#OneBostonDay

The City of Boston was forced to show extreme generosity, resiliency, and strength in the days, months, and years following the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15th, 2013. A terrorist attack where two bombs hidden in backpacks went off near the finish line at 2:49 p.m., left the spectators, runners, and residents of Boston disturbed as the world’s oldest Marathon turned into a morbid scene of bloodshed, ruin, and chaos. Three spectators were killed and more than 260 others were wounded including 16 people getting their legs amputated. Days later an intense manhunt followed, resulting in identifying the bombers as the Tsarnaev Brothers but also unfortunately in the deaths of two police officers as well. On April 19, 2013, the Boston area was put into lockdown and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed but Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was later found and taken into custody. A culture surrounding the events was born around the phrase “Boston Strong” and subcultures like #OneBostonDay were created to commemorate the anniversary of the day citizens of Boston were forced to be courageous together.

The community surrounding #OneBostonDay is centered around a campaign where the City of Boston encourages everyone to complete 4 out of the 15 acts of kindness examples they list. These acts are to be performed yearly on April 15th: the anniversary of the bombing. With a hashtag based on such a large and worldwide known event, the community around it is stable and consistent each year. People are encouraged to share what acts of kindness they are spreading through the hashtag to build the community together. A woman handed out flowers in a park as a tribute, people post pictures at the finish line which now says “Finish Strong” as a memorial, companies post uplifting words like “a day to reflect on the horrible events...and recapture the spirit of unity in the weeks that followed…”, and others post on behalf of foundations highlighting the importance of mental and physical health to build a healing community. #OneBostonDay is used for community building purposes to reunite Boston through acts of humanity after a horrific attack.

The culture of solidarity presented by “Boston Strong” brought together many online subcultures that formed a community around a problem and #OneBostonDay is one of many.

The Boston Marathon is a celebration for Patriots’ Day which commemorates the first battles of the American Revolutionary War so a common branch from #BostonStrong is #PatriotsDay. Also, hospitals post recommendations of acts of kindness by donating blood for children in need at the Boston Children's Hospital where #GivePintsForHalfPints was created. And The Martin Richard Foundation, which is a tribute to the 8-year-old boy who was killed, created the #BostonBackInMotion campaign to highlight the importance of going outside and moving to grow a healthier community. With there being so many different features and subcultures, it presents Instagram with a wide variety of users. Some are showing their respect for the anniversary by posting their online testimonials, while others prefer to repost those on their own Instagram Stories feature which helps to grow that certain post immensely. Each of these subcultures and features all umbrella under the common theme of unity and respect to grow awareness of “Boston Strong”.

The themes repeated under #OneBostonDay are a perfect example of growth through a community. The users employ self-presentation as a tool by devoting their Instagrams on April 15th each year to publicly showing their acts of kindness completed. This encourages others to spread kindness as well and it is all displayed under #OneBostonDay. Common themes reoccurring under the hashtag are some posting different links to get involved with a memorial of the anniversary and explaining that with COVID-19, spreading kindness is even more important now. Hospitals and healthcare companies posted memories and related them to COVID-19 by saying “as we continue to respond to #COVID19, we should pause not only to remember the heroism shown on a sunny April day in 2013, but also to reflect on what it can teach us: just as we emerged strong from that crisis, so we will again”. Many people use the words “generosity”, “resiliency”, and “strength” in their posts that were acts demonstrated in the wake of tragedy. Many post memorials to those who died or were affected that day, heartwarming stories of personal growth are shared by many avid marathon runners, and “life after the Boston Marathon Bombing” stories as well. All Boston sports teams post their graphics that fans repost to show support but Red Sox player David Ortiz’s speech is the most viral. In his famous pre-game speech from a couple of days after the bombing he brought hope to Boston by saying: “This jersey that we wear today, it doesn't say ‘Red Sox’. It says ‘Boston’. This is our f---ing city. And nobody’s going to dictate our freedom. Stay Strong”. There's no better way to win the hearts of Bostonians than sports and passion. Other than sports graphics, there is a consistent graphic showing the date for the anniversary that people use and morph into their own for the feed to match their content. The main consistency of themes under #OneBostonDay is for the Boston community to fight violence with kindness.

The community and culture surrounding #OneBostonDay is one filled with hope to end violence and replace fear with generosity. The culture encompassing the phrase “Boston Strong” was created to commemorate the anniversary of the day citizens of Boston were forced to be brave together. The City of Boston's campaign to complete 4 out of the 15 acts of kindness examples they list is a community-building strategy to reunite society in-person and online. The themes repeated under #OneBostonDay are a perfect example of growth, as the community was forced to show generosity, resiliency, and strength in the days, months, and years following the Boston Marathon bombing.