“Free but not Equal”: In the Wake of Trayvon Martin—American Anger and Visual Activism

Imani Wadud is a Master's student in the American Studies Department at the University of Regensburg, where she focuses on European/American Cultural Studies. She is a Washington D.C. native who received a Bachelor's degree in Art History with a minor in Political Science in 2003 from the College of Wooster in Ohio. Currently, she works as a graduate research assistant at the Chair of American Studies. Her research examines how community-based arts projects simultaneously empower communities both transnationally and locally, the impact of social media in popular culture, and raced and gendered bodies amongst other topics. Broadly, Imani Wadud is interested in visual culture studies and performance studies.

“Free but not Equal”: In the Wake of Trayvon Martin—American Anger and Visual Activism

Imani Wadud

Abstract

This essay highlights how one event like the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin can be a catalyst that urges deep-rooted anger to surface in many American communities. My case study consists of photographs taken at the planned demonstration from Union Square to Times Square in New York City in July 2013. The iconography surrounding the protests in the wake of the Trayvon Martin verdict is explicated, and I draw on notions of how democracy at its best is portrayed though artistic activism and dissent.

Keywords

American Anger; Visual Activism; Social Media; Affect; Trayvon Martin

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5283/copas.198

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Postgraduate American Studies

ISSN: 1861-6127