Gun violence in Chicago left over a dozen people dead and more than 60 others wounded over the Fourth of July weekend. Amid now-familiar calls to bring in the National Guard to help the city stop the bloodshed, hundreds of others have something else in mind.
It wasn't long after Washington, D.C.-based columnist and commentator Roland Martin's "Send the National Guard to Chicago" piece was published on The Daily Beast before Twitter users took to the hashtag #FixingChicago (and later #FixChicago) to offer their own alternative visions for how to combat the shootings, which have particularly plagued Chicago's predominantly minority west and south sides. Activist and writer Mikki Kendall initiated the hashtag.
Many others quickly followed suit:
#FixingChicago means building community gardens and teaching people how to grow their own healthy food
— KeshRue (@KeshRue) July 10, 2014
The hashtag campaign recalls the efforts of Chicago hip-hop artist Chance the Rapper, who pushed a #SaveChicago hashtag over Twitter to promote peace over last Memorial Day weekend. The city ended up going a rare 42 hours without any shooting incidents, though the streak ended with a series of shootings that wounded 12 people over a period of 10 hours.
Twitter activism has had a big impact in the past. Shortly after her racism scandal broke, celebrity chef Paula Deen's #PaulasBestDishes hashtag was taken over by Twitter users, contributing to her very public downfall. Juror B37 in the George Zimmerman trial also arguably has Black Twitter to thank for losing her book deal with agent Sharlene Martin, who was inundated with angry messages until plans were canceled.
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