Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-31-2025
Abstract
Demonstrations addressing police use of force stress the importance of revisiting the organization strategies of social movements. Fatal use of force against individuals of color continues to tarnish police-community relations. Social media helps elevate the political movement addressing police use of force, but understanding social media as an activist resource remains underdeveloped. Resource mobilization theory is applied to the conceptualization of protest activities to describe how activists use social media as a resource to initiate and create local community change. This exploratory study consists of 20 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with activists over 18 years old and fieldwork observation. While social media provides versatility to social activism, is a resource for community awareness, and unifies acts of resistance, divisiveness exists about the role of online activism. Social media does not replace in-person protest activities, but it supports accessible organizing. Research implications identify the need for social media and in-person holistic approaches that work towards racial healing.
Recommended Citation
Rios-Contreras, N. (2025). #ProtestPolicing: Intersecting race and social media activism in the Mile High City. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 14(1), 104-125. https://thejsms.org/index.php/JSMS/article/view/1609
Peer Reviewed
1
Copyright
The author
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Social Media Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in The Journal of Social Media in Society, volume 14, issue 1, in 2025.