. That doesn’t always mean standing physically in a space to do it.

That day, in 1963, the steps of the Lincoln Memorial served as the one-way media platform for a crusade like that, but the optics of the March on Washington will never be achieved again. There is no longer a singular stage; there are millions. There’s no longer one microphone; anyone with a phone has a podium. And there’s no one controlling who gets to speak or for how long.

This doesn’t make us weaker; it presents an incredible opportunity. In essence, we have the capacity to hold a March of Washington every day. Memes take the place of placards and we’ve swapped “amens” for retweets… but the gist is the same.

This form of more efficient, broadly sourced activism is here to stay. As opposed to awaiting the signal of a singular leader, future generations will peer-produce the answers to the world’s biggest problems. I believe the forefathers would be proud of that. Be honest. If Bayard had social media, do you think he would not have used it? 
 
What if?

What if James Baldwin would’ve had Twitter? What if Julian Bond could’ve used Facebook groups to grow SNCC across college campuses in the South? What if students from Fisk and Tennessee State could’ve coordinated their sit-ins using GroupMe?

Hypotheticals notwithstanding, the leaders of that day maximizes the resources at their disposal. We should do the same, encouraging a new open marketplace of ideas and answers without pitting one form of “activism” against the other. If you really think about it… they aren’t terribly different.

Here’s to the March on Washington — the first ever trending top.