Black Lives Matter Movement: Article Analysis

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.

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi created a movement centered towards black Americans which later turned into Black Live Matter. Those three leaders came together in 2013 after the Trayvon Martin case that devastated the black community. Black Live Matter, also known as BLM, became an organization that has a mission to give power and a voice to violence inflicted on Black communities. So many black injustices went unnoticed and ignored, but this group will not stand to let that happen again. Injustice to the black community is what causes so many protests and movements that make the Black Lives Matter organization stronger than ever. .

Black Lives Matter is a rather recent movement that has developed in the United States as a result of the African American community claiming that police officers target and shoot African Americans due to their race. Their aim is to raise awareness of claimed police brutality against African Americans and hopefully increase restrictions on the police forces by taking away the right to defend themselves if they, the policemen, feel endangered.

These three things all contribute to the change we want to see in society. Currently, The Black Lives Matter movement is at the point of causing civil disobedience, which is used to gain the attention of the media, politicians and the nation as a whole. The movement works at different levels with the hopes of making changes in society which in turn would promote equality within the criminal justice system. Leaders of Black Lives Matter understand how the general population’s beliefs about crime and racism acts as an antagonist to any sort of reform to lower racial discrepancies, due to this they are trying to emphasize how race does matter in both the criminal justice system and society through the means of protests. The 23 active Black Lives Matter chapters across the United States are staging demonstrations in order to get society to acknowledge that there is a problem, and once people begin to listen, there can be legal challenges and new laws that work to influence a societal change. On August 28th, 2014 during Labor Day weekend supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement from around the nation set out to participate in a Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride. This protest, based off of the 1960s Freedom Riders, brought people to Ferguson, MO, the city where Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Naturally this

Society seems to change and advance so rapidly throughout the years but there has always seemed to be a history, present, and future when it comes to the struggles of the African Americans. The hatred of a skin tone has caused people to act in violent and horrifying ways including police brutality, riots, mass incarcerations, and many more. There are three movements the renaissance, civil rights, and the black lives matter movements that we have focused on. Our artist come from different eras but have at least one similarity which is the attention on black art.

Black Lives Matter is an activist movement that originated among the African American community. Boundless.com defines the Black Lives Matter movement as, “Black Lives Matter is an activist movement originating in the African-American community that campaigns against violence and institutionalized racism toward black people in the United States.” The originators of the hashtag and call to action: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi; expanded their project into a national network of over 30 local chapters between 2014 and 2016, states Wikipedia. Although Black Lives Matter was made to express concern and justice for the black race, some think that it is just a measure of black supremacy that evoke riots and hate.

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 statement “black lives matter” fueled the start of a movement. When this movement began people were in need of healing when everyone’s morale was low and gave black people in America hope that their lives did matter. Everyone

The Black Lives Matter Movement is a chapter-based national organization working for the validity of Black life. Their main goal is to working to rebuild the Black liberation movement. The movement was founded by Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza. It was created in 2012 after seventeen year old Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead Trayvon was placed on trial for his own murder. The Black Lives Matter Movement is a call to action and a response to the concurrent anti-Black racism that floods the black community.

Art is dead because artist are dying. On February 5th, 2012 a defenses boy by the name of Trayvon Martin was shot dead in the streets out of racist ideals. This was the spark that erupted the Black Lives Matter movement. A slightly edited version of the story unraveled on the daily news. Disappointment devoured my father’s face and he said with strain: “The only crime we commit is exciting” he had said. At the age of 12, I was befuddled by this use of “we”. Who are “we”? I would soon painfully find out that “we” is me, is black people.

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.”

In the video, “Against the Odds” , there were two arguments. One Blacks artist should write, draw and create all things black and African. This perspective come with a consequent. The only people that could afford to buy black art was white. If the art was too sad, angry or black the whites would not buy it. They second arguments was that Blacks should paint and crate sculptures to be sold. Many feared that they would lose their identity.

Black lives matter pushes what are shown under the radar. Nobody understand the pain that families feel when their beloved son or daughter will never return one to the table for dinner or never experience another memory with them again. The energy that the government uses to defend off against the blacks walking down the street. Doctor king said “Riots are the voice of the unheard” and this is motivation for blacks to keep pushing forward against what they know is wrong.

The artist that I would like to discuss is Betye Saar. She is one of the artists that took part in the "Black L.A. art movement". This took place in the 1970s. Her art speaks of American culture combined with her African American folk culture. She makes assemblages that make political statements. The political statements that she makes through her art seems to start discussions regarding issues that African Americans go through. She stated that these issues, particularly political issues, were almost unavoidable. Growing up in Watts, she knew individuals who had it very rough, even just day to day. Being African American and having African American friends, she knew the dangers of them potentially being wrongfully arrested/likely to join a

I like to believe that art was a way for Blacks to express their pain, hopefulness, and love that everything Black wanted and could just outright say was put into art; therefore, art was a happy place even though it expressed pain but in pain there is its own beauty. DuBois (1925:53) stated that even though Black art has both personal and universal aspects, that those two things are “combined with certain groups compulsion.” meaning that there was a Black person that spoke for the group through art. His thoughts would lead to black Aesthetic.