Race and the Digital: Racial Formation and 21st Century Technologies

Wrap Up

There are many ways in which the Bernie Sanders movement can be seen in many of the course readings, themes, and discussions that we had in class. The digital divide is still a thing, and excludes people from having access to the internet. Without this access, they are unable to be conscious of certain things going on in the world, or things that are censored from the media, such as Bernie Sanders support and momentum in his Presidential campaign. Despite the divide, there are minorities who are active participants in new media, and are creating a space for them to voice their thoughts and opinions. Using hashtags as a field of research allows people to follow a movement in order to better understand what is going on. By exploring all the hashtags, I was able to realize the support Bernie Sanders has on the social media side. Without the pages, hashtags, or Facebook events, people would not have organized or grown in numbers to join the political revolution. I strongly feel that Chapter 2 and 6 from "Out of the Shadows, Into the Streets!" show similarities between other movements and the Political Revolution. Most movements are the same, where people copy each other's activism techniques/ tools to reach a large audience and gather support. The Sanders movement was like MacArthur where the media censored the news and like the DREAMers movement in the sense that people generated support through online organizing and creating a narrative to show why Bernie is the best choice. The Bernie Sanders campaign created ads that featured people from ethnic back grounds and who had suffered the injustices of the system. An advertisement that gained popularity and respect was the one that featured Erica Garner, daughter of Erica Garner who was suffocated by the police. This ad was important because it allows different, yet ordinary people to speak on their issues to gain allies, support, and understanding.

I feel that this movement has awoken political activism within communities that are usually uninvolved. For example, in my neighborhood, both young and old people went to their polling place to cast their vote for Bernie and proudly shared their stickers and candidate on social media. Social media is an important aspect that will continue to grow and hopefully create a bigger impact on the future, given the direction the internet has taken in our daily lives. Hopefully, people continue to use the digital to their advantage in order to make movements grow and create awareness in order to educate themselves and make informed choices.

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