User:LynseyYunker/gap analysis

Gap analysis

 * What is the title of the article in which you identified a gap. If no article exists at all, what should the title be?

Black Lives Matter


 * Document the gap you found, describe how you identified it, and analyze its impact on knowledge.

The gap that I identified exists within the Black Lives Matter Movement. I chose this because I wanted to extend beyond the material in class and also focus on something that is a current issue in American society and beyond the United States as well. I also chose the BLM issue because I noticed in all of the very publicized stories of physical abuse against black people most of the time they were centered around violence against men and almost never did you hear about violence against women nor were there stories as famous or as talked about. I felt like I wanted to expand on the intersectionality of black women specifically because they not only face physical abuse but also sexual abuse and the commodification, and feticization  of the black female body. I also wanted to go into a little deeper history of the creators of the BLM movement who happen to be women but seemed to have very little written about them. I wanted to make sure that women’s voices and stories of this particular movement are not lost or shadowed by the stories of men. Also another reason why I picked the BLM movement is because to me a lot of the demonstrations and a lot of the movement to me can be perceived as intermedia art. Especially the die-ins in particular I think those are specifically powerful as well as the topless protests where women are visually making themselves seen and forcing society to also look at them blurring the lines between a visual representation in the streets and the violence that is also happening in the world today.


 * Propose a paragraph of new or substantially edited content based on reliable sources. (If you are editing existing content, post the current version along with your edited version, and clearly mark which is which.)

Alicia Garza one of the creators of BLM was outraged by the killing of Trayvon Martin who’s story inspired her to do something and take action. Alicia Garza along with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors were the originators of BLM and have inspired people to have protests and rallies all over the nation creating opportunities to acknowledge the oppression and violence against black lives. Garza, Cullors and Tometi as well as organizing online are all apart of in person, real-life organizations like the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Coalition to End Sheriff Violence and Black Alliance for Just Immigration. Some artists in order to make it seem more racially inclusive have taken the work of these women and renamed it to “our lives matter”. This was surprising and upsetting to Alicia Garza because she feels the act of devaluing the work of queer black women is further cementing the racist structures that are in place involving race, gender, sexuality and even art and the way it is presented to the world. Other women leaders in the movement include Umaara Elliott who helped lead and organize a 5 hour, 19 city block wide, March in New York City in retaliation to Darren Wilson not being indicted for Michael Browns Death. This event began on Facebook and then later turned into its own website and ended up spreading to various other forms of social media. Also Carmen Perez who organized a BLM protest called a “die-in” where protestors lay seemingly dead on the ground in order to make a very bold visual statement of the killings of black people. Some women who have been on the forefront of abusive and violence include but are not limited to Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Stanley-Jones (age 7), Yvette Smith, Tanisha Anderson, Alberta Spruill, Tarika Wilson, Marlene Pinnock, Dajerria Becton. Women involved in the Black Lives Matter have claimed to be worried that if stories like these of violence against black females are erased and not as much in the public eye as the stories of black men, then the abuse won’t come to an end. There have been protests dedicated to BLM issues specifically about women and children for example in May 22, 2015 there was a topless protest in San Francisco along with other protests that took place across the nation. The women’s bodies were the tool to force people to visually acknowledge the violence against black women and girls.


 * List the reliable sources that could be used to improve this gap. (You can use the Cite tool from the editing toolbar above to input and format your sources.)