Campaign for culture
New social media movement breaks down racial stereotypes
It all started with one Instagram post.
Macklyn Mosley, a Liberty University alumnus, made the decision to start an Instagram account with the intention of using it as a campaign to break down stereotypes. He named the movement NeighborHOOD, and soon piqued the interest of people who wanted to learn about his organization.
“NeighborHOOD is a movement geared toward helping us as people grow and understand one another,” Mosley said.
BREAKING BARRIERS — Founder Macklyn Mosley, pictured left, posts stories of people such as Nick George, pictured right. Photos provided
The idea to start a campaign against stereotypes began in Mosley’s head months before his first Instagram post, but Mosley said he took a while to pray about his ideas and decide what the exact purpose would be. Mosley eventually made his first post to Instagram in February 2015.
“The goal of NeighborHOOD is to stand on the foundation of Christ, that through the power of the gospel we would grow and understand one another better,” Mosley said.
“It is not just about unity as far as race goes. We want to tackle four issues – race, community, culture and status.”
Mosley designed the NeighborHOOD logo to show a diamond shape. Each point of the diamond represents one of the issues of race, community, culture and status they want to address. Mosley said he had a narrower vision for NeighborHOOD at the beginning of the planning process, but he quickly realized he needed to expand.
“It began specifically as gearing toward people in the inner city and people in the suburban communities, seeing that people in the inner city aren’t all that bad,” Mosley said. “But as I saw it branching out more, I realized everyone has a stereotype to deal with.”
Mosley graduated last December from Liberty with a degree in advertising and public relations and now works at the YMCA of Roanoke, Virginia, as the full-time program coordinator.
Mosley is working to grow NeighborHOOD, and although he has limited time to devote to his movement, friends and supporters have helped spread the word.
“People just started liking (NeighborHOOD),” Mosley said. “I connected with friends and then curiosity happened and more people wanted to know what this NeighborHOOD movement was. From there I created a Facebook page, and I started posting more pictures, and even more people starting wondering what NeighborHOOD was.”
Along with interest from friends, Mosley has seen interest from other like-minded organizations in Roanoke.
The CityWorks (X)po in Roanoke invited Mosley to be part of its interactive summit, which happens once a year in early October, and WSET Channel 13 even contacted Mosley for an interview.
The NeighborHOOD website features “Untypicals” — photographs and short biographies of people who have learned to live above their stereotypes. Mosley said he hopes people will do more than just appreciate the NeighborHOOD movement, as he hopes they will change their own perspective of others.
“Instead of looking at a person and saying they look like this, so they must do this, we need to have correct lenses so we can see those people as human beings and get to know them,” Mosley said. “The only way foundation and growth comes is from understanding the person, not just assuming we know everything.”
In the future, Mosley said he hopes NeighborHOOD will reach beyond social media. Mosley’s ideas include hosting events such as discussion panels, social gatherings and 5K races.
To keep up with the NeighborHOOD movement, follow @neighborhoodmove on Instagram, like the Facebook page at facebook.com/neighborhood15 or visit neighborhood15.wix.com/neighborhood.
FRASER is a feature reporter.