Black ribbon

Black ribbon

A black ribbon is a symbol of remembrance or mourning. It is often worn or put on a public display to express consolation.

Sign of mourning

A black ribbon may be put on a flag, as on the Georgian flag at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Similar to a black armband, the black ribbon is a public display of grief. Individuals or organizations display the ribbon in commemoration of victims after specific incidents.

Some examples include:

• Black ribbons were worn and placed on doors after the May 1992 Westray Mine Disaster in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada.[1]
• The ribbon was worn in the United Kingdom after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.[2]
• Students distributed black ribbons after the April 2007 Virginia Tech shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.[3]
• The black ribbon has been used by the journalists in the Philippines to condemn the killings of journalists on the Maguindanao massacre.[4]
• The 2013 London Marathon runners were given a black ribbon to wear to mark the Boston Marathon bombing.[5]
• A black ribbon was projected onto the Sydney Opera House in April 2024 as a tribute to the victims of the 2024 Bondi Junction stabbings in Sydney, Australia.[6]

The search engine Google, which often changes the company's logo to a Google Doodle commemorating timely events, has used the black ribbon to mark a number of incidents. These include the Charlie Hebdo shooting,[7][8] the charter flight crash in Colombia in November 2016,[9] the 2017 Portugal wildfires,[10] and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.[11] April 9, 2017, Google Arabic displayed a black ribbon as a mark of respect and sympathy for victims of 2017 Palm Sunday church bombings in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt.[12][13]

To show sympathy for victims of the 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Turkish Wikipedia and Apple's website homepage in Turkey changed to show a glowing black ribbon atop a dark background.[14]

Other meanings

• Melanoma awareness. Sometimes shown as black with white polka dots.
• In Argentina, a black ribbon, sometimes with the national flag's colours in both ends, is used to raise awareness about the victims of subversive terrorism.
• By the Anarchist Black Ribbon Campaign, a free speech campaign started in 1996 inspired by the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign.[15]
• During the 6th International Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) the black ribbon was worn worldwide to show support and promote awareness of the Palestinian struggle.
• In India, 2011 to show support to Anna Hazare who was fasting to fight against corruption by government.
• Worn by people who have suffered from any intentions of self harming on November 30 of every year.
• In New Zealand, a black ribbon with a koru symbol supports an end to domestic violence.[16] In Australia, a black ribbon raises awareness against domestic abuse of men and fathers.

In fiction

• In the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, the black ribbon is instead worn by vampires to prove, in the vein of the real-world blue ribbon badge, that they have sworn never to drink blood again.

Variations

• 
  TortureProtest.org black ribbon campaign
• 
  Melanoma Awareness Ribbon Alternative with White Polka Dots
• 

See also

• Black Ribbon Day
• Half-mast
• List of awareness ribbons

References

1. Hoegg Ryan, Judith (1992). Coal In Our Blood: 200 Years of Coal Mining in Nova Scotia's Pictou County. Halifax: Formac. p. 142. ISBN 9780887802157.
2. Biddle, Lucy; Walter, Tony (1998). "The Emotional English and Their Queen of Hearts". Folklore. 109: 96–99. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1998.9715965. ISSN 0015-587X. JSTOR 1260575.
3. LaMar, Sondra (April 18, 2007). "Sigma Nu Distributes Black Ribbons on UA Fort Smith Campus Archived 2010-12-04 at the Wayback Machine". University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
4. "Philippines Top Stories: Politics, Environment, Education, Trending | Inquirer.net". newsinfo.inquirer.net. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
5. Gavin Brown (April 16, 2013). "London Marathon runners to wear black ribbons following Boston blasts". Metro. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
6. Sydney Opera House illuminated with black ribbon for shopping centre stabbing victims. 2024-04-15. Retrieved 2024-04-18 – via www.independent.co.uk.
7. Metro.co.uk, Deborah Arthurs for (2015-01-09). "Google's black ribbon pays respects to Charlie Hebdo victims". Metro. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
8. "Google pays tribute to Charlie Hebdo attack victims with black ribbon". The Independent. 2015-01-09. Retrieved 2015-01-09.
9. "Google de luto faz homenagem às vítimas do acidente com a Chape". Optclean (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2016-11-29. Retrieved 2017-03-29.
10. "Google pays tribute to victims of the 2017 Portuguese Wildfires". 19 June 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-20. (in Portuguese)
11. "Google pays emotional tribute to Queen with all-black logo and ribbon". Daily Express. 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
12. "جوجل يتضامن مع شهداء الكنيسة البطرسية". Archived from the original on 2017-05-24. Retrieved 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2017-04-9. (in Arabic)
13. ""يوتيوب" يتضامن مع ضحايا انفجار الكنيسة البطرسية بشارة سوداء". 12 December 2016. Retrieved 2017-04-9. (in Arabic)
14. "Apple (Türkiye)". Apple (Türkiye) (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-02-10.
15. "BARC Graphics". 2005-03-04. Archived from the original on 2005-03-04. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
16. Zealand, Black Ribbon New. "Black Ribbon New Zealand". Black Ribbon New Zealand. Retrieved 2021-11-23.

External links

• The TortureProtest.org Black Ribbon Campaign