In the hours before the grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case was announced, a cacophony of racially insensitive tweets infested social media under the problematic hashtag: #FergusonRiotTips.
Most of the tweets featured racial put downs directed at the presumed fallout of a potential non-indictment of Police Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed Brown on August 9 in Ferguson, Missouri.
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The outpouring of comments (the hashtag was briefly a leading trending topic) was a stark reminder of the divisiveness this case has provoked. The tweets suggested there would be looting in the wake of the grand jury decision, with more than a few quipping “pants up, don’t loot” in a cruel twist on the popular “hands up, don’t shoot" phrase popularized by pro-Brown protesters.
The tweets under this hashtag need to be seen to be believed:
Some Twitter users began pushing back against the meme, calling out the bigotry attached to the hashtag.