Alicia Garza's Black Lives Matter

During the year of 2013, three pro black pro life Alicia Garza, from Oakland, California; Patrisse Cullors, from Los Angeles, California; and Opal Tometi, from Phoenix, Arizona, established the Black Lives Matter development in the internet as a sociopolitical media discussion, using the hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter.” The thought came when the all three parties, who got to know each other through Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), a national association that trains group coordinators, all reacted to the disturbing incident July 2013 absolution of neighborhood watch organizer George Zimmerman by a Sanford, Florida, jury for the homicide of 17 Trayvon Martin. Incensed and profoundly troubled by the decision, individuals in BOLD social discussions started demanding answers from the association 's pioneers how they were going react to the ambush on and downgrading of black lives. Garza posted a Facebook post which she titled "A Love Note to Black People" approaching them to "get dynamic," "get sorted out," and "battle back." For Garza, the status focusing on black individuals was an ailment called institutional bigotry that couldn 't be crushed by simply voting. She finished by advising her pursuers that she adores them and that "Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter." Cullors reacted to the post with the hashtag "#BlackLivesMatter." Tometi included her backing and another association was conceived.

A necessary and common fight for equality has been one that has survived throughout all of man’s existence. Due to recent racial divide and the product of racial profiling, a movement has risen up to combat these common issues. The most recent and most well-covered is the Black Lives Matter Movement. Even though it has been lauded by some media sources and individuals as the next great movement to champion for civil rights, the Black Lives Matter movement is not the same as the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s nor is it likely to be as successful. If the Black Lives Matter Movement continues with discrepancies in ideology, lack of clear leadership, and trends of hate, the movement is doomed to fail.

Throughout history, African Americans have encountered an overwhelming amount of obstacles for justice and equality. You can see instances of these obstacles especially during the 1800’s where there were various forms of segregation and racism such as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan terrorism, Jim- Crow laws, voting restrictions. These negative forces asserted by societal racism were present both pre and post slavery. Although blacks were often seen as being a core foundation for the creation of society and what it is today, they never were given credit for their work although forced. This was due to the various laws and social morals that were sustained for over 100 years throughout the United States. However, what the world didn’t

For decades black Americans have been treated as animals, looked at as if they are monsters, and killed like bugs. Actions like Police brutality and racism is what caused Black Lives Matter. The creation of the Black Lives Matter was a response by the black community to give a voice to black Americans affected by the increase of wrongful deaths due to the law enforcements and vigilantes across the country. This has been going on for so long that it seems like we are stuck in the past. For years, even decades black Americans have had to live the struggle of being equal. Even when things are going good and we think we finally have the same rights, something happened to change that. It is time to shed a light on the real purpose of Black Lives Matter and why they are important to today's society.

However, that didn’t stop racist, white patriarchs from brutally raping millions of African women for the sole purpose of increasing their slave count. Race breeding was an act of terrorism done to these women in America. They were repeatedly impregnated again and again. They suffered from aching backs, swollen knees and ankles, multiple miscarriages, unsanitary facilities while giving birth, and they still had to work extensive hours laboring on the fields. The black woman’s identity was ripped to shreds by imperialism white supremacy patriarchy during slavery, an effect that has trickled down into future generations. Globally, the black woman has been demoralized and tarnished for generations to come after the end of slavery.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a loosely‐coordinated, nationwide movement dedicated to ending police brutality that rose to prominence in late 2014. It takes its name from a hashtag started by three Black feminist activists Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi but the movement and the hashtag are not identical (Freelon, McIlwain, & Clark, 2016). BLM has achieved national reputation through their online and offline organizing, obtaining extensive news media coverage and glowing references in music and entertainment television. Based on a horrendous incident that sparked a concern for a lot of Black people across the world, the sudden need for a social movement was born called BLM. Black Lives Matter is a national organization working for the validity of Black life and also working to rebuild the Black liberation movement. Black Lives Matter broadens the conversation and highlight the incidents around state violence to include the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. This referring to the ways in which Black lives are deprived of basic human rights and dignity. According to the article The Murder of Walter Scott, which talks about race and class, “African Americans are less than 13% of the U.S. population yet they are nearly 50% of those killed by the police. North Charleston has a population of 104,000, 47% Black and the police force is 80% white (Miah, 2015)”.

In the United States, there has been many cases of Racial injustice. From the beginning of the start of the United States of America it was the injustice to the Native Americans being captured and used for slave labor while their bison be slaughtered for sportsmanship. But this paper is on the specific race of the African Americans. There are many races that have been racially profiled and ostracized by the English people. But the treatment that African Americans have endured even till this day is disheartening. African Americans have gone through enslavement during the early 1600’s to the mid 1800’s. Then the African Americans were obstructed by the Jim Crow laws creating the ‘Separate but Equal” propaganda during the late 1800’s into the 1960’s. After the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws, people were considered equal until the recent actions of many police officers using deadly force on African American youths in the early 2000’s.

Blue Lives Matter is a pro police movement used to give attention to the police men and women risking their lives and not getting the respect they deserve for their sacrifice. The Blue Lives Matter issue has been spreading around on social media and the news, with the recent killings of police officers. The article, “Why Blue Lives Matter in America” on realclearpolitics by David Clarke, says “Black Lives Matter permeates the mainstream media with it’s false narratives against the police,” and there is a lot of truth in that statement. This issue has been going on for a while when a lot of attention was brought to the questionable killing of a young black man. It’s also been more located to where awareness was brought in the form of protests

 Many Police officers are killed every day. The Blue Lives Matter organization is a movement  that protects police officers and shows citizens the true stories of the men that put their lives on the line. The government has helped the Blue

Opal Tometi was incensed in the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and this inspired her to take action. She started taking action by going on twitter and starting the #BlackLivesMatter with Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors, prompted activism nationwide and introduced the banner under which this generation’s civil rights movement marches. She a child of Nigerian immigrants. She was recognized as being a leader in the movement, she was named a “New Civil Rights Leader” by the Los Angeles Time for her work building movements. In the meeting she talks about how they have black queers/trans leading some of the meeting. She say’s her movement

Right now, 3.6 million African Americans are in the United States, and most of them are slaves. Slavery has been around since 1619 and has gotten even worse. Imagine getting up in the early morning and only having little time to get ready before working, getting no breaks, and not getting home until dark. Imagine having a child and it being taken away from you. This is what happens to slaves. They are doing forced labor. What they do varies from helping around their owners house to working long hours in the fields. But they have no choice in what they can and can’t do. If they disobey their owners they can get whipped, branded, locked away, anything that their owner wants. In an interview with Frederick Douglass, a former slave who escaped, told us that, “The law gives the master absolute power over the slave… he may work him, flog him, hire him out, sell him, and in certain contingencies, kill him. Knowing that this happens every day should make you think. Think about stopping this. They’re people too, there is no logical reason to discriminate whites from black. We all have feelings and are not meant to be used like an item.

As echoed in Bell Hooks’s We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, the culprit to the Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) movement is masculine patriarchy which, in turn, reinforces racism and oppression. The general public fails to recognize that BLM stemmed from oppression to black males, not the black community as a whole. Furthermore, even though this movement is intended to fight anti-Black racism, it is focusing on the empowerment of black women.

Emily Fraz, who is a student at Georgia Southern University, was fired from her job after she made some comments on her Facebook page criticizing the Black Lives Matter Movement. She called the movement misguided. She also stated that the movement is dividing people. Additionally, Emily stated that all lives matter. Emily's post quickly went viral, and she immediately started receiving backlash.

The Black Lives Matter movement has swept across America. It 's branched out with chapters in over 31 cities and held rallies and boycotts across the United States(Sidner). The Black Lives Matter movement started with the outrage of the death of a young man. It continues to take over headlines and raise awareness on police brutality and inequality. However, the movement has met resistance from the All Lives Matter group. This group thinks that Black Lives Matter is a movement to express hatred towards other races. However, statistics, the views of fellow citizens, and the overall purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement, can prove that the movement wasn 't meant to express hate on other races and that we need to support the movement instead of going against it.

the focus of Black Lives Matter is being articulated less as a demand for specific civil or political rights, and more as a broader claim for “black humanity.” Martin Luther King also used the language of human rights to internationalize the issue of racial inequality in the United States. BLM movement is following in king’s footsteps, taking a stance and demanding action. Both movements fight for freedom but in ways that seem to be opposite of the other, one in love, and one in hate.