We use the rise of Black Lives Matter and the sentiment of racial sympathy to examine the interplay between the social movement and citizens’ sympathetic actions in supporting Black people. Using detailed food order flow information from one of the largest online food delivery platforms in the USA, we find that the total number of food orders from Black-owned restaurants increased by 39% relative to nearby non-Black-owned restaurants in the 140 days following the murder of George Floyd on the basis of a difference-in-difference model. The platform company’s strategic traffic allocation acted as an accelerator, enhancing the sympathetic responses of individuals, but it did not drive the entire surge in food orders. Protests resulting in severe injuries and those linked to demands for defunding the police diminished the positive sympathetic responses, highlighting a potential risk associated with protests. Our study provides large-scale, micro-level evidence that social movements and increased sympathy can foster collective actions to support marginalized communities.

我们利用 Black Lives Matter 的兴起和种族同情的情绪来研究社会运动与公民支持黑人的同情行动之间的相互作用。使用来自美国最大的在线食品配送平台之一的详细食品订单流信息，我们发现，在乔治·弗洛伊德 （George Floyd） 被谋杀后的 140 天内，根据双重差分模型，黑人拥有的餐厅的食品订单总数相对于附近的非黑人拥有的餐厅增加了 39%。该平台公司的战略流量分配起到了加速器的作用，增强了个人的同情反应，但它并没有推动食品订单的整个激增。导致严重伤害的抗议活动以及与要求取消警察经费相关的抗议活动削弱了积极的同情反应，凸显了与抗议活动相关的潜在风险。我们的研究提供了大规模、微观层面的证据，表明社会运动和增加的同情心可以促进支持边缘化社区的集体行动。