Author: Kristen Adair

“You can’t capture the true essence of a human with just one picture”- This quote by the interviewed man was really fitting for this topic. This man was the creator of the social media movement that challenged the media! The wrong image can paint an untrue picture about someone. The first picture that the media used when telling the story of Michael Brown suggested that he was a large, hostile, black man that was looking for trouble. Once the truth came out about who Michael truly was, friends and family who knew him blasted the media, saying that they do not know who the REAL Michael Brown was. The #iftheygunnedmedown social media movement was a product of this backlash on the media. Like the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. You can interpret so many things from a single picture, however those things may not be truthful. I think it is really important that more and more people learn about this movement and realize that there is a problem with stereotyping and the misrepresentation of the black man.