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"Am I Next?" : a narrative analysis of African Americans’ public responses to the deadly shooting of Michael Brown

Flatt, Nadine LU (2015) MRSG31 20142
Human Rights Studies
Abstract
Cases of deadly use of police force against young colored men have historically been, and are still common in the American context. The public reactions by the social group of African Americans to such incidents aim to draw attention to how racism and racist stereotypes is affecting policing in the United States. This study examines African Americans’ public responses to the deadly shooting of the unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. African Americans’ narratives were spread worldwide via social media which made it possible for this study to examine the social group’s central understanding of the case. The narratives expressed in articles and on protest signs as well as documented... (More)
Cases of deadly use of police force against young colored men have historically been, and are still common in the American context. The public reactions by the social group of African Americans to such incidents aim to draw attention to how racism and racist stereotypes is affecting policing in the United States. This study examines African Americans’ public responses to the deadly shooting of the unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. African Americans’ narratives were spread worldwide via social media which made it possible for this study to examine the social group’s central understanding of the case. The narratives expressed in articles and on protest signs as well as documented visually at demonstrations in Ferguson were examined from a perspective linking the themes of narrative identity, social action and oppression. African Americans’ social responses to Brown’s death were found to be motivated by a longing to challenge the dominant discourse that perceives the police as the protector of the citizens while stereotyping young African American men as criminals. Furthermore, this study found that the narratives were expressions of African American’s shared experience of Michael Brown’s death being a symbol for their whole social group’s subjectivity to oppression in the United States. (Less)
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author
Flatt, Nadine LU
supervisor
organization
course
MRSG31 20142
year
type
L2 - 2nd term paper (old degree order)
subject
keywords
African American, oppression, police violence, group identity, social justice, Michael Brown, United States, narratives, blackness, racial stereotypes
language
English
id
4933384
date added to LUP
2015-02-12 17:26:41
date last changed
2015-02-12 17:26:41
@misc{4933384,
  abstract     = {{Cases of deadly use of police force against young colored men have historically been, and are still common in the American context. The public reactions by the social group of African Americans to such incidents aim to draw attention to how racism and racist stereotypes is affecting policing in the United States. This study examines African Americans’ public responses to the deadly shooting of the unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. African Americans’ narratives were spread worldwide via social media which made it possible for this study to examine the social group’s central understanding of the case. The narratives expressed in articles and on protest signs as well as documented visually at demonstrations in Ferguson were examined from a perspective linking the themes of narrative identity, social action and oppression. African Americans’ social responses to Brown’s death were found to be motivated by a longing to challenge the dominant discourse that perceives the police as the protector of the citizens while stereotyping young African American men as criminals. Furthermore, this study found that the narratives were expressions of African American’s shared experience of Michael Brown’s death being a symbol for their whole social group’s subjectivity to oppression in the United States.}},
  author       = {{Flatt, Nadine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{"Am I Next?" : a narrative analysis of African Americans’ public responses to the deadly shooting of Michael Brown}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}