Introduction

In the Syllabus Introduction for our course, Dr. Banks poses the following 2 questions: What does it mean to be literate in the 21^st century? When literacy moves into digital spaces, how do those new contexts shape what literacy looks like?

It is those 2 questions that guide my research for this project. Originally, I tried to answer these questions as they pertain to my notion of Performative Symbolic Resistance. I was online Googling, trying to find additional examples—other than Colin Kaepernick sitting or kneeling and of the Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their black gloved fists at the 1968 Olympics– of Black males using their bodies to perform specific acts or actions that symbolize their resistance of an oppressive system. My original intention was to discuss how these acts serve as examples of a type of literacy, a type of embodiment literacy that shapes all of our ways of knowing, being, and doing.

However, my Google search did not yield the results I expected. Instead of images of Black males protesting, all of top searches (in this case, the first 5 results) pertained in some way to Black men in this country being shot and killed by law enforcement. Regardless of who was presenting the information in each of the sites, the conversations were all the same or at least related to one central idea—that Black men continue to be shot and killed by police officers. As a result, I decided to shift my project’s central focus, presenting, instead, a project examining the findings of my Google search and how those findings continue to shape and/or re-shape our literacies—the knowing, the being, and the doing—surrounding Black men in America.

This project also is shaped by my responses from Drs. Banks, Eble, and Frost. As I was beginning this research, I was challenged with situating it within the rhetorical space of literacy work. In his response to my preliminary draft, Dr. Banks offered me one way of viewing this, stating that a significant part of the on-going issue is “…the way that Black bodies are represented as always-already criminal so that the primarily white viewers of mainstream news sites like NBC.com “understand” (a key part of literacy work) blackness as framed around/by criminality…” What he presented so eloquently in his comments was a notion that I was thinking but had not figured out exactly how to say. Instead, I was asking myself questions like “So what does it say to us that the first 5 search results are all about Black men being killed by police officers?” and “I was annoyed that these were the first 5 results from my search, but exactly why am I annoyed?” And after hearing Dr. Banks mention the power of literacies to shape our knowing, being, and doing, I believe that an additional question—and one that, when answered, gets to the root of my annoyance—is “How do these results shape what the searcher knows, is, and does?”

To explore this issue further, I reviewed parts of Safiya Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforces Racism at the suggestion of Dr. Erin Frost. In her book, Noble discusses the ways in which search engines, specifically Google, perpetuate racist, gendered notions about those who already exist within marginalized communities. In her work, she describes the ways in which the Black female is viewed by our white, male-dominated, patriarchal social institutions and systems and how those perceptions persist within and are continuously perpetuated through and by our technological and digital systems. She describes that her initial awakening to this specific issue occurred in 2009 when a friend, Andre Brock at the University of Michigan, said casually, “You should see what happens when you Google ‘black girls’” (16). When she performed this same search 2 years later to find activities for her daughter and her friends to do, the same types of information appeared—pornography (16-17).

Just as I questioned my own role—the possibility of my own complicity—in the types of responses I received when searching for images of Black males protesting, Noble found herself doing the same. She states, “…I had undoubtedly been confronted with the same types of results before but had learned, or been trained, to somehow become inured to take it, to take it as a given [my emphasis] that any search I might perform using keywords connected to my physical self and identity could return pornographic and otherwise disturbing results” (17).  I, too, wondered if I had played a role in the search results I received. This reflects a history of a problematic mental conditioning that has done 2 specific things: 1) shaped the ways in which Black people see themselves (as accepting of or as complicit in/to their own denigration); and 2) shaped the ways in which those who maintain our society’s power structures (social, economic, technological, academic, etc.) see Black bodies, which allows for the perpetual negative categorization of those Black bodies.

Another issue that my Google search brought to the surface (for me) is the notion of records/record-keeping. It is, I contend, common knowledge that Black men are incarcerated at a disproportionate rate (when compared to the incarceration of those from other ethnic groups). Therefore, this concept of “a record” is already problematic for Black men when trying to obtain jobs or other services after being incarcerated. Similarly, the information that is accessed by a Google search—what Noble refers to as “a type of record”—is information that can have lasting and continuous “harmful effects” (11). She explores the social importance of records to the public, stressing that they play a significant role in us “remembering and forgetting,” reminding us that “digital media platforms thrive on never or rarely forgetting” (11). The results from my own Google search support this. Each of the top 5 results focused on the Black male and his on-going, losing battle with law enforcement. This type of “record-keeping” may prove beneficial in continuing the conversations about the killings of Black men; however, they also continue to bombard the public with one very specific, stereotypical image of the Black male—as a body that, in the words of Dr. Will Banks, is “always-already criminal.”

Methods  

The method I used for my research was to collect data from websites to determine what information is currently being disseminated online regarding Black men engaging in civic protest. I conducted my search on November 24, 2018, using Google as my search engine. Using the research question How do websites represent Black male protest efforts in contemporary American society? as my foundation, I conducted a Google search of the phrase “Black male protest” to determine how the notion of Black male protest is being perceived and discussed. (Note: Google was used for this search because it is, according to Jerri Collins of Lifewire.com, the search engine used by most people Their website states that “As of this past June, Google occupies 68.75 percent of the global search engine pie.” They also state that according to Google’s Senior Vice President, Amit Singhal, “Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average which translates to over 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide…”)

Prior to viewing the websites and conducting my research, I created a Data Collection Chart that included the questions to be answered as I examined each website.  I coded my data based on the following criteria and questions:

Information about the site (ownership, currency)

1. What is the name of the website?
2. When was the site last updated?
3. Who owns the site?

The sites purpose, audience, and tone

1. What is the site’s purpose?
2. Who is the site’s audience?
3. What is the tone of the site’s content?

The site’s physical characteristics

1. What are the aesthetic characteristics of the site?
2. What types of images are used on the sites?

I chose to code the data in this way because answering questions specifically focused on the content found within these digital spaces will help us understand how spatial rhetorics are used to construct a specific narrative about Black males and protest.

My initial intention was to review content from the top 3 search results. However, as the top 3 search results were all mainstream news sources, I’ve modified my approach slightly. I’ve chosen to, instead, examine the top 5 search results, positioning the 3 mainstream news sources as 1 artifact.

Results from the Data Collection

Artifact 1—Information about the site (ownership, currency, purpose, tone)

The top 3 websites from my Google search are mainstream news sources. They include NBCNEWS.com, USAToday.com, and NYTimes.com. Each of the sites is updated daily in an effort to maintain currency with ongoing events within our society. NBCNews.com is owned by NBC Universal, which is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

Collectively, the 3 news sites share the same purpose—to disseminate information and to encourage continued readership. However, each news site does offer its own version of its purpose in its “About” section. NBCNews.com’s “About” section states the following: “We provide something for every news consumer with our comprehensive offerings that deliver the best in breaking news, segments from your favorite NBC News shows, live video coverage, original journalism, lifestyle features, commentary and local updates.” They also state that they seek to provide “something for every news consumer.” USA Today is a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC, and their “About” section posits them as “An innovator of news and information” that “reflect[s] the pulse of the nation and serve[s] as the host of the American conversation.” They state that their mission is to “serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.” NYTimes.com does not have an “About” section; however, the words “Breaking News, Multimedia, and Multimedia—The New York Times” appear in the tab at the top of the page.

The tone of all 3 sites is very similar, demonstrating what Scripted.com refers to as a “journalistic tone.” They describe “journalistic tone” in the following way: “This is a combination of a formal and objective tone; the focus of the piece is on reporting the facts. A journalistic tone informs readers of who was involved in an incident and what happened without providing an opinion.”

The sites’ content

On the day my search was performed, all 3 sites were streaming information about a Black man being shot and killed by the police in a mall in Alabama. The title of NBCNews.com’s story about this shooting was “Alabama Police Suggest Black Man Killed by Officers Shouldn’t Have Held His Gun.” Their article was not written by NBC journalists; it came from the Associated Press. The title of the USAToday.com article was “Alabama Mall Shooting: Officer Killed the Wrong Man, Officials Say,” and it was authored by David Brown of USA Today. NYTimes.com’s article was titled “Man Killed by Police at Alabama Mall was a ‘Good Guy with a Gun,’ Family’s Lawyer Says,” and it was written by Matthew Haag. All 3 sites also included advertising, other news stories, and links to other information, such as sports stories and editorials.

Artifact 2—Information about the site (ownership, currency, purpose, tone)

The 4^th website from my Google search is from Brookings.edu.  Like artifact 1, it appears that Brookings.edu is also updated daily.  Formerly referred to as the Institute for Government Research, Brookings has been referred to as “perhaps America’s most prestigious think-tank” by The Economist.

According to their “About Us” section, “The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level.” Their “About Us” section also states that their data is compiled by subject-matter experts and that their “…research agenda and recommendations of Brookings’s experts are rooted in open-minded inquiry and our 300+ scholars represent diverse points of view.” The writing style is similar to that of journalists; however, the writers—who are experts in their fields—do take positions on their topics within their articles.

The site’s content

On the day my search was performed, Brookings.com, like the 3 mainstream news sites, was streaming information about a Black man being shot and killed by the police in a mall in Alabama. The title of their main story was “Highlights from an Event on Police Shootings of Unarmed Black Males in America,” and it was authored by Fred Dews. The story offers videos of experts discussing statistical data pertaining to shootings of unarmed victims by race and discussing implicit bias.  The author presents information from Kwadwo Frimpong, a senior research analyst in the Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative, and from Dr. Rashawn Ray, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland. He also provides video footage from Brookings October 26 moderated discussion hosted by the Brookings Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative where “legal, academic, and advocacy experts examine[d] these pressing issues and explore[d] policy options to address the cycle of excessive police force against black males.”

Artifact 3—Information about the site (ownership, currency, purpose, tone)

The 5^th website from my Google search is from ESPN’s “The Undefeated,” a commentary section.

According to their “About Us” section, “The Undefeated” posits itself as “the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture.” It also states, “We enlighten and entertain with innovative storytelling, original reporting and provocative commentary.” The site categorizes information by sports, culture, HBCU, the uplift, and ESPN.  The writing style is similar to that of journalists; however, the writers—who are referred to as “contributors”—do take positions on their topics within their articles.

The site’s content

On the day my search was performed, the July 8, 2016 article from “The Undefeated” titled “A Black Police Officer’s Perspective:  Reactions to the Week’s Tragedies from Four Officers” was the 5^th website result. This 2016 article was written by Clinton Yates, Lonnae O’Neal, Aaron Dodson, and Rhiannon Walker. The article includes the perspectives and opinions of former black police professionals regarding the deaths of Alton Sterling on July 5,  2016, and Philando Castile on July 6, 2016 by police officers.  The image at the top of the article is that of police officers in Time Square with a the caption “Police watch activists protest in Times Square in response to the recent fatal shootings of two black men by police, July 7, 2016 in New York City. Protests and public outcry have grown in the days following the deaths of Alton Sterling on July 5, 2016 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile on July 6, 2016, in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.” The police officer in the front center of the picture is Black, and he is the only Black police officer in the image of 12-13 police officers.

Discussion

This exploration of a Google search using the phrase “Black male protest” has yielded interesting results that speak to digital literacy and Google’s continued role in perpetuating a very specific type of literacy regarding Black men in America. My discussion of this will begin by first revisiting the two questions originally posed in the course syllabus and their relevance to this work. It will continue by examining these results through the lens of my original research question followed by a discussion of how these artifacts reflect Google’s role as an information record-keeper.

What does it mean to be literate in the 21^st century?

In our contemporary society, digital spaces continue to expand their reach and play a more vital role not only in how we interact, engage, and connect with each other but also in how we gather and disseminate information. Almost every aspect of our communicative existences—be it social, academic, professional, medical, etc.—is digital in some way or to some degree. As a result, our notion of literacy—or more accurately, our perception of what it means to be literate—continues to become more tethered to 1) our abilities (or lack, thereof) to navigate digital spaces in our efforts to acquire said information and 2) where we locate that information. In an era when “to research” is no longer synonymous images of human bodies perched over card catalogues or examining micro-fiche, and when doors of  brick and mortar libraries are being closed and replaced by digital ones, to be literate in a digital society requires that we be able to use the existing technologies to acquire information. Google is one of those technologies, and its now-vital role in the dissemination of information allows it to center itself within our knowledge-acquisition and our knowledge-making.

When literacy moves into digital spaces, how do those new contexts shape what literacy looks like?

Because almost ¾ of all online searches are performed via Google’s search engine, it’s difficult to doubt or overstate the search engine’s reach and power when it comes to shaping and/or re-shaping what any literacy looks like.  The algorithms used to determine what results will be derived from specific search terms reflect the perceptions, perspectives, and biases of those who create the algorithms, and therefore it is this group of people that shapes what literacy looks like for the many people using Google in their acquisition of information. It is this group of people—these makers of the algorithms—that determines what information is disseminated and what information is perceived as relevant in the here and now.  And it is this reach and power that certainly helps create and perpetuate specific literacies about Black men in America.

One of the primary ways new contexts like Google shape what literacy looks like is in its ability to “choose” which of the search terms to disregard or elevate. My original search query included the words “Black,” “male,” and “protest,” in a single phrase and in that order. The first set of results (artifact 1) did focus on Black men, but it disregarded the final search term, protest. Instead of focusing on Black males protesting, the search returned three news sources presenting information about a recent shooting and killing of a Black man in an Alabama mall, a think tank’s discussion of violence against Black men in America, and a 2-year old article focusing on police officers’ perspectives on this issue.

Artifact 1

People look at the news or news sources to find out what is going on in the world, so news stations have the power to shape our perceptions about what is most important and most relevant today. The three news sources resulting from my search each clearly place Emantic Bradford, Jr’s killing at the hands of the police as the most important or relevant information of the day. However, one way that each of the news articles differ is in how they use their title to shape the reader’s understanding of this on-going societal issue—that of Black men being killed during their encounters with law enforcement.

NBCNews.com’s article, which comes from the Associated Press, is titled “Alabama Police Suggest Black Man Killed by Officers Shouldn’t Have Held His Gun.” The specific words used within the title clearly seek to shape the audiences’ literacy not only regarding this specific incident but also regarding this issue in general. The title uses the phrases “Black man” and “suggest.” Presenting Bradford’s ethnicity within the title continues to shape and re-shape the narrative of Black men being killed by police officers in this country. Not only does it high-light the continued conflict that exists between Black people and law enforcement, but it also serves to connect all of the previous killings with this most recent one. The word “suggests” is also used to shape this narrative. Using the word “suggests” indicates two things: 1) that there are different ways of viewing this specific incident, and 2) that there is an active quest by the police to shape this particular narrative so that the victim’s death will be his own fault.

NBCNews.com uses this digital space to describe the events surrounding Bradford’s killing, but one of their goals is to allow the voice of the Bradford’s family to be heard. One of the ways they do this is by presenting a video in which Bradford’s family members to present their own version of this narrative. Instead of being presented as a “Black criminal” or a “Black man with a gun,” Bradford’s parents seek to complicate the police officer’s initial narrative surrounding him. In the video, Bradford’s mother is holding her son’s Army photo, and both his mother and father personalize him. The video also shows the lawyer describing Bradford’s killing, which results in Bradford’s emotionally wrought grandmother falling to the ground in tears.

USAToday.com and NYTimes.com also use their articles’ titles and content to complicate the narrative of Bradford, Jr. presented by the police and to further the on-going discussions about the perpetual conflict between Black men and law enforcement. They use titles like “Alabama Mall Shooting: Officer Killed the Wrong Man, Officials Say” and “Man Killed by Police at Alabama Mall was a ‘Good Guy with a Gun,’ Family’s Lawyer Says.”  Like NBCNews.com’s article, the articles posted by each of the remaining two news sites present personal accounts of Bradford, Jr.’s life. They bring in videos that show family members describing the victim as they continue to personalize him, and NYTimes.com placed Bradford, Jr.’s Army photo in the middle of the article. This image contradicts the image of Bradford, Jr. presented by the Hoover Police Department. The Army photo situates Bradford, Jr. as a man who puts his own life on the line for America and its core values; however, even after realizing that Bradford, Jr. was not the shooter in the mall, the Hoover Police Department still sought to make him complicit somehow. When they realized that he did not commit this crime, they continued to state that he was involved in the crime in some way. This particular narrative about Black men—that they always must be guilty of in some way of something—is the one that continues to resonate and be perpetuated.

Artifact 2

Unlike artifact 1, the Brookings Institute’s article explores the issue of Black males suffering disproportionately at the hands of law enforcement. Those involved examine this issue  academically and in terms of legality, “…explor[ing] policy options to address the cycle of excessive police force against black males” (Dews).

This website’s exploration of this issue offers a different approach. One of its strengths is that it provides statistical data showing the likelihood that Black men will be killed in their encounters with the police. Kwadwo Frimpong states that “black males are killed by police officers at three times their relative share of the national population, and are twice as likely to be killed by a police officer as a white male” (Dews).  If we look at other shootings in our society where white males were the shooters yet are able to be taken into custody as opposed to being shot and killed, it is clearly apparent that there is something going on in the minds of law enforcement that makes it acceptable to shoot and kill a Black man—that this is the appropriate course of action.

Artifact 3

Artifact 3 is the only artifact that does appear to focus on, at least, the words “Black male protest.” It presents an image of police officers in Time Square during a protest over the week’s multiple killings of Black men by police.  It also differs from artifacts 1 and 2 in that it does not focus on efforts to personalize the victim or to put this issue into a social or historical context.  Instead, it attempts to contextualize that week’s violence—the multiple killings of Black men by police AND the subsequent killing of police officers—from the perspective of law enforcement officials.

This article was written in 2016; however, in the on-going conversation about Black men being killed at the hands of law enforcement, this article can serve as a historical artifact. Even though the article’s perspective is from police officers (and not from the perspective of family members of victims), it does offer a snap-shot of events from that year as well as offering an alternative way of discussing this issue.

Google as record-keeper

Another finding of this research is that Google acts as a type of omnipotent record-keeper. They not only maintain information about Black men and their encounters with law enforcement, but they also have the power to determine what representations of the Black male are best suited to be dispersed. The results offered up by a Google search serve as a type of documentation, a snapshot of a specific moment in time, a historical artifact, even. Again, if most people’s online queries are via Google, and the records or documentation of events, then Google has the power to determine what content is perceived as relevant and most important.

Original research question

Even though my search results sent me in an unexpected direction, my research question is still relevant here. My question was How do websites represent Black male protest efforts in contemporary American society? And my initial response was that they don’t, but this is not completely accurate. No, the websites generated by my search did not provide images of or content about Black males protesting, which was my original intention. However, this is not a reflection of the websites or their content. It is, instead, a reflection of the search engine and the ways in which the algorithms reflect the perceptions and perspectives of their creators.

Each artifact is similar in that it discusses the same issue—that of Black men being killed by law enforcement officers.  Each article does, in its own way, explore this on-going, pervasive issue occurring within our society. However, the articles are very different in how they go about this exploration. The 3 news sources (artifact 1) do their job, which is to make/keep the public aware of this issue.  They each describe the events that occurred, or at the very least the events that were reported, with regards to Emantic Bradford, Jr.’s encounter with and subsequent demise at the hands of the Hoover Police Department. Even so, this continuous telling or re-telling of this continuous story becomes problematic for a variety of reasons. One of the primary issues here is that this one repetitive picture of the Black male—that he is only a gun-wielding body and not a person—is the only (or at least the main story) being told. On the other hand, Brookings does offer a very different approach to discussing this issue. They do not discuss the killing of Emantic Bradford, Jr. as a news issue or as a topic meant to be today’s topic, waiting to be replaced by tomorrow’s headline. Instead, they place it within the historical and social frameworks. And “The Undefeated” completely shifts the conversation’s focus by presenting this conversation from the perspectives of police officers.

Conclusion

In our last class meeting, Dr. Cox stated that we often see literacy or literacy work as good or positive. This project indicates that sometimes literacy work is neither good nor positive—that it is often surreptitiously embedded or laden with the negative. Very often, as is the case with artifact 1, the works that tell us what we should know, be, or do tell us things that are not only negative but also detrimental to us on many different levels.  It is the news that continues to present these negative images of innocent Black men being killed at the hands of the police. Even though these artifacts are news stories designed to simply present the facts, it is still difficult to separate the message from the messenger. Artifact 2 from the Brookings Institute, in its efforts to examine Black males dying at the hands of police officers socially, academically, and legally should certainly be lauded for its attempts at advocacy work. However, they are, essentially, preaching to the proverbial choir. The information they provide is information that is already known to be true, so they, too, primarily reinforce what is occurring regularly in our society. Artifact 3 seeks to do something different by allowing police officers to present how they see this on-going conflict. However, this search result is two years old. It is relevant, yes, but current—no.

Even so, the fact that the first searches generated from a Google search, the search option used most in the world, the search option that included the words “Black,” “male,” and “protest,” are news sites discussing Black male death is telling us a narrative about the Black male body and its position in our society. In all three artifacts, literacy pertaining to Black men in America looks violent and criminal. The repeated images of Black men clashing with law enforcement perpetuate the notion that not only are his interactions with our society’s existing power structures continuously combative, but that he is continuously combative. It is a narrative that becomes—actually, it has already become—a part of how we see the world and how we—as Black people—are seen within and by the world.  It has become embedded in our psyches and we have come to accept it as factual or normal, which is how our literacies are shaped, re-shaped, and created.

Works Cited

“Alabama Police Suggest Black Man Killed by Officers Shouldn’t Have Held His Gun.” NBCNews.com. 24 Nov. 2018. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.

Brown, David. “Alabama Mall Shooting: Officer Killed the Wrong Man, Officials Say.”  USAToday.com. 24 Nov. 2018. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.

Banks, William. English 8600 Course Syllabus.

Eble, Michelle. Personal Communication. 3 December 2018.

Frost, Erin. Personal Communication. 3 December 2018.

Haag, Matthew. “Man Killed by Police at Alabama Mall was a ‘Good Guy with a Gun,’ Family’s Lawyer Says.” NYTimes.com, 24 Nov. 2018. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.

Noble, Safiya. Algorithms of Oppression. New York, University Press, 2018. Kindle Edition.

“The New America Foundation Falls into a Familiar Trap.” The Economist. 7 September 2017.