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Black Lives Matter

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Black Lives Matter
BLM Letterhead.png
Formation 2013
Type Social movement
Location
Website BlackLivesMatter.com
Black Lives Matter die-in protest at Metro Green Line against Saint Paul Police Department police brutality in Minnesota.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international activist movement, originating in the African American community, that campaigns against violence toward black people. BLM regularly organizes protests around the deaths of black people in killings by law enforcement officers, and broader issues of racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system. The movement began with the use of the hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, on social media after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for its street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans: Michael Brown—that resulted in protests and unrest in Ferguson—and Eric Garner in New York City.[1][2]

Several other African Americans deaths were protested by the movement, including Tamir Rice, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Jonathan Ferrell, Sandra Bland, Samuel DuBose and Freddie Gray. The overall Black Lives Matter movement, however, is a decentralized network and has no formal hierarchy or structure.[3]

Founding

Nekima Levy-Pounds speaks during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Minneapolis.

In the Summer of 2013, after George Zimmerman's acquittal for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the movement began with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.[4] The movement was co-founded by three black community organizers: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi.[5][6] BLM drew inspiration from the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power movement, the 1980s black feminist movement, Pan-Africanism, Anti-Apartheid Movement, Hip hop, LGBT social movements and Occupy Wall Street.[7]

Garza, Cullors and Tometi met through "Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity" (BOLD), a national organization that trains community organizers.[7] They began to question how they were going to respond to the devaluation of black lives after Zimmerman's acquittal.[7] Garza wrote a Facebook post titled "A Love Note to Black People" in which she wrote: "Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter."[7] Cullors replied: "#BlackLivesMatter". Tometi then added her support, and Black Lives Matter was born as an online campaign.[7]

In August 2014, BLM members organized their first in-person national protest in the form of a "Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride" to Ferguson, Missouri after the Shooting of Michael Brown.[7] More than five hundred members descended upon Ferguson to participate in non-violent demonstrations.[7] Of the many groups that descended on Ferguson, Black Lives Matter emerged from Ferguson as one of the best organized and most visible groups, becoming nationally recognized as symbolic of the emerging movement.[7] Since August 2014, Black Lives Matter has organized more than one thousand protest demonstrations.[7] On Black Friday in November, Black Lives Matter staged demonstrations at stores and malls across the United States.[7]

In 2015, after the Death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, black activists around the world modeled efforts for reform on Black Lives Matter and the Arab Spring.[7] This international movement has been referred to as the "Black Spring".[8][9] Connections have also been forged with parallel international efforts such as the Dalit rights movement.[10]

Currently, there are at least twenty-three Black Lives Matter chapters in the U.S., Canada, and Ghana.[11] Other Black Lives Matter leaders include: DeRay Mckesson, Shaun King, Marissa Johnson, Nekima Levy-Pounds, Johnetta Elzie.

Tactics

Black Lives Matter originally used social media—including hashtag activism—to reach thousands of people rapidly.[7] Since then, Black Lives Matters has embraced a diversity of tactics.[12] BLM generally engages in direct action tactics that make people uncomfortable enough that they must address the issue.[13] For example, BLM has also been known to build power through protest.[14] BLM has held rallies and marches, including one for the death of Corey Jones in Palm Beach, Florida.[15] BLM has also staged die-ins and held one during the 2015 Twin Cities Marathon.[16]

Political slogans used during demonstrations include the eponymous "Black Lives Matter", "Hands up, don't shoot" (a reference that was falsely attributed to Michael Brown[17]), "I can't breathe"[18][19] (referring to Eric Garner), "White silence is violence",[20] "No justice, no peace",[21][22] and "Is my son next?", among others.

Most of the protesters actively distinguish themselves from the older generation of black leadership, such as Al Sharpton, by their aversion to middle-class traditions such as church involvement, Democratic Party loyalty, and respectability politics.[23][24]

Black Lives Matter Protest at Union Square, Manhattan.

Philosophy

Black Lives Matter incorporates those traditionally on the margins of black freedom movements.[7] The organization's website, for instance, states that Black Lives Matter is "a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of black people by police and vigilantes" and, embracing intersectionality, that "Black Lives Matter affirms the lives of black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, black undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all black lives along the gender spectrum."[25]

Founder Alicia Garza summed up the philosophy behind Black Lives Matter as follows: "When we say Black Lives Matter, we are talking about the ways in which Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity. It is an acknowledgement Black poverty and genocide is state violence. It is an acknowledgment that 1 million Black people are locked in cages in this country–one half of all people in prisons or jails–is an act of state violence. It is an acknowledgment that Black women continue to bear the burden of a relentless assault on our children and our families and that assault is an act of state violence." Garza went on: "Black queer and trans folks bearing a unique burden in a hetero-patriarchalsociety that disposes of us like garbage and simultaneously fetishizes us and profits off of us is state violence; the fact that 500,000 Black people in the US are undocumented immigrants and relegated to the shadows is state violence; the fact that Black girls are used as negotiating chips during times of conflict and war is state violence; Black folks living with disabilities and different abilities bear the burden of state-sponsored Darwinian experiments that attempt to squeeze us into boxes of normality defined by White supremacy is state violence. And the fact is that the lives of Black people—not ALL people—exist within these conditions is consequence of state violence."[26]

Influence

In 2014, the American Dialect Society chose #BlackLivesMatter as their word of the year.[27][28] Over eleven hundred black professors expressed support for BLM.[29] Several media organizations have referred to BLM as "a new civil rights movement".[1][30][31] #BlackLivesMatter was voted as one of the twelve hashtags that changed the world in 2014.[32]

In 2015, Serena Williams expressed her support for Black Lives Matters, writing to BLM: "Keep it up. Don’t let those trolls stop you. We’ve been through so much for so many centuries, and we shall overcome this too."[33] As a part of a general assembly, the Unitarian Universalist Church passed a resolution in support of BLM and staged a die-in in Portland, Oregon.[34] Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza—as "The Women of #BlackLivesMatter"—were listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate‍ '​s Person of the Year.[35] The February issue of Essence Magazine and the cover was devoted to Black Lives Matter.[36]

Notable protests and demonstrations

2014

Black Lives Matter protest at Herald Square.
Black Lives Matter protestor at Macy's Herald Square.

In August, during Labor Day weekend, Black Lives Matter organized a "Freedom Ride", that brought more than 500 African-Americans from across the United States into Ferguson, Missouri, to support the work being done on the ground by local organizations.[37] Black Lives Matter members and supporters rode in from New York City, Newark, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Miami, Detroit, Houston, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Portland, Tucson, Washington, D.C., and more, in a similar way to that of the Freedom Riders in the 1960s.[38] The movement has been generally involved in the Ferguson unrest, following the death of Michael Brown.[39]

In November, in Oakland, California, Black Lives Matter stopped a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train on Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, in order to "stop business as usual".[40]

In December, two thousand to three thousand people gathered at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota to protest the killings of unarmed black men by police.[41] At least twenty members of a protest that had been using the slogan were arrested.[42] In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, BLM protested the Shooting of Dontre Hamilton who died in April.[43] Black Lives Matter protested the Shooting of John Crawford III.[44] The Shooting of Renisha McBride was protested by Black Lives Matter.[45]

A Black Lives Matter protest of police brutality in the rotunda of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

2015

In March, BLM protested at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office, demanding reforms within the Chicago Police Department.[46] In Cobb County, Georgia, the movement protested the death of Nicholas Thomas who was shot and killed by the police.[47]

In April, Black Lives Matter across the United States protested over the death of Freddie Gray which included the 2015 Baltimore protests.[48][49] Black Lives Matter organizers supported the fast food strike in solidarity with fast food workers, and to oppose racial income inequality.[50] On April 14, BLM protested across U.S. cities.[51] In Zion, Illinois, several hundred protested over the fatal shooting of Justus Howell.[52] After the Shooting of Walter Scott, Black Lives Matter called for citizen oversight of police.[53]

In May, a protest by Black Lives Matter in San Francisco was part of a nationwide protest decrying the police killing of black women and girls, which included the deaths of Meagan Hockaday, Aiyana Jones, Yvette Smith, Rekia Boyd and others.[54] In Cleveland, Ohio, after an officer was acquitted for the Shooting of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, BLM protested.[55] In Madison, Wisconsin, BLM protested after the officer was not charged in the Shooting of Tony Robinson.[56]

In June, after the Charleston church shooting of a historically black church, BLM issued a statement and condemned the shooting as an act of terror.[57] BLM across the country marched, protested and held vigil for several days after the shooting.[58][59] BLM was part of twenty thousand people who marched for peace on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in South Carolina.[60] After the Charleston shooting, a number of memorials to the Confederate States of America were graffitied with "Black Lives Matter" or otherwise vandalized.[61][62] BLM protested after a video was released showing an officer pinning a girl—at a pool party in McKinney, Texas—to the ground with his knees.[63]

In July, BLM protestors shut down Allen Road in Toronto protesting the Greater Toronto shooting deaths of two black men, Andrew Loku and Jermaine Carby, at the hands of police.[64] BLM activists across the United States began protests over the death of Sandra Bland, an African-American woman, who was allegedly found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas.[65][66] In Cincinnati, Ohio, BLM rallied and protested the Death of Samuel DuBose after he was shot and killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer.[67] In Newark, New Jersey, over a thousand BLM activists marched against police brutality, racial injustice, and economic inequality.[68]

In August, BLM organizers held a rally in Washington, DC, calling to stop violence against transgender women.[69] In St. Louis, Missouri, BLM activists protested the death of Mansur Ball-Bey who was shot and killed by police.[70] In Charlotte, North Carolina, after a judge declared a mistrial in the trial of a white Charlotte police officer who killed an unarmed black man, Jonathan Ferrell, BLM protested and staged die-ins.[71] In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Janelle Monae, Jidenna and other BLM activists marched through North Philadelphia to bring awareness to police brutality and Black Lives Matter.[72] Around August 9, the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death, BLM rallied, held vigil and marched in St. Louis and across the country.[73][74]

One-Year Commemoration of the Shooting of Michael Brown, the Ferguson unrest, and the Black Lives Matter Movement at Barclays Center, Brooklyn.

In September, BLM activists shut down streets in Toronto, Canada, rallied against police brutality, and stood in solidarity with marginalized black lives. Black Lives Matter was a feautured part of the Take Back the Night event in Toronto.[75] In Austin, Texas, over five hundred BLM protestors rallied against police brutality, and several briefly carried protest banners onto Interstate 35.[76] In Baltimore, Maryland, BLM activists marched and protested as hearings began in the Freddie Gray police brutality case.[77] In Sacramento, California, about eight hundred BLM protestors rallied to support a California Senate bill that would increase police oversight.[78] BLM protested the Shooting of Jeremy McDole.[79]

Black Lives Matter protest against St. Paul police brutality at Metro Green Line.

In October, Black Lives Matters activists were arrested during a protest of a police chiefs conference in Chicago.[80] Members protested Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti during a town hall meeting at a church in South L.A.[81] "Rise Up October" straddled the Black Lives Matter Campaign, and brought several protests.[82] Quentin Tarantino and Cornel West, participating in "Rise Up October," decried police violence.[83] A Dunkin Donuts employee in Providence, Rhode Island wrote "black lives matter" on a police officer's cup of coffee which resulted in protests.[84] At UCLA, students protested "Black Bruins Matter" after some students wore blackface to a Kanye West-themed fraternity party.[85]

In November, BLM activists protested after Jamar Clark was shot by Minneapolis Police Department.[86]

2016 Presidential election

In the Summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter began to publicly challenge politicians—including 2016 United States presidential candidates—to state their positions on BLM issues.

Influence

Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter activists in Westlake Park, Seattle.

In August 2015, the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution supporting Black Lives Matter.[87] In the first Democratic debate, the presidential candidates were asked whether black lives matter or all lives matter.[88] In reply, Bernie Sanders stated "black lives matter."[88] Martin O'Malley said, "Black lives matter," and that the "movement is making is a very, very legitimate and serious point, and that is that as a nation we have undervalued the lives of black lives, people of color."[89] Jim Webb, on the other hand, replied: "as the president of the United States, every life in this country matters."[90] In response to what she would do differently from President Obama for African-Americans, Hillary Clinton pushed for criminal justice reform, and said, "We need a new New Deal for communities of color."[91] Clinton had already met with Black Lives Matter representatives in August 2015, and expressed skepticism in the movement's practical application.[92]

Republican candidates have been mostly critical of Black Lives Matter. In August 2015, Ben Carson, the only African American vying for the presidency, called the movement "silly".[93] In the first Republican Presidential debate that took place in Cleveland, only one question referenced Black Lives Matter.[94] In response to the question, Scott Walker did not acknowledge Black Lives Matter and advocated for the proper training of law enforcement.[94] Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker blamed the movement for rising anti-police sentiment,[95] while Marco Rubio was the first candidate to publicly sympathize with the movement's point of view.[96] Several conservative pundits have labeled the movement a "hate group".[97] Candidate Chris Christie, the New Jersey Governor, criticized President Obama for supporting BLM, saying that the movement calls for the murder of police officers,[98] which was condemned by New Jersey chapters of the NAACP and ACLU.[99]

Black Lives Matters activists called on the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee to have a presidential debate focused on issues of racial justice.[100] Both parties, however, declined to alter their debate schedule, and instead the parties support a townhall or forum.[101]

Protests

Black Lives Matter on Black Friday at Times Square.

At the Netroots Nation Conference in July 2015, founder of Black Lives Matter Patrisse Cullors led a protest yelling "Burn everything down!," and interrupted the speeches of Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders.[102][103] Later during the event, the protesters shouted and booed at Martin O'Malley when he said "Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter."[104] O'Malley later apologized for his remarks, saying that he didn't mean to disrespect the black community.[104]

On August 8, 2015, a speech by Democratic presidential candidate and civil rights activist Bernie Sanders was disrupted by a group from the Seattle Chapter of Black Lives Matter including chapter co-founder Marissa Johnson[105] who walked onstage, seized the microphone from him and called his supporters racists and white supremacists.[106][107][108] Bernie Sanders issued a platform in response.[109] Nikki Stephens, the operator of a Facebook page called "Black Lives Matter: Seattle" issued an apology to supporters of Bernie Sanders, saying that the actions did not represent her understanding of Black Lives Matter. She was then sent messages by members of the Seattle Chapter which she described as threatening, and was forced to change the name of her group to "Black in Seattle". The founders of Black Lives Matter stated that they had not issued an apology.[110] In response to the protest, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump threatened to fight any Black Lives Matter protesters if they attempted to speak at one of his events.[111]

On August 13, 2015, activists chanting "Black Lives Matter" interrupted the Las Vegas rally of Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.[112] As Bush exited early, some of his supporters started responding to the protestors by chanting "white lives matter" or "all lives matter".[113]

In October 2015, a speech by Hillary Clinton on criminal justice reform and race at Atlanta University Center was interrupted by BLM activists.[114]

Criticism

All Lives Matter

Many have responded to the Black Lives Matter movement by countering that the phrase "All Lives Matter" would be a more proper title. Tim Scott has defended usage of the "All Lives Matter" term.[115]

Response

Others have questioned and challenged the term All Lives Matter. On Real Time with Bill Maher, for example, Bill Maher expressed support of the "Black Lives Matter" phrase, arguing that "All Lives Matter" "implies that all lives are equally at risk, and they're not".[116] Founders have responded to criticism of the movement's exclusivity, saying, "#BlackLivesMatter doesn't mean your life isn't important – it means that Black lives, which are seen without value within White supremacy, are important to your liberation."[117] In a video interview with Laura Flanders, Garza discussed how "changing Black Lives Matter to All Lives Matter is a demonstration of how we don't actually understand structural racism in this country". She went on to discuss how other lives are valued more than black lives, which she strongly feels is wrong, and that to take blackness out of this equation is inappropriate.[118]

The movement challenges the "universalizing politics" implied in the notion of a Post-racial America, and the phrase 'All Lives Matter' reflects a view of "racial dismissal, ignoring, and denial", according to critical race theory scholar David Theo Goldberg.[119]

United States President Barack Obama spoke to the debate between Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter.[120] Obama said, "I think that the reason that the organizers used the phrase Black Lives Matter was not because they were suggesting that no one else's lives matter ... rather what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that is happening in the African American community that's not happening in other communities." He went on to say "that is a legitimate issue that we've got to address."[13]

African-Americans

African-American critics of the movement include neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, minister Johnathan Gentry of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ, and author and minister Barbara Ann Reynolds.[121][122] Deroy Murdock questioned the number of black people killed by police that is reported by BLM. He wrote, "But the notion that America's cops simply are gunning down innocent black people is one of today's biggest and deadliest lies."[123]

Seattle Seahawks Richard Sherman said about the "Black Lives Matter" movement, "I dealt with a best friend getting killed, and it was [by] two 35-year-old black men. There was no police officer involved, there wasn't anybody else involved, and I didn't hear anybody shouting 'black lives matter' then."[124]

Some have criticized the Black Lives Matter movement for failing to take on black-on-black crime.[125] Some black civil rights leaders have criticized the tactics of BLM.[126]

Police

Baltimore riot policemen form a line to push back protesters and media members on April 28 as a part of the 2015 Baltimore protests

The hashtag #BlueLivesMatter was created by supporters who stood up for police officers' lives.[127] Some critics also accuse Black Lives Matter of "anti-white and anti-police radicalism".[128] Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr of Milwaukee County has been critical of Black Lives Matter, stating that there is no police brutality problem in America and that "there is no racism in the hearts of police officers".[129] Marchers using a BLM banner were recorded in a video chanting, "Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon" at the Minnesota State Fair. Law enforcement groups said that the chant promotes death to police. The protest organizer disputed that interpretation.[130] A North Carolina police chief retired after calling BLM a terrorist group.[131]

Ferguson effect

Some commentators and law enforcement have claimed that BLM has made it hard for police to do their job, leading to a rise in crime rates.[123] Commentators have referred to this as the Ferguson effect.[123] FBI Director James Comey, for example, suggested that the movement is partly leading to a national rise in crime rates because police officers have pulled back from doing their jobs.[132] Others have called to question the validity of the "Ferguson effect" noting that there were even larger crime spikes prior to the events in Ferguson.[133]

Media depictions

  • Black Lives Matter appeared in an episode of Law & Order: SVU.[4][26]
  • The TV drama Scandal depicted Black Lives Matter, on their March 5, 2015 episode that showed an unarmed black teen shot by a police officer.[134]

See also

References

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