Black ribbon explained

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

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.

See also

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

External links

• The TortureProtest.org Black Ribbon Campaign

Notes and References

1. Book: Hoegg Ryan. Judith . Coal In Our Blood: 200 Years of Coal Mining in Nova Scotia's Pictou County. 1992. Formac. Halifax. 9780887802157. 142.
2. Biddle . Lucy . Walter . Tony . 1998 . The Emotional English and Their Queen of Hearts . Folklore . 109 . 96–99 . 10.1080/0015587X.1998.9715965 . 1260575 . 0015-587X.
3. LaMar, Sondra (April 18, 2007). "Sigma Nu Distributes Black Ribbons on UA Fort Smith Campus ". University of Arkansas – Fort Smith. Retrieved March 18, 2008.
4. Web site: Philippines Top Stories: Politics, Environment, Education, Trending | Inquirer.net. 2021-11-23. newsinfo.inquirer.net. en.
5. Web site: Gavin Brown . London Marathon runners to wear black ribbons following Boston blasts . Metro . April 16, 2013 . 2014-01-29.
6. Sydney Opera House illuminated with black ribbon for shopping centre stabbing victims . 2024-04-15 . en . 2024-04-18 . www.independent.co.uk.
7. Web site: Metro.co.uk . Deborah Arthurs for . 2015-01-09 . Google's black ribbon pays respects to Charlie Hebdo victims . 2015-01-09 . Metro.
8. News: 2015-01-09 . Google pays tribute to Charlie Hebdo attack victims with black ribbon . en-GB . The Independent . 2015-01-09.
9. News: 2016-11-29 . Google de luto faz homenagem às vítimas do acidente com a Chape . pt-BR . Optclean . 2017-03-29.
10. Web site: Google pays tribute to victims of the 2017 Portuguese Wildfires . Retrieved 2017-06-20.
11. News: 2022-09-09 . Google pays emotional tribute to Queen with all-black logo and ribbon . en-GB . Daily Express . 2022-09-09.
12. Web site: جوجل يتضامن مع شهداء الكنيسة البطرسية . Retrieved 2017-04-9.
13. Web site: "يوتيوب" يتضامن مع ضحايا انفجار الكنيسة البطرسية بشارة سوداء . Retrieved 2017-04-9.
14. Web site: Apple (Türkiye) . 2023-02-10 . Apple (Türkiye) . tr-TR.
15. Web site: 2005-03-04. BARC Graphics. 2021-11-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20050304013205/http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/4271/graphics2.html. 2005-03-04.
16. Web site: Zealand. Black Ribbon New. Black Ribbon New Zealand. 2021-11-23. Black Ribbon New Zealand. en.