Building A Pro-Black World

Combatting Disinformation and Misinformation: A Struggle for Democracy and Racial Justice

Kitana Ananda

In 2022, NPQ hosted a dynamic conversation about a critical problem of our time: the role of disinformation and misinformation in civil society.

The webinar, “Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st‐Century Social Movements,” centered on the nature of disinformation and misinformation, their impact on democratic struggles for justice, and strategies for fighting false narratives in a complex information ecosystem.

The event was organized by Shanelle Matthews, the Movement for Black Lives' director of communications and founder of the Radical Communicators Network. Matthews drew on her knowledge of radical social movements and her wealth of experience as a communicator and organizer to convene a thoughtful panel on a topic that couldn't be more relevant given everything happening in the United States in 2022: the January 6th hearings and investigation into last year's failed insurrection, voter suppression ahead of upcoming midterm elections, a spate of mass shootings, the coronavirus pandemic, inflation's impact on people's everyday lives, and talk of a looming recession.

A rich and insightful conversation ensued among the panelists, threading together several urgent issues for leftist and progressive social movements: the growth of white supremacist movements in the United States and, with them, anti‐Black violence, anti‐Semitic conspiracy narratives, anti‐trans ...