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.
Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement that started within the African-American communities. This movement is organized by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. Ever since the black people have stepped on American soil, they have continued to be victims of racism and violence. From slavery to lynching to segregation, the black people have suffered alot in this country. In the past few years, there are so many of them that have been targeted by the law enforcement authorities across the country. This movement’s goal is to raise awareness of racism and violence against African-Americans. They wants African-American to live with dignity and respect like other Americans do.
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.
Social movements are vital to the establishment of our societies, and they way we are governed. Social movements help the less privileged band together to create a stronger voice among a sea of political correctness and unlawfully rule that the public supposedly have to abide by without question. Movements create this new form of platform that, if done successfully, are able to create a worldwide frenzy where people from across all walks of life, including politicians, academics, the less fortunate, the homeless, doctors, etc, are able to come together to create change, or to start to create change on a matter that is close to their hearts. One of these matters that has come up in recent years that has been an ongoing battle for centuries upon centuries is Black Lives Matter (Although named various things throughout time such as black civil rights). Black Lives Matter is a movement that started back in 2012 after George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime against a 17 year old boy named Trayvon Martin, and Trayvon was then put on trial for his own murder (Garza, A. 2014, p. 1.). This crime was just the tipping point for three women who wanted to see a change in the way black lives were/are treated. Black Lives Matter is one of the most important socio-political movements of our time, and this is why it is an important movement to connect with and understand. Throughout, I will be going through the strategies and the tactics Black Lives Matter advocates and cofounders have
The movement “Black Lives Matter” was founded officially in 2013, but began in 2012 with the trial of George Zimmerman allegedly murdering Trayvon Martin(Miller). The movement was founded by multiple people including: Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi(Miller). From its creation, Black Lives Matter has been involved in a series of protests which have frequently turned violent, and given the movement a poor reputation among US citizens. However, some of the uppers in the movement claim that the only way for people of America to really pay attention to their movement is to partake in civil disobedience(Green). With the movement having a side aimed at potentially harming others for attention or a spotlight from the media, the people within the movement appear to want this problem solved now for the harm to stop on both fronts. The people involved in the movement also state, “We’re going to curse at you. We’re going to throw some stuff at you. We might even tip over a police car or two, but you will not just come into our
In 2012, a 17 year-old unarmed black boy was gunned down in Florida while walking home from a gas station after getting snacks. The murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, FL by George Zimmerman received attention around the nation. Zimmerman was eventually put on trial for Martin’s death, but was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter, which began the hashtag BlackLivesMatter. The official website, blacklivesmatter.com, describes it as “an ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folk’s contributions to this society, our humanity and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression” (Black Lives Matter, n.d.). The hashtag quickly transformed into a movement in 2014 after the deaths of Michael Brown, John Crawford III and Eric Garner. All three were unarmed black men killed by police who were eventually acquitted for their murders. The Black Lives Matter movement is a call-to-action to encourage people to fight against the racial inequalities endured by black people and stand against the expectations of normality defined by white supremacy. Many have tried to debase this movement by saying that all lives mater and all lives are important. Though the Black Lives Matter Movement may be “pro-black”, it does not mean it is being anti-white or
For the past few years, racial tensions have been on the rise. Although many actions have been taken to prevent these conflicts from occurring, African Americans are still being undervalued by the state. As more African Americans are being turned away with little to no assistance from the American government, anger and the desire for change increased among them. When Trayvon Martin’s murderer George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime, a great number of Americans were furious at the outcome. Three African American women named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi expressed their view on a Facebook post titled “A Love Note to Black People” and it ends with “Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter” (“Black Lives Matter”). Thus, a new liberation movement for black people was born. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter rapidly spread throughout social media, bringing awareness of the struggles of African Americans. The Black Lives Matter movement is a call to action to eradicate the dehumanization of African Americans that exists in American society. With the constant targeting of African Americans by the police and the unfair treatment in the criminal justice system, the Black Lives Matter movement is a necessity to combat racism.
The movement is fighting against the idea that black people are being denied the right to live free of fear in this country. Fear of being killed or assaulted by law enforcement and then not having their assault viewed as a crime. The movement believes that black people are unfairly targeted by police and demand to be treated fairly. In relation the killings of teenagers Michael Brown and Vonderrick Myers in Ferguson, Missouri; to the suspicious death of activist Sandra Bland in Waller, Texas; to the choke-hold death of Eric Garner in New York, to the killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida and 7 year old Aiyana Stanley-Jones in Detroit, Michigan—-#blacklivesmatter has emerged in recent years as a movement committed to resisting,
Black lives matter is a movement that is fighting to end police brutality. For too long police officers have viewed black people as trash. In return police officers doesn’t hesitate to kill unarmed black people. The black lives matter movement give the people a voice to ask for justice in a country that still treat them as second class citizen. The black lives matter movement is the first step to change.
Everyone has now heard of the term “Black Lives Matter”. It is a movement that has started in effort to help the oppression of African Americans. It started a few years back after a major incident happened in the United States. Following this incident, the movement has had to become even more dominate because of the senseless killings and mistreatment of African Americans.
The above narrative is just a mere glimpse of the hurt, anger, and pain in the black community after George Zimmerman was acquitted of charges of second degree murder against seventeen year old Trayvon Martin. These emotions were the stepping stones of a highly significant movement, the Black Lives Matter movement. The Black Lives Matter movement is a response as well as a stance against police brutality against African Americans, which uses the tragic deaths of teenagers Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown as a head for its cause. Many people on social media know the black lives matter movement or refer to it #blacklivesmatter, especially on twitter. The Black Lives Matter movement was founded by Patrisse Cullers, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza. Which is defined as an “ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.”
“Black Lives Matter” is a contemporary movement that was designed to break racist police violence. The name of the organization itself had the ability to direct so much with just a few words; which shows that the directive that the movement is trying to present needs to be affirmed. The movement started as a small but brutal dissent in a St. Louis suburb that had broken out into a conflagration that has consumed all of America. The “Black Lives Matter” movement has compassed something in our time that is rare to us such as: avoiding the authority of our country’s commanding inauguration. Neither law enforcement nor Democrats were capable enough to bar the movement; which has bewildered
Black Lives Matter is a movement against violence and systemic racism toward black people. At least 102 unarmed black people were killed by cops in 2015. In the essay by Brent Staples, he explains in one of his paragraphs, that he knew a black journalist that was working on a story on a murderer. While the journalist was in his car, cops came to him at gunpoint thinking that ha was the murderer. This is what Brent wrote,” I never fared as badly as another black male journalist. He went to nearby Waukegan, Illinois, a couple of summers ago to work on a story about a murderer who was born there. Mistaking the reporter for the killer, police officers hauled him from his car at gunpoint and for his press credentials would probably have tried
In 2013, a movement called Black Lives Matter, began to promote their slogan and motto against police brutality and injustice. The movement is being supported by many other African Americans and networks such as B.E.T. Black Lives Matter is a movement that began after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin. The movement grew stronger after the death of two unarmed African Americans last year. Those two were Michael Brown of Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner of New York City. People of all colors and ethnicities immediately added and followed Black Lives Matter on social media and re-posted their trending hashtag Black Lives Matter. Most African Americans, especially those who support Black Lives Matter, still see an unbalance amount of justices against whites and black.
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.