Stories like Sandra Bland’s sadly aren’t new. Police brutality didn’t start or stop after Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It didn’t cease after Loving v. Virginia passed and interracial marriage was finally legal.
It certainly didn’t end once President Barack Obama was elected to office. As a society, we so desperately want to think we live in a post-racial world that we are often able to ignore what is right in front of us. It is thanks to social media — and the ones who know how to make a difference with it — that these horrifying stories are finally being talked about.
Actor Jesse Williams is one such person. He has used his fame and his Twitter account to take a stand against the racial injustices that are still rampant today. He has joined the millions of others who refuse to stay silent as atrocities continue to occur. Williams did, however, do something innovative with his use of social media: He has used it as a platform for sharing essays.
In a world with extremely short attention spans, Williams has found a way to use the 140-character limit to get noticed and then how to get around it to share his full thoughts on the matter. In the wake of Sandra Bland’s story, Williams posted 24 tweets to explain the injustice at play, but this is only his most recent Twitter protest.
1. Williams begins his 24-tweet commentary
1 Some thoughts on #SandraBland & millions of Americans exhausted by paid servants destroying instead of defending lives. And those
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
2. He uses a second tweet to round out his introduction
2 reflexively parroting weak slogans; squealing for violence & murder from behind a centuries-old wall of perfectly visible privilege.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
3. Many of the tweets can stand on their own but are still parts of the larger piece
17 WE DO NOT BEGIN AS POLICE PROPERTY, to be freed or detained based on some guy's mood or feeling. We are not theirs.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
More:Jesse Williams discusses racism and Ferguson (VIDEO)
4. Williams reminds us that he is speaking about Sandra Bland and that we should recognize her individual story
19 #SandraBland's treatment while attempting to travel freely on HER public roadways has been acknowledged as unlawful. She is already dead.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
5. Here, Williams sheds light on this ridiculous double standard
Pulled over w Active Arrest Warrant, NO License, NO Tags, NO Registration. Police let him go. https://t.co/KlCwkPpcWL#SandraBland
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 22, 2015
More:Full footage of Sandra Bland’s arrest puts tragedy in new light (VIDEO)
6. Williams speaks out against the coverage of the civil actions in Baltimore
There is nothing "black" about rioting. How do you think we got all this land?
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) April 28, 2015
7. What happened in Charleston was an act of terrorism, and Williams reminds us that it is sadly not an anomaly
Several people know this particular terrorist. Generations of Americans know this terrorism. A nation… https://t.co/kuMnRjMEJr
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) June 18, 2015
Williams has made a difference with his tweets, with his voice. We all can join this discussion — we must refuse to stay silent.
More: #BlackLivesMatter cofounders on why the movement is more vital now than ever
Leave a Comment