Hashtag born in LA murder finds new life in peace

Los Angeles residents have transformed the hashtag #100Days100Nights, used by suspected gang members threatening 100 days of retaliatory violence, into a rallying call for peace.

The hashtag emerged after the shooting death of a 27-year-old man in the South Central neighborhood of Westmont on July 17, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Shortly after the man was gunned down in the suspected gang-related shooting, a few alleged gang members promised 100 days of revenge killings, using #100Days100Nights on their social media posts, the Times reported.

Rumors soon swept through social media, mutating the story along the way. Soon people were claiming online that gangs were arbitrarily murdering one person every night. Last weekend’s spate of shootings, which left four people dead, only exacerbated people’s fears.

Panic grew to the point that the LAPD had to allay them at a press conference on Wednesday. “We don’t believe this is the cause for additional gang violence now, but the effect it has on the public is very strong,” Police Commissioner Charlie Beck told reporters. He said the level of anxiety could keep parents from sending their children to school, but he stressed that additional alarm was unnecessary.

Before the press conference, residents had already started to use the hashtag to condemn violence in their city, co-opting #100Days100Nights and adding #PrayForLA to the mix.

“What I’ve seen over the last two days is actually that it’s brought neighbors and our community closer together,” said Najee Ali, a civil rights activist. “The social hashtag was used for evil, but now it’s being used to promote peace.”

One Twitter user who goes by the handle Luck_Norris posted on the social media site, “I'm so disappointed in this 100 days of killing shit that's going on in my city.” In a follow-up tweet, he added, “How about 100 days of positivity and progression?”

Ali believes the social media trend could show discouraged young people the indiscriminate and callous nature of the violence that gangs cause in their communities. That, he said, could discourage them from joining gangs.

If social media can be an echo chamber for dangerous misinformation, then it can also be used to spread message of peace, activists say.

“They’re realizing that violence and everything associated with being a gang member is not productive and that you ultimately can get yourself killed,” Ali said.

But to others who study gang activity, a social media campaign might not be enough to have a substantial effect.

Carl Taylor, a professor of sociology at Michigan State University who studies gangs, said that young people are well aware of the toll that violence takes on their lives.

“They already know what happens” because of violence, he said. “They can’t go out at dark. They have to stay inside of the house. It prevents them from going to school.”