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Melissa Harris-Perry: In October, a young Black woman named Shanquella Robinson went on vacation in Mexico with a group of friends. She never came home. Robinson's friends claim she died of alcohol poisoning. Mexican police said there was no foul play, but an autopsy later revealed that Robinson had suffered a broken neck and fractured spinal cord.

Then videos started circulating online that allegedly showed Robinson in her hotel room naked and being beaten by her friends. Robinson's mother told WSOC news in Charlotte this.

Salamondra Robinson: The way that they did her beating her like that and making a video of it, that was so sad that so many people was there and they just stood there and watched and didn't even try to stop it.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Robinson's death was first reported mainly in local news and in Black centered outlets. As this video went viral, many people on social media began calling for a more robust investigation into the circumstances of her death. A friend of Robinson's said to WSOC News.

Speaker: I'm glad that it's getting the attention that it needs because I wish it was like this from day one.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Now the FBI has gotten involved, and this week Mexican prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for one of the people on the trip. For the past month, it's largely been Black folk online who've kept Shanquella Robinson's story alive. With me now is Meredith Clark, Associate Professor of Journalism and Communication Studies at Northeastern University. Thanks for being here, Professor Clark.

Meredith Clark: Thank you for having me.

Melissa Harris-Perry: What has been the role of Black social media in Robinson's death story and ensuring that it has more visibility?

Meredith Clark: Well, as Black social media, Black Twitter, Black TikTok, you name has done for so many years, Black folks have amplified the story. They've told it and retold it and called for mainstream media attention to the story. Thus, we now know this young woman's name. We know some of what happened to her. We know the awful truth that she did not make it home after going to Mexico with a group of so-called friends.

Melissa Harris-Perry: I think this often gets discussed in the context of social media as though going viral or having this kind of impact is an unorganized effect. What do you see in your studies?

Meredith Clark: Well, in my work on Black Twitter, one of the first things I noticed was that there were groups of people. I refer to them as neighborhoods who would get together and tweet and talk about the same topic over and over and over again. I credit those groups, the folks who are working on issues of reproductive justice, racial justice, in terms of police brutality and economic justice. I credit them with uplifting these movements that have taken the country's attention over the last few years.

There would not be a Black Lives Matter movement without people on the ground who are already doing that work, and we wouldn't know as much about them or that work without their online conversations being so visible to the masses. That's what we see happening here. These people who have already been talking about Black women and girls, our welfare, and safety have been having those conversations and thus uplifting not only Shanquella Robinson's name, but the names of so many other Black women and girls whose stories often go untold.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Back up historically a bit for us to Jena Six.

Meredith Clark: Absolutely. If we go back to 2006, we'll remember that there were six young Black men in Jena, Louisiana who were accused in the beating of a white student. The outcry from the community there on the ground was that the punishment that they were receiving was disproportionate to their actions. There were a number of marches and solidarity events that were planned around the country through the help of digital media because that story wasn't getting a lot of coverage elsewhere. Now, most of that unfolded via Facebook because that's the year that Twitter was actually founded.

In years since, we've seen how people have used platforms like Twitter to organize, to connect with people who were already doing racial justice and social justice work on the ground in the cities and towns where they live to network with one another, to share strategies and of course to amplify their messages to larger groups.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Of course, I was hosting a television show at the time when Trayvon Martin's case first begin to emerge in the context of Black social media, and it took quite some time for it to emerge into television, into mainstream media. How does that shift happen?

Meredith Clark: The shift happens in a number of ways. Black folks have always been using the media technologies available to us to talk about the issues of concern to our communities, especially, and even when we don't see them covered in mainstream news media. In the same way that we had the Black press, Black radio, Black television, remember, news programs on BET, we use digital media in the same way, and so folks talk about things like Trayvon Martin's death and the reaction to Trayvon Martin's death. Actually, the acquittal of George Zimmerman, which was what gave birth to the phrase Black Lives Matter. Even though Alicia Garza posted that on Facebook, people on Twitter picked it up, they amplified it there. Of course, so many journalists are on Twitter so they see what's happening. They're paying attention to what Black people are talking about. They amplify what they see in their stories and in their coverage, and then the things that we talk about become national news.

Melissa Harris-Perry: What might this mean in the case of Shanquella Robinson and her death? What could the power of Black social media ultimately lead to?

Meredith Clark: I think we're seeing some of what it could lead to right now. The fact that this woman's name is now known across the country and throughout the world, this could have been a case of another American going overseas on vacation and not returning home. We've seen that happen a number of times with people who have died because of carbon monoxide poisoning and what have you, but in this case, there are people to suspect. There is the suspicion of foul play, rather.

I don't think that we would've known about that if Black folks had not talked about it. Unfortunately, if they had not shared the video of her being assaulted in a hotel room on that vacation. If we hadn't had those conversations online, I doubt that many people outside of the Charlotte area would know Shanquella Robinson's name.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Help me on that point about sharing the video. I never clicked. I cannot bring myself to do it. There is on the one hand this shock power for violence against Black bodies that is deployed and used by Black social media users in order to pull attention. Then there's also the trauma, the almost abusiveness of our spirits and souls and bodies that occur as a result of feeling like we have to use this for shop value. How do users make these ethical choices?

Meredith Clark: Well, I think there are a number of ways that people think they're this. If they see something isn't getting the kind of traction that they think it should get, they might post that video. Over the years, so many people have said, ''Do not post these videos. Remember that this is a person. This is someone's loved one,'' and what have you. One of the things that we recognize that we've been so primed with our own news media is that seeing is believing. Unfortunately, seeing is only believing when you are not Black.

If you are Black, then seeing is believing that you are a construction that other people make of you. What we're seeing in this instance is a Black woman who is not one of the archetypes that we're used to about Black women, the Mammy, the Sapphire, the Jezebel, the Welfare Queen, the Hoochie Mama. We're seeing a Black woman who is a victim.

Very rarely do Black women get to take up space as victims. Do they have their pain, their trauma, the assaults against them, even their deaths acknowledged? With this graphic video, unfortunately, that is the truth of what's happened. It's an incontrovertible truth that people cannot ignore.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Racism, sexism, discursive violence has been part of the Twitter platform and other social media platforms long before Elon Musks' takeover of Twitter. Yet, as exhausting as it might be, I can't let you leave without asking about this moment that so many are finding themselves in of asking, ''Do I stay on this platform or do I leave?'' Especially as we see the power for Black folk to make voices and stories heard.

Meredith Clark: I have to give credit to something that Sarah Kendzior said a few weeks ago, that you don't see territory in an information war. That's exactly what's happening right now. Yes, Elon Musk we're all being driven mad by the lack of predictability with what he's doing with the platform. Frankly, we all know how important Twitter is for getting news and information out that otherwise might not be there. This is not a place where we retreat. We stay, we strategize, and we defend what we've built there.

Melissa Harris-Perry: Meredith Clark, is Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication Studies and founding Director of the Center for Communication Media Innovation and Social Change at Northeastern University. Professor Clark, thank you for joining us.

Meredith Clark: Thank you for having me.

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