Riots that were very popular, as in all over the news and media, were the George Floyd riots. These riots were associated with the Black Lives Matter Movement that occurred earlier this year. This was an example of, as well as contributed to emergent norm theories. Emergent norm theories is a type of nontraditional behavior that develops in crowds. This type of behavior can lead to precipitating crises. This theory also claims that it is a crowd only, meaning there is no leader assigned. The George Floyd riots was an example of this. The Black Lives Matter Movement was created to help get the awareness of authorities to serve George Floyd justice.  The George Floyd incident shocked the world. George Floyd was an African American man who was killed by officer Derek Chauvin. Mr. Floyd was arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. Derek Chauvin, the police officer in his case, knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes, causing him to lose conscious and air, ending in death. After George Floyd’s death, the whole world became a riot. People were furious that a police officer like Chauvin could kill someone for such a “little” crime. Many people believed that Chauvin killed Floyd on accident, yet it was caused by his actions, due to racism. He knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes after Floyd kept repeatedly insisting him to get off because he could not breathe. “I can’t breathe” became a slogan used throughout the Black Lives Matter movement all throughout the United States. Riots occurred right after George Floyd’s death to get the attention of authorities to charge the policemen with sentencing. Police officers used their positional power in the George Floyd incident and ended up taking an innocent man’s life, which the public felt was so unfair. Once and for all, they wanted justice to be served and that is what they got. 

Before, reading this chapter, I never really realized how important it is for people to understand the knowledge of how social movements greatly affect our goals. Social movements and social change are both very predominant things that more people should take advantage of. In the U.S, we are allowed to have freedom of speech, so why not use our voices to do so? Social movements allow us to get our feelings and thoughts out to the public, but most importantly, our beliefs! By conducting or participating in social movements, social change is created, which is the whole purpose of our goals, change! The global expansion of social media is likely to change how people pursue social change in multiple ways. Mainly, the media allows us to share our thoughts worldwide. People from other countries can see what we post, making it easier for us to show what we believe in. The media allows us to also communicate with others. This helps social movements and social change become stronger and more powerful. You need a great source of communication in order to make change, so by having the media as a source available to you, it is very beneficial. One example of how the media has already played a role in social movement/change is "GoFundMe" pages. This is a website where you can raise money publicly to help somebody in need. It is a very useful, and has benefited already much people in the past.