Victim Blaming in Twitter Users’ Framing of Eric Garner and Michael Brown

Abstract

Using a critical race lens, this analysis extends the victim-blaming literature to examine representations of Black males killed by White police officers. Specifically, it explores tweets that emerged following the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in 2014. Study findings indicate Twitter users often used victim-blaming discourse to present the incidents of violence against Black men as isolated cases of punishment they deserved instead of the manifestations of larger social problems and systematic injustices. Common victim-blaming themes used to frame the two men were criminal actions/culpability, physical features, and race and class characteristics. A counter narrative toward justice and policy change later emerged, and the two men’s deaths became a catalyst for change. Notably, the #BlackLivesMatter campaign became an impetus to help foster growth in the Black liberation movement.

Keywords

victim blaming #BlackLivesMatter Eric Garner Michael Brown

Introduction

The number of Blacks killed by White police officers in the United States is staggering. The media’s framing of such cases by introducing the victim’s background, which is often irrelevant to the cause of shooting itself, is also alarming. When Blacks are killed by White police officers in the United States, more often than not, the shooting victim becomes victimized by mass media representations of the victim or through public scrutiny on new media platforms such as Twitter. Victim blaming (of Blacks) emerges quickly across media platforms, particularly on Twitter. Malcolm X once stated, “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” This has often proven true in the 21st century as images and reports of unarmed Black people killed by White police officers have become common in mass media messages. Using a critical race theory (CRT) lens and victim-blaming theory, this analysis examines social media viewpoints that emerged following the highly publicized death of two African American male victims killed by police officers in 2014.

The deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner sparked public outrage, which unfolded across media platforms. Brown died on August 4, 2014, after Police Officer Darren Wilson shot him in the parking lot of a convenience store. Witnesses said Brown was in a position of surrender when he was killed, and his body remained on public display for 4 hours (Hafner, 2016). Wilson, a 6-foot 4-inch, 210-pound police officer, later stated that his encounter with the 6-foot 4-inch, 292-pound teenager left him feeling like “a 5-year-old holding on to Hulk Hogan” (Dyson, 2014). Months later, on July 17, 2014, in Staten Island, New York, Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo used an illegal choke hold to kill Eric Garner. Garner, a 43-year-old Black man, had broken up a fight between two people and was questioned by the police about the suspicion of selling untaxed, loose cigarettes on a sidewalk. Garner pleaded “I can’t breathe” 11 times before going unconscious, then dying. Ramsey Orta, a 22-year-old bystander, captured the death on his cell phone. Garner’s death was blamed on his poor health.

Social psychologists have theorized concepts of victim blaming for decades, exploring victim-blaming frames relative to rape victims, AIDS patients, and various other marginalized groups (e.g., Benedict, 1997; Lambert & Raichle, 2000; Meyers, 2004; Worthington, 2013). To extend this rich literature on the subject, we explored tweets to assess the prominent themes that arose following Brown’s and Garner’s deaths. The analysis of the use of victim-blaming rhetoric provides one method.

The case for using victim-blaming discourse as a lens for this study is based on four important factors. First, the men in each case were unarmed. Second, they were Black. Third, both men had multiple eyewitnesses whose testimonies were either challenged or completely discredited. Fourth, the issue of social perceptions and audience response as it relates to media’s framing of Black men and criminal behavior must be explored in new media settings. It is crucial that sense is made of why victim-blaming characteristics matter, particularly in the larger “frame” of why killing unarmed Black men cannot be justified or accepted as standard behavior. Throughout the aftermath of each case, citizens posted a broad range of messages to show support or disdain for Brown, Garner, and the police officers who killed unarmed Black men. News accounts of protestors, social justice efforts, and social media posts of protest messages such as #BlackLivesMatter became mainstream topics in mass media and social media.

The Statistics

Michael Brown and Eric Garner are part of a growing number of Black people killed by police officers. According to MappingViolence.org, police officers killed at least 102 unarmed Black people in 2015, more than any other race. Nearly one in three Black people killed by police officers in 2015 were identified as unarmed, and 37% of unarmed people killed by police were Black in 2015 despite Black people being only 13% of the population in the United States (“Police Killed More Than 100 Unarmed Black People in 2015,” n.d.).

On November 24 and December 3, 2014, years of frustration and anger bubbled to the surface, as grand juries voted not to indict the two officers who killed Brown and Garner. The police killings of Brown and Garner and events that unfolded afterward provide the context for this analysis. One dominant theme that arose early in media coverage was the idea that the two were responsible for their deaths. These two cases were not the first-time victim blaming was used in reports of Black men/boys killed by White police officers (and others). Trayvon Martin’s attire was cited as a reason for George Zimmerman (a neighborhood watch captain) killing him in 2012. In an interview on “Fox News and Friends,” Geraldo Rivera stated, “Trayvon Martin’s ‘hoodie is as much responsible for [his] death as George Zimmerman.’” Rivera denied that he was “blaming the victim” and called it “common sense” for minorities to avoid wearing hoodies. He said that he was “reminding minority parents of the risk that comes with being a kid of color in America” (Fung, 2012).

In another example, the city of Cleveland responded to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of 12-year-old Tamir Rice by blaming the youth for carrying a toy handgun. City officials and police officers pleaded ignorance, immunity, and innocence in the case (“Cleveland: 12-Year-Old’s Police Shooting Death His Own Fault,” 2015; Ponting, 2014). The U.S. Department of Justice settlement with Cleveland concluded that the city’s police department was poorly trained in the use of force and in need of sweeping reforms (M. Smith & Apuzzo, 2015). Similarly, police officers blamed the mother of a 13-year-old for allowing her son to leave the house with a realistic-looking toy gun when he was shot by two Baltimore police officers who reportedly believed that the toy gun he was carrying was real (Savali, 2016). In a press conference, Police Commissioner Kevin Davis called the toy a “dead-on ringer” for a Beretta 92FS, which the gun’s website describes as “the world’s most trusted military and police pistol.”

Theoretical Framework

This analysis is three pronged. First, it offers a general overview of the literature on the framing of Black males and traditional victim-blaming themes. Second, it expands the literature by examining dominant frames used by Twitter users to characterize Brown and Garner in 2014. Finally, it explores how study findings extend the victim-blaming literature to include Black Americans, particularly males, and serve as a starting point for future studies on the topic. The killings of Garner and Brown provide the perfect cases to explore these dynamics in the 21st century.

To help guide this study, we looked to four streams of knowledge in the literature: (a) CRT, (b) media messages and hegemony, (c) victim-blaming frames, and (d) mass media framing of Black men. CRT emerged as an outgrowth of the civil rights tradition and the critical legal studies movement that advanced an understanding of law as deeply connected to lived experiences and social power. CRT examines how messages portray underlying ideologies that reflect social relations of domination based on a pervasive yet unobtrusive racial hierarchy (Crenshaw, 1991).

In direct opposition to emerging discourses that assert America is a color-blind society, critical race theorists argue that social relations are fundamentally based on race because of legal, social, historical foundations, and other forces (Bell, 1992; Crenshaw, 1991; Ono, 2009; Squires et al., 2010). CRT’s main tenets are that “racism is a common, everyday lived experience for people of color” and “individuals and their specific roles in society are socially constructed based on a system of power relations that favors the majority” (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001, pp 7-10).

CRT is relevant to our study as Black males are 6 times more likely to be placed in prison than White males and 2.5 times more likely than Hispanic males (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoners in 2012). There are also racial disparities in police arrest activities. Roughly 12% of the U.S. population is Black. Yet in 2011, Black Americans constituted 30% of persons arrested for a property offense and 38% of persons arrested for a violent offense. Similarly, Black youths account for 16% of all children in America yet make up 28% of juvenile arrests (National Council on Crime & Delinquency, 2007). According to the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau ACS (American Community Survey) study, 27% of all Black men, women, and children live below the poverty level compared with just 11% of all Americans.

Racial Stereotypes and Media Representations

Racial stereotypes are characterized as gross overgeneralizations about specific out-groups in which certain negative behaviors and traits are overexaggerated to the detriment of persons within that group (Allport, 1954). Members of the dominant group or cultural elite often use stereotypes to dehumanize other cultural groups that differ in values, beliefs, or physical characteristics to maintain its own political power and social control (Lassiter, 1979; Lippmann, 1922/1934). Wilson and Gutierrez (1995) add that stereotyping is used as a shortcut to character development that helps form the basis for mass media entertainment.

Stereotypes are noteworthy in media studies because media content helps citizens make sense of the world around them, especially for depictions of people of different backgrounds. Hall (1997) further explains how members of dominant groups use stereotypes and “Otherness” to maintain power. In addition, stereotyping is a social control, a power tool that builds group solidarity and creates an “us versus them” mentality. Stereotyping occurs “where there are gross inequalities of power” and that “[p]ower is usually directed against the subordinate or excluded group” (Hall, 1997, p. 258). Stereotypes persist because “they fulfill important identity needs for the dominant culture” thereby maintaining the status quo and preserving hegemony (Mastro & Behm-Morazwitz, 2005, p. 112).

Historically, stereotypes have led to negative media portrayals of women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups that stress that the dominance sustained in ideological spaces like the media and popular culture is never permanent. Scholars conclude media outlets typically avoid discussions of the structural reasons for racial inequality in favor of paradigms that blame the victim or frame racism as merely a product of intolerant attitudes (e.g., Entman & Rojecki, 2000; Omi & Winant, 1994). Progressives who highlight positive images of Blacks, while ignoring serious problems faced by the Black community, are guilty of enlightened racism.

Media Framing

The major premise of framing theory is that an issue can be viewed from a variety of perspectives and be construed as having implications for multiple values or considerations (Chong & Druckman, 2007). Another essence of framing according to Entman (1991) is sizing or to what extent a communicator magnifies or miniaturizes any depicted reality and thus, makes it more or less significant. Nelson, Oxley, and Clawson (1997) add that framing is “the process by which a communication source constructs and defines a social or political issue for its audience” (p. 221). Frames have the potential to influence attitudes about crime and violence and shape attitudes of mass audiences (Chong & Druckman, 2007).

In the social movement literature, framing is useful for examining the process of producing meaning on a large scale (Reese, 2001). Cultural frames do not stop with organizing one story but invite individuals to create a cultural understanding of the information. “These are the ‘strategic’ frames that speak to a broader way to account for social reality” (Reese, 2001, pp. 12-13). Value-frames describe morality issues, allowing distinctions between “good” and “bad” (Ball-Rokeach & Tallman, 1979). For instance, representations of abortion tend to implicitly frame the debate around whether a woman should be blamed for an unintended pregnancy and/or whether her justifications for seeking abortion are adequate (Purcell, Hilton, & McDaid, 2014).

Welfare offers another example. Winter (2006) asserts that the link between Whites’ racial attitudes and their opinions on welfare policy has been well documented. He asserts that while the linkages are subtle and symbolic, they serve to associate social security with Whiteness and welfare with Blackness. This leads White Americans who feel closer to and more warmly about Whites as a group to feel more positively about social security compared with those who feel less close and warm toward their racial group. In a landmark study on citizen perceptions of welfare, about 20% of the American public believed too little was being spent on “welfare,” while about 65% said that too little was being spent on “assistance to the poor” (Rasinski, 1989, p. 391).

Research suggests citizens, journalists, and groups use Twitter to frame issues (e.g., Choi & Park, 2014; van der Meer & Verhoeven, 2013), and the platform allows individuals and groups to use frames to emphasize particular issues over others (Meraz & Papacharissi, 2013). Also worth noting is Twitter offers a platform to share alternative voices. A 2015 Pew study indicated the percentage of Blacks online who use Twitter is higher than the population overall with 28% of Blacks reporting they use it compared with 20% of White respondents.

Framing of Black Men

The media generally place Black men on a spectrum of good versus evil (Watkins, 2001). In the 19th century, the literature and the theater—particularly minstrel shows—created what became the standardized images of Black men (Dates & Barlow, 1993). Another common archetype, the savage brute caricature portrays Black men as innately savage, destructive, criminal, and deserving of punishment such as death and incarceration (e.g., Dates & Barlow, 1993; Pilgrim, 2012). During the 1980s to the 1990s, images of Black men in television and film portrayals shifted (Dates & Barlow, 1993), and the primary images of the group were of Black men as criminals in general (Dixon & Linz, 2000a, 2000b; Gilliam & Iyengar, 2000). Everyday representations of the group placed Black men in the roles of drug lords, crack addicts, criminals, and impoverished deviants (e.g., Dixon, 2008; Drummond, 1990; Entman & Rojecki, 2000).

Haider-Markel, Delehanty, and Beverlin (2007) examined news media framing of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath and found that news media frames “have an especially important role in being able to shape perceptions of political and social events” (p. 589). Following Hurricane Katrina, journalists framed the city of New Orleans in intricate stories of murder, rape, and violence—often out of context (Brunken, 2006). Black people who reside within a city were often categorized as “urban.” Thus, the issues related to the “urban” or the Black experience are generally considered negative.

Scholars are concerned that these negative images create mistrust among Blacks and other groups and may result in “misandry,” which refers to an exaggerated pathological aversion toward Black men produced and perpetuated in social, institutional, and individual ideologies, and behaviors (W. A. Smith, Allen, & Danley, 2007, p. 563).

Victim-Blaming Literature

Framing of criminality often places the blame for crime and poverty on the individual choices and behaviors of people of color, rather than on the institutions that systematically deny them equal access to racial minorities for quality education, housing, and employment (C. P. Campbell, 1995; Entman, 1991). Dixon and Linz’s (2000) study of media frames and race is based on ethnic blame discourse. The theory’s basic assumption is ethnocentric talk, and media frames gradually become an invisible and acceptable form of expression as they become routinized. Dixon and Linz (2000) found support for ethnic blame discourse argument in their study of the portrayals of race and crime on Los Angeles area television stations. Specifically, they found that television portrayals of race and crime tended to “frame problem behavior committed by ethnic others as intergroup conflict and accentuate the harmful effects of the behavior for the in-group” (p. 132).

Adams-Price, Dalton, and Sumrall (2004) assert that victim blaming has “traditionally been related to defensive attributions and the Just World hypotheses” (p. 289). Adams-Price et al. (2004) add that one of the primary difficulties in victim blaming is the distinguishing between “blame and responsibility” (p. 290). Blame is “an attributional function: when someone is blamed for an accident, they are viewed as part of the cause of the accident” (p. 290). In their study on the media’s framing of Hurricane Katrina, Davis and French (2008) discovered print news made references to both socioeconomic status and race to characterize “typical” victim. Second, the study discovered media reports used overcompleteness to link victims and survivors to criminal activity. Third, the researchers concluded that news coverage framed victims and survivors as irresponsible, presuming that the people of New Orleans had details of the Hurricane, prior to its occurrence, but chose not to evacuate.

Mulford and Lee (1996) examined scales that measured the blaming of AIDS victims and the environment in which they lived, as associative factors perhaps offering separate dimensions, based on Heider’s (1958) proposition that there is a hydraulic function between attributions to both the person and the environment. They concluded there is a lack of tendency to blame the environment, and persons who blame, in general, tends to blame specific victims. Similarly, victim-blaming frame in rape literature also places culpability on the victim to indicate that she is responsible for the action (e.g., she chose to consume alcohol, to dress a certain way, and/or to venture into an unsafe area), thus suggesting that she should have known better than to engage in risky behaviors. Such victim-blaming discourse is a staple of sexual assault news (Benedict, 1997; Meyers, 2004; Worthington, 2013).

More recently, studies have turned their attention to online platforms. Durham (2013) found that bloggers and commentators quickly identified the patriarchal and victim-blaming aspects of the New York Times’s coverage, resulting in an influential petition and an apology from the Times. Studies on the topic are important, A. L. Brown and Testa (2007) argue because negative social reactions may have an indirect negative impact by influencing the judgment of observers. The two concluded that “exposure to negative social reactions toward a rape victim reduced willingness to provide emotional support to that victim” (A. L. Brown & Testa, 2007, pp. 490-492).

Framing of Garner and Brown’s Deaths

The race of the Black victims killed by White police officers plays a tremendous factor in shaping attitudes of persons and individual responses through social media platforms, particularly Twitter, which citizens use to tweet messages of disparaging commentary about the victims. Furthermore, the #BlackLivesMatter movement, founded by Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza, was popularized on social media platforms. The movement served as a call to action and a response to racism in the United States. The movement originated in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s death; however, it did not gain widespread attention until 2014 following Brown’s death.

According to a CBS News poll, there were stark racial differences on views of the police and the deaths of Brown and Garner (De Pinto, Dutton, Salvanto, & Backus, 2014). The poll suggested White people saw a justification for using deadly force in both cases, with 43% viewing the use of deadly force as justifiable in the Brown case and 14% in the Garner case. The poll indicated that White and Black populations also held different views on the role race plays in the use of deadly force by the police, suggesting 84% of Blacks thought police officers in most communities are more likely to use deadly force against a Black person than a White person, while 57% of Whites thought race is not a factor.

Studies have examined the framing of the deaths of Garner and Brown from many perspectives including riots and “hashtag activism” (e.g., Blackstone, Cowart, & Saunders, 2017; Bonilla & Rosa, 2015; Bowen, 2015). Bowen’s (2015) study on media’s framing of Ferguson, Missouri, following Michael Brown’s death concluded that the most overarching frame was the conflict between the Black community and authorities. News segments offered details about the riots and unrest resulting from the shooting first, followed by the facts of the case. Similarly, Blackstone, Cowart, and Saunders (2017) found evidence to suggest that protesters were framed as troublemakers.

In their article on “hashtag activism,” Bonilla and Rosa (2014, p. 7) characterized #Ferguson in this manner:

“As opposed to someone who might post about Ferguson on Facebook, users on Twitter felt like they were participating in #Ferguson, as they tweeted in real time about the unfolding events, rallied supporters to join various hashtag campaigns . . .”

Bonilla and Rosa (2015) concluded that social media platforms have become powerful tools for recording and inspiring episodes of police brutality. “Within this context, social media participation becomes a key site from which to contest mainstream media silences and the long history of state-sanctioned violence against racialized populations” (p. 4).

Khanlarzadeh (2014) asserts that one mainstream media reaction to the tragedy was “Michael Brown was no angel,” implying police violence was excused on the grounds of the victim’s former transgressions of the law—or of sociocultural norms. In other words, the victim deserved to die because he was a danger to the police at the scene, or against society in the future. The New York Times reported Brown spent his last weeks of his life grappling with problems and promise (Eligon, 2014):

Michael Brown, 18, due to be buried on Monday, was no angel, with public records and interviews with friends and family revealing both problems and promise in his young life. Shortly before his encounter with Officer Wilson, the police say he was caught on a security camera stealing a box of cigars, pushing the clerk of a convenience store into a display case. He lived in a community that had rough patches, and he dabbled in drugs and alcohol. He had taken to rapping in recent months, producing lyrics that were by turns contemplative and vulgar. He got into at least one scuffle with a neighbor.

Khanlarzadeh (2014) adds that even if the mourners prove that the victim had been successful by citing the victim’s educational credentials, his or her success is often challenged by the mainstream media based on the victim’s wearing a hoodie, doing rap, making gestures, or body size. “In order to deny the existence of race and racial injustice in the U.S., the no-angel approach constructs an image of the raced victims to blame police brutality on the victims themselves.”

Findings such as these demonstrate the importance of additional research on the use of participatory, or citizen produced, media in various circumstances. Building on this review of the literature, this study addressed the following research questions:

Research Question 1: What victim-blaming frames emerged in tweets about Michael Brown and Eric Garner?

Research Question 2: What other depictions of Garner and Brown emerged in Twitter content?

Research Question 3: How does this study extend the victim-blaming literature to reflect the lack of value often placed on the lives of Black men?

Method

Using a textual analysis, we analyzed how Twitter users framed Garner and Brown (Bordens & Abbott, 1999; Davis & French, 2008). We chose to analyze “top” tweets, as these were the posts that individuals were more likely to share or retweet online. When searching on twitter.com, individuals may filter results by clicking “top” tweet, which are popular posts that many other Twitter users have engaged with and thought were useful. We chose Twitter as the platform to study, as tweets were commonly shared across social media platforms.

Using the keywords “Eric Garner” and “Michael Brown,” the top 7,000 tweets were collected via the Twitter website 1 month after November 24 and December 3, 2014, the dates grand juries voted not to indict Wilson and Pantaleo for killing Brown and Garner. As many of the tweets were retweets and a smaller sample suited our purpose to identify victim-blaming themes for our study, we chose to analyze 10% or every 10th tweet for 700 tweets total.

Next, we used a three-step analyst triangulation process to analyze the tweets. First, the primary and secondary researcher analyzed the photos in our sampled tweets several times to find overarching themes. The unit of analysis was the entire tweet and photo. Of the Garner tweets, 18 were eliminated because they were retweets or unrelated to the study, leaving 332 in the sample. Of the Brown tweets, 30 were eliminated, leaving 320 in the sample. To test for intercoder reliability, we looked at 10% of the sample (60 tweets). Percent agreement was .90% for themes.

To identify frames, we looked at common victim-blaming frames in the literature (e.g., C. P. Campbell, 1995; Davis & French, 2008; Entman, 1991; Van Dijk, 1993). Next, we analyzed the tweets for patterns to answer the question, how do the tweets want us to think about Brown and Garner. K. Campbell and Wiggins (2015) note in the typology for distinguishing frames from topics and themes, frames can be determined by asking, “Specifically, how does the columnist want the reader to think about the topic and theme? . . . [A]nswering how refers to the perspective and context that generates meaning. Direction of thinking is key in determining the frame” (p. 4). The salient patterns in the themes were determined to be the frames. In evaluating the tweets repeatedly, themes emerged that we agreed upon to characterize Brown and Garner (Table 1).

Table 1.

Common Victim-Blaming Themes in Literature.

Themes	Description
Criminal actions/culpability	Tweets link victims and survivors to criminal activity (C. P. Campbell, 1995; Entman, 1991), such as stealing, drinking, and using drugs.
Physical characteristics of victim	Tweets included physical characterizations of the victim’s height, weight, and health to frame him as guilty or innocent of committing a crime.
Race and class characteristics	Tweets include everyday representations of Black men that depict them as drug lords, crack addicts, criminals, and impoverished deviants (e.g., Dixon, 2008; Drummond, 1990; Entman & Rojecki, 2000). The savage, brute caricature portrays Black men as innately savage, destructive (Dates & Barlow, 1993).

Findings and Discussion

The first research question asked what victim-blaming frames emerged in Twitter content about Black males shot by police officers in 2014? Building on our review of the literature, we looked for the following victim-blaming frames criminal actions/culpability, physical characteristics, and race and class characteristics. Prominent victim-blaming frames in our sample included the idea that Garner and Brown were responsible for their deaths at the hands of White police officers (Table 2).

Table 2.

Overarching Victim-Blaming Themes of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

Theme	Description
Criminal action/culpability	1. Brown robbed a convenience store 2. Garner was selling loose cigarettes 3. Bullet hole photos 4. Brown used drugs
Physical characteristics	5. Brown was a menacing giant 6. Brown was a gentle giant 7. Garner was a menacing giant 8. Garner was gentle giant 9. Garner suffered from asthma/unhealthy
Race and class characteristics	10. Brown was a thug/brute/savage 11. Garner was a thug/brute/savage

Criminal action/culpability

Criminal action/culpability was the most prominent victim-blaming frame in our sample. Tweets in this theme most often included the idea that the world is better off without both Brown and Garner because they committed a crime (Table 3). In Brown’s case, Twitter users framed him as a drug user and a thief who was guilty of stealing cigars at a convenience store, talking back to an attendant and capable of causing harm to the police officer who killed him (Figure 1). One tweet stated, “maybe we can get the GJ to posthumously charge #MICHAELBROWN poss of weed, robbery, assault on police, resisting arrest [sic],” and “#MichaelBrown isnt a hero isnt a martyr isnt a victim… he was a bully a criminal an attacker [sic].” Referring back to the literature, this is particularly relevant in Brown’s case because negative social reactions and framing may have an indirect negative impact by influencing the judgment of others (Brown & Testa, 2007).

Table 3.

Frames in Twitter Images of Garner and Brown.

Garner was unhealthy (n = 5)	Brown was a thug (n = 23)
Garner was overweight (3)	Surveillance footage of Brown or other people (8)
Garner was asthmatic (2)	Photo of Brown making a menacing hand sign (7)
	Photo of another person with a gun (5)
	Photo of Mike Brown smoking (2)
	Brown had a juvenile arrest record (1)
Garner was a victim (n = 72)	Brown was a victim (n = 25)
Chokehold photo (21)	Bullet entry photo (6)
Garner is part of an epidemic of Black males being killed by Anglo police officers (0)	Brown is part of an epidemic of Black males being killed by Anglo police officers (6)
The grand jury indictment was wrong (13)	Brown’s murder was unjust (Brown was innocent, gentle giant) (5)
Video was not enough (8)	The lack of a grand jury indictment was wrong (4)
I/We can’t breathe (30)	Brown’s body was on the ground for many hours (4)

Figure 1.

Tweets that focus on Michael Brown.

Photos included surveillance footage of Brown or other people (n = 8), photos of Brown making a menacing hand sign (n = 7), photos of another person with a gun (n = 5), photos of Mike Brown smoking (n = 2), and characterization of Brown as having a juvenile arrest record (n = 1). Tweets were less likely to frame Garner using the guilty of a crime/culpability frame. Instead, they focused on his physical characteristics (explored in the next section).

Physical Characteristics of the Victim

The second theme in our analysis explored tweets that included physical characterizations of the victim’s height, weight, and health to frame him as guilty or innocent of committing a crime. While few tweets in our sample discussed Brown’s physical characteristics, depictions of Garner frequently emphasized his age and poor health—placing blame on him for his untimely death (n = 5). For instance, once the grand jury failed to indict the officer for killing Eric Garner, another person noted, “F**k [expletive] the Union that represents the #NYPD for saying it was #EricGarner’s health that caused his death and not the choke hold he was placed in.” Rep. Peter King, who represents Long Island, suggested Garner’s obesity and asthma made the situation more dangerous than it should have been.

Race & Class Characteristics

The third theme explored tweets that fell in the race and class charactertistics category. While few tweets in our sample included historical stereotypes of Blacks to depict Garner negatively, Brown was frequently depicted as a “thug” who had a juvenile arrest record. For instance, Twitter users often posted that Brown was not profiled by police officers. One post stated, “He’s a po po Black kid! Lol RT Why does anyone care that this guy is dead? Really, we are (cont)” and “83 cities plan to riot over a thug stealing cigars & him muscling a store clerk?” One Twitter user included a photo of a man with money in his mouth and a gun in his hand to frame Brown negatively. The photo included the caption, “I’m sure Michael Brown is innocent and misunderstood. I’m sure he is a pillar of the Ferguson community.” It was later revealed that the photo was of another Black youth.

Other posts stated Garner, Brown, and other Black men deserved to die because of the alleged crimes they committed. One post stated, “whose forcing these BLACK MEN to commit their crimes though, BLACK MEN THEMSELVES like #H420 and #Eric Garner.” Echoing this sentiment, Mayor Rudy Giuliani stated the “real problem facing Black communities is not brutality at the hands of White cops but brutality in the grips of Black thugs,” on “Meet the Press.” He cited the statistic that 93% of Black homicide victims are killed by Black people (Dyson, 2014). Clearly, Michael Brown became a catalyst for national dialogue on victimization of Black males and females killed by police officers. Frames in this sample demonstrate how social media help construct reality.

Posts also placed blame on Brown’s family members and other circumstances such as upbringing, manners, and youth. For instance, one tweet in our sample stated, “family looking for someone to blame but themselves!! They rasied a damn thug #MikeBrown [sic].”

Other Depictions

The second research question asked what other depictions of the two men emerged on Twitter. A fourth theme in our analysis placed emphasis on grief, death and dying. Tweets were more likely to focus on societal grief for Brown (n = 65) than grief for Garner (n = 4). Familial grief for Brown theme (n = 23) was common as were images of memorials placed in the street for Brown (n = 19).

Also common were tweets that fell in a fifth theme—those depicting Garner and Brown as part of an unjust criminal justice system. Tweets in this theme framed the grand jury indictment as wrong (n = 13). Representations of Garner emphasized the idea that the video was not enough for a grand jury indictment (n = 8); the lack of a grand jury indictment was wrong (n = 4) and Brown’s dead body was on the ground for many hours (n = 4).

One unanticipated finding was both Garner and Brown were framed as “average” family men in many of the tweets (Table 4). The sample included several photos of Garner with family members (n = 4), and appearing peaceful (n = 3). Similar photos of Brown included images of him in a cap and gown (n = 13), Brown smiling (n = 12), Brown wearing headphones (n = 6), and photos of Brown making an innocent hand sign (n = 4).

Table 4.

Twitter Images of Garner and Brown.

Eric Garner was an average man (n = 7)	Mike Brown was an average man (n = 35)
Photos of Garner with family (4)	Photos of Brown in a cap and gown (13)
Peaceful photo of Garner (3)	Photos of Brown smiling (12)
	Photos of Brown wearing headphones (6)
	Photos of Brown making an innocent hand sign (4)
Grief for Garner (n = 4)	Grief for Brown (n = 65)
Memorial for Garner (4)	Family grieving for Brown (23)
	Memorial for Brown (19)
	Society grieving for Brown (13)
	Photo of the funeral (10)

Extension of Victim Literature

The third research question asked how does this study extend the literature on victim blaming. Scholars have analyzed how mass media and individuals have used the victim-blaming frame for centuries to blame rape victims (i.e., Benedict, 1997; A. L. Brown & Testa, 2007; Meyers, 2004; Worthington, 2013). This study extends the literature on victim blaming by assessing how individuals used social media and the victim-blame frame to rationalize the appropriateness of a police officer killing the unarmed Black suspects.

Ardovini-Brooker and Caringella-Macdonald (2002) posit that victims generally do not have to justify why they are victims and “only victims of rape are so intimately scrutinized” (p. 4). Our analysis challenges this notion, as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and other Black males were scrutinized heavily for being killed, as if their deaths were their own fault and that they were deserving of their destiny of death at the hands of a police officer. This analysis reveals victim blaming was an essential part of citizen representations of Brown and Garner in social media settings.

Tweets often framed these two Black males, who were unarmed targets, as responsible for their deaths. The history of the person’s drug use, height, weight, performance in school, and various other factors were used as a rationale for the appropriateness of killing them on the spot. Coverage of Brown focused on his theft of cigars and his lack of respect for a store clerk before he died. The victim-blaming frame was less common for Garner who died after telling the police officer who killed him with a choke hold that he could not breathe. Some citizens stated Garner deserved to die and focused on his weight problems and physical health, which may have led to his death. Rhetoric later turned to other themes such as White privilege and while Brown deserved to die, Garner did not.

Expressions of Solidarity, Inclusiveness, and Reconciliation

One outgrowth of the two men’s deaths is various expressions of solidarity, inclusiveness, and reconciliation. While some Twitter users justified the deaths of Brown and Garner (based on their looks, lifestyle, skin color, and body size), others were passionate about seeking justice on their behalf. Social media provided a platform for both factions to share messages. To counteract the negative content posted about Garner and Brown, Twitter users focused on the idea that the two men died for justice and change, with citizens sharing concerns about a grand jury’s failure to indict both police officers who killed them. Twitter posts included the idea that Garner’s and Brown’s killings were inexcusable. Concerned citizens posted messages predicting violence in New York if the legal system failed citizens by not bringing charges against the officers. One person posted, “TRUST ME! the longer the cop(s) who murdered #EricGarner is (are) not placed under arrest, the hotter the NYC streets will get.”

The #CrimingWhileWhite campaign offered a stark contrast to how White citizens’ criminal activities received little or no police arrest or sanctions for their alleged criminal behaviors. Many posts indicated that race played a major factor in the lack of arrests for similar or worse offenses. According to cultural and social issues writer, Tierney Sneed of U.S. News & World Report, the hashtag #CrimingWhileWhite—apparently started by former “Daily Show” writer Jason Ross—became popular as White users confessed crimes they committed for which they faced little or no punishment from the police (Sneed, 2014).

#CrimingWhileWhite tweets satirically highlighted the idea that many White people expressed feeling guilty following Brown’s death. Twitter posts included the prevalence of White privilege and idea that some White people wanted to disown (White) America. One person tweeted, “At 13 I stole a car with my friends & drove it 2wks before we got busted. Only one charged was Black.” Another person wrote, “Got caught w/ 2 white friends stealing college signs at nite [sic]. Cops laughed, helped us put signs back up & drove us 2 dorm #CrimingWhileWhite.” Another person posted, “The call for white ‘allies’ is amazing. Keep showing up. Show them that #BlackLivesMatter What they do to the least of us . . .”

As Twitter users and protestors were engaged in seeking solutions and bringing awareness to the killing of Black men in America by the police, President Barack Obama addressed the injustices, stating,

Right now, unfortunately, we are seeing too many instances where people just do not have confidence that folks are being treated fairly. And in some cases, those may be misperceptions; but in some cases, that’s a reality. And it is incumbent upon all of us, as Americans, regardless of race, region, faith, that we recognize this is an American problem, and not just a Black problem or a brown problem or a Native American problem. (Sneed, 2014)

The January 16, 2015, New Yorker included the cover story titled, “The Dream of Reconciliation.” The issue featured a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King linking arms with males killed by police officers. The artwork inspired by the photographs of the Selma-to-Montgomery March became the emphasis of many tweets, as many Twitter users began to focus on the 6-month anniversary of Brown’s death.

Historical civil rights photos emerged to illustrate the idea that the United States had taken a step backward regarding human rights. Images of police officers holding Black and White protestors at bay were also tweeted frequently as were maps demonstrating the correlation between police presence and Black populations in U.S. cities. Images of candlelight vigils and peaceful layins were also common. Twitter users expressed sympathy for Garner and mentioned the video and that he stated several times that he could not breathe. Images of Garner in Tweets were more likely to include him with his family. “There are too few characters on Twitter to fully, accurately share my thoughts on tragedy of all these police-related deaths #Ican’tbreath.” In 2014, journalist Charles Blow (2014) used sharply perceptive words to provide context for Eric Garner’s final words “I can’t breathe.” In this context, Blow added, “In this most trying of moments, Black men, supported by the people who understand their plight and feel their pain, are saying to the police culture of America, ‘We can’t breathe! (n.p.)’”

These expressions of the importance of reconciliation indicated the Black Lives Matter movement and deaths of Brown and Garner offered hope and a step in the right direction in the healing process as the two (Brown in particular) became a catalyst for national dialogue on victimization of Black males killed by police officers.

Summary and Conclusion

Building on the CRT and framing literature, we looked at both overarching themes and frames to characterize the tweets that emerged following the deaths of Brown and Garner. Study findings have several implications. First, findings demonstrate how common CRT tenets such as “colorblindness doesn’t exist” and the “permanence of racism” (Bell, 1992; Crenshaw, 1991; Ladson-Billings, 1998) are illustrated in social media platforms. Citizens often used racial stereotypes as tools to characterize the victims negatively as discussed in the review of the literature (e.g., Dates & Barlow, 1993; Drummond, 1990; Entman & Rojecki, 2000; Pilgrim, 2012). Tweets depicted Brown and Garner as brutes and criminals who were not valuable to society and therefore deserving of death (Lule, 1995).

Secondly, this analysis extends the literature on victim blaming to assess how individuals used social media and the victim-blame frame to rationalize the appropriateness of a police officer killing the unarmed suspects. Scholars have analyzed how mass media and individuals have used the victim-blaming frame for centuries to blame rape victims (i.e., Benedict, 1997; A. L. Brown & Testa, 2007; Meyers, 2004; Worthington, 2013). This analysis reveals victim blaming was an essential part of citizen representations of Brown and Garner in social media settings. Twitter users used victim-blaming discourse to present the incidents of violence against Black men as isolated cases of punishment that they deserved rather than the manifestations of larger social problems and systematic (i.e., Benedict, 1997; A. L. Brown & Testa, 2007; Meyers, 2004; Worthington, 2013). Tweets emphasized the history of the person’s drug use, height, weight, and various other factors as a rationale for the appropriateness of murdering them on the spot.

Citizens also used traditional stereotypes of the Black men, leading to double victimization for the victims in life and in death, which was the extreme opposite reaction of the Black community where the deaths sparked outrage, anger, and sadness. Frames illustrated in photos and text were as follows: (a) He’s a low-life who deserved to die; (b) he used drugs and is therefore guilty of other crimes; (c) he was a giant, demon, or animal who could only be controlled by killing him; and (d) he was unhealthy. Other posts focused on Brown’s parents and blamed them for not teaching him manners. The framing paradigms in citizen representations of Garner and Brown also included citizen support of the police officers, especially when the officers were not charged with a crime. The underlying theme in many of these posts was the police officers who killed them were heroes because they killed someone who was potentially a menace to society. Referring back to the review of the literature, these have been common narratives for Black men for centuries.

Tweets also focused on Brown’s alleged theft of cigars and his lack of respect for a store clerk before he died. The victim-blaming frame was less common for Garner, who died after telling the police officer who killed him with a choke hold that he could not breathe. Some citizens stated Garner deserved to die and focused on his weight problems and physical health, which may have led to his death. Rhetoric later turned to other subjects such as White privilege and suggested that while Brown deserved to die, Garner did not. By blaming the victim and making Garner and Brown responsible for their deaths, the tweets establish and reinforce the parameters of appropriate behavior, providing all Black men with a warning about the dangers of going against the establishment or, in this case, police officers.

Thirdly, public rhetoric suggests that a counter narrative toward justice, victimization, and policy change emerged after the Brown and Garner deaths at the hands of White police officers. Bell hooks summarized the Brown case well with this assessment of the situation:

Mike Brown’s killing hurled us into a social dialogue on race and racism unlike one I’ve seen in my lifetime. Sure, we’d seen these questions being asked on a national level around other similar tragedies―Rodney King, Amadou Diallo, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, tragically too many other names to mention―but as the news headlines moved on to other things, the voicing of those questions, on a broad, national level, went from bold queries to whispers to indecipherable murmurs to a hush; complete silence, until the next race-based tragedy occurred.

On a broader scale, frames in this study examine media construction of reality and stereotypes of Black males’ contribution to the media’s unfailingly framing of Michael Brown and Eric Garner as uncontrollable brutes. The replication and sharing of such messages can be viewed as the acceptance of such viewpoints.

As with any other study, there were limitations. In particular, this study was mainly concerned with immediate aftermath of the two events, it looked at a relatively small time frame of social media posts. Future studies could utilize a longitudinal approach and determine if this online public opinion changes greatly over time. Also of interest would be survey or focus group approaches that examine the uses and gratifications of users. Future studies might add a focus group or survey component to bolster study findings. Even with these limitations, study findings are important as they help document the factors Twitter users offered as a rationale for the appropriateness of Black men killed by White police officers. Study findings extend the victim-blaming literature to focus on Black males killed by police officers and serve as a starting point for future studies on the topic.

In sum, findings suggest that a CRT approach may be applied to the study of tweets to contextualize tenets such as “colorblindness does not exist” and “permanence of racism.” Brown became a catalyst for national dialogue on victimization of Black males and females killed by police officers. Frames in this study demonstrate how media constructs reality as traditional frames of Black men emerged that align with the White privilege narrative, providing verbal and visual rhetoric as imagery of Brown and Garner as “larger than life,” brutes, violent men, or characterized as menacing.

In the end, a counter narrative toward justice, victimization, and policy change emerged to counteract public discourse that had a striking resemblance to earlier eras of unfairness and “no justice” for Blacks brutalized and/or murdered by Whites. On a broader scale, frames in this study examine media construction of reality and stereotypes of Black males’ contribution to the media’s unfailingly framing of Michael Brown and Eric Garner as uncontrollable brutes. The replication and sharing of such messages can be viewed as the acceptance of racist viewpoints.

In the end, the deaths of Brown and Garner became a catalyst for national dialogue on victimization of Black males and females killed by police officers. #BlackLivesMatter remains a unique contribution that goes beyond “extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes” (Black Lives Matter, 2012). While some citizens justified the deaths of Brown and Garner, others were passionate about seeking justice on their behalf. Social media provided a platform for both factions to share messages. The sharing of such messages can be viewed as challenging the status quo in terms of the representation of the voices of Black people that are often lost in mainstream media messages.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Mia Moody-Ramirez

Author Biographies

Mia Moody-Ramirez, PhD, is an associate professor of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media at Baylor University. Moody has conducted research on the portrayals of minorities and women in reality television, print, rap music and social media. She is the author of Black and Mainstream Press’s Framing of Racial Profiling: A Historical Perspective (2009). She co-authored the book, “The Obamas: Race, Gender, Religion and Politics” with Jannette Dates.

Hazel Cole, PhD, is the Concentration Head and assistant professor of Public Relations at the University of West Georgia. She is the faculty advisor of bluestone: Student-run Public Relations Firm at UWG and the Public Relations Student Society of America. Cole is a public relations professional and cultural critical scholar conducting research in the areas of public relations and race, gender and media.

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