Hashtags have defined pop culture. You spot them all over social media, and now many of them have become popular phrases, especially when they highlight blackness: #BlackBoyJoy, #BlackGirlMagic, #GrowingUpBlack and the list goes on.
Usually these hashtags are met with laughter and reflection on relatability in blackness, but there’s one hashtag that serves not only as a reminder of the frequent occurrences of police brutality against women of color but also as a rallying cry to humanity: #SayHerName.
“Police brutality, particularly anti-black police brutality, has just been a feature of American life,” says civil rights activist Kimberlé Crenshaw. As a result, we’ve started the grave trend of hashtagging the names of the latest victims. However, these highlighted and celebrated names are often those of men, and black women are dying at the hands of law enforcement, too. “We don’t think about women,” Crenshaw boldly states.
#SayHerName has become a demand of awareness. “The information about black women being killed by police is very difficult to find,” Crenshaw acknowledges. This hashtag revolution is a much needed way to share information and give these women a legacy that their families can hold on to, instead of the distant memory that their loved one was taken in vain.
Join the hashtag revolution! The Root is sharing dope videos about these hashtags: #BlackGirlMagic, #Melanin and #BlackTravel. Check them all out below!