The protests over George Floyd’s death are unprecedented for a number of reasons – their size, their duration, their impact. But what’s also unprecedented is their diversity, and not just along the lines of race or geography.
The core of the protests have been black activists taking to the streets – and they are the ones to thank for the results we’ve seen so far. But in this very online age, there have also been some less expected, fringe groups and allies lending their support, sometimes in very inventive ways.
For example, K-Pop stans have been derailing racist hashtag campaigns with breathtaking efficiency, drowning them out with videos of their favorite singers.
“TikTok witches” (who mostly consist of teen girls with great video skills and too much time on their hands) have also been casting “protective spells”, the effectiveness of which is yet to be seen. And Elmo and his dad – yes, he has a dad – have helped explain the protests in a way children can understand.
This unlikely coalition hasn’t gone unnoticed, and has ended up inspiring some viral tweets:
IT TOOK ALL 50 STATES, THE AMISH, KPOP STANS, 13 OTHER COUNTRIES, WITCHES, ANONYMOUS, THE LGBT COMMUNITY, CELEBRITIES, STAN TWITTER, PEOPLE OF COLOR, WHITE ALLIES & BATMAN TO GET 2ND DEGREE MURDER AND THE THREE COPS ARRESTED AND WE HAD THE PRESIDENT & MILITARY AGAINST US, MY GOD
— ♛ BLM ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿🏳️🌈♛ (@rauhling_bizzle) June 3, 2020
(The part about the Amish people isn’t accurate, but is based on a viral video that misidentified Church of God members.)
It’s also led to this repurposing of the Avengers Endgame final battle.
I have no idea who did this, but if you know, find them and tag them. One of the best things I’ve seen on this app this week
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) June 5, 2020
pic.twitter.com/v5uYJKRQrO
But what does this all mean? What are these disparate groups actually doing? Let’s have a look.
K-Pop stans
Since the protests took off far-right trolls have tried to get a number of racist hashtags trending. But K-Pop stans have leaped into action before they can take off. Posting what’s known as “fancams” – fan-edited videos of their favorite K-Pop stars – they’ve already managed to drown out #WhiteLivesMatter and #WhiteOutWednesday by posting them alongside the hashtags – allegedly with some help from the hacker collective Anonymous.
Report from the battle: The Anonymous K-Pop division #OpFanCam has successfully conquered the #BlueLivesMatter and #WhiteLivesMatter hashtags. A major victory over online fascism's messaging tools, their fascist incel troops have been completely decimated.
— Anonymous (@YourAnonCentral) June 3, 2020
And the stans haven’t stopped there – they’ve also used their fancams to swamp an app designed by Dallas police to crowdsource videos of “illegal activity from the protests”. The app soon went down due to “technical difficulties”.
The stans have even managed to match BTS’s donation of $1m to Black Lives Matter. Led by One in an ARMY (OIAA) – a fundraising group set up by BTS stans – they’ve so far raised over $1.2m.
Nickelodeon
As well as donating $5m in support of Black Lives Matter, Nickelodeon went off air for 8m 46s last week – the amount of time Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck in the lead-up to his death. While it was off, a video promoting the civil rights group Color of Change aired in its place.
i’m watching nickelodeon with the kids i babysit for, i’m floored. this is awesome pic.twitter.com/neDjKANxor
— 𝐧𝐢𝐜 ☽ (@onlythebraveIou) June 1, 2020
Elmo’s dad
In a Sesame Street town hall hosted on CNN, Elmo’s dad explained the protests by saying “Not all streets are like Sesame Street … What we are seeing is people saying ‘enough is enough.’ They want to end racism.” Although as one person noted, “I know this isn’t the point but why is Elmo on a Zoom call with his dad?”
“Not all streets are like Sesame Street. … What we are seeing is people saying 'enough is enough.' They want to end racism.”@Elmo’s dad Louie explains why people are protesting across the US. https://t.co/icV04F4FNW #CNNSesameStreet pic.twitter.com/1efrMAzZ8V
— CNN (@CNN) June 6, 2020
Elmo also made a very cute sign for the protests:
elmo’s protest sign is making me sob I LOVE YOU ELMO pic.twitter.com/B0q5zL6rbI
— 💒 (@princessxemnas) June 7, 2020
TikTok witches
The jury is still out on how effective the TikTok witches have been so far. Nonetheless they’ve been sharing videos in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and in some cases “casting” protective spells (or at least lightheartedly referencing them).
While the term “TikTok witch” may sound obscure, it’s a surprisingly popular trend – videos with the hashtag #WitchesForBLM have so far totaled 16.5m views. And some have wondered whether their powers were at play in Washington DC last week, when this happened …
INSANE Video from our @wusa9 SkyCam WOOOOOW #lightning #WashingtonMonument pic.twitter.com/iYmwDwDUMO
— Ryan Sprouse (@RSprouseNews) June 5, 2020
Mitt Romney
It’s fair to assume Mitt Romney will never vote to defund the police, or even seriously reform it in the way activists want. But he appears to be the first known Republican senator to say “Black Lives Matter” and join a march. As the New Yorker’s Jelani Cobb has said “this is what you call uncharted territory” and, coming from the GOP’s 2012 candidate, it quite effectively undercuts the right’s portrayal of Black Lives Matter as an extremist group.
The world of sugar
Out of all the brands that have lent their support to Black Lives Matter (often hypocritically), Ben and Jerry’s has definitely gone the hardest. While many have opted for a rather generic “we stand with Black Lives Matter”, they’ve gone the whole hog and published posts titled “Silence Is NOT An Option” with big graphics saying “WE MUST DISMANTLE WHITE SUPREMACY”.
Every other basic response: “We stand with our black employees :)”
— ✦𝘷𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦✦ (@angelt333th) June 3, 2020
Ben & Jerry’s: “WE GOTTA FUCKIN SMASH WHITE SUPREMACY. FUCK THE KKK AND FUCK YOU. BLACK LIVES MATTER. OUR NEW FLAVOR IS CALLED FUCK THE POLICE. ITS GOT BLUEBERRIES”
Meanwhile, their sugary comrades over at Gushers have released one of the weirder statements of the past couple of weeks. “Gushers wouldn’t be Gushers without the Black community and your voices,” they wrote. “We’re working with @fruitbythefoot on creating space to amplify that. We see you. We stand with you.”
BabyNames.com
No one yet knows if BabyNames.com support for Black Lives Matter will end up being hypocritical, adding them to the long list of brands who’ve stated their support in the last two weeks, only for their staff (or financial ties) to expose them as hypocrites. But until then, it’s safe to say that they’ve released a really powerful message via their website:
ok baby names dot com go off pic.twitter.com/4jkDQHKsDP
— bij (@bijanstephen) June 9, 2020
