#Palestine2Ferguson a community created through words

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this essay is to highlight how the digital age makes visible community expression and organization on an international scale. Design/methodology/approach This project provides a rhetorical analysis of the sub-cultural twitter hashtag “#Palestine2Ferguson”. By focusing on #Palestine2Ferguson, this piece interrogates the ways groups that have been displaced by oppression can build bridges in the new digital age. Through the adaptation of Deluca and Peeples “public screen”, this project reveals how increased sophistication of discernment adds a new “touch” to the screen. Findings An analysis of #Palestine2Ferguson through the lens of “the public touchscreen” emboldens rhetorical studies understanding of how ethnic/racial minority individuals are capable of self-selecting their method and modes of self-expression when building community. Originality/value The transformation of life within the digital age has created an exigence for a reconsideration and expansion of Deluca and Peeples concept of “public screens”.