Black Lives Matter Socio-Political Movement

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement is a movement against police brutality. This movement began after 17-year-old boy, Trayvon Martin was fatally shot, and his killer, former police officer, George Zimmerman was acquitted for the crime. (BLACKLIVESMATTER.COM) As Black Lives Matter has continued to make a difference through peaceful protests on a mass scale , such as kneeling during the national anthem at sporting events or peaceful protests after a shooting. Many have claimed that the movement is extremely offensive, against police officers, or that African Americans are claiming superiority over other races, while others continue to support the movement. The fight between Blue Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, and Black Lives Matter continuously strikes violent riots, but the question still stands- what is the Black Lives Matter movement really trying to accomplish?

While there has been tangible progress made in race relations, inequalities still tarnish the country. In poor black communities across the nation, the lack of opportunity stifles potential and creates a cyclical chain of poverty and violence. Areas with high black populations struggling with violence and unequal policing, have prompted a modern civil right movement called “Black Lives Matter.” Critics of the movement often cite, the supposed inherent inequality in the idea. All lives matter, they argue, why should black lives matter specifically? The movement, however, does not argue that black lives matter more than lives of other races, the movement is saying that black lives matter just as much. Furthermore, it’s an exclamation, that calls for attention to be placed on communities ravaged by violence and poverty that are disproportion black. Similar to the movements of the 1960’s, the BLM movement is causing tension across the country. Like king argued, tension is the catalyst that inspires change and conversation. The nonviolent protests of BLM, seek to “dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored;” that is the “work of a nonviolent resister” (1310). Just as the march that was depicted in Selma, the BLM has sought to seek change without violence, but instead with protests and media campaigns. BLM methods parallel King’s use of non violent protest, in a

"Your analysis is totally fair,But you're going to have to come together as a movement and say, Here's what we want done about it."” (Altman, Alex, Daniel White).The movement has also accomplished getting into the white house.”In response to the uprising, the White House convened a new task force on policing. Criminal-justice reform bills have found bipartisan support in Congress. Each of the major Democratic campaigns has held meetings with Black Lives Matter activists to solicit ideas.” (Altman, Alex, Daniel

According to the International Socialist Review, the Black Lives Matter movement is important because it draws attention to the harsh reality of society. The objective of the movement was to “create a political space within and amongst communities for activism that could stand firmly on movements that came before.” There is great credibility to this statement because it alludes to the civil rights movement which was a big part of history. This article establishes its credibility by using another movement to justify itself suggesting that the BLM movement is just a modern civil rights movement. The New York Times article “The condition of black lives is one of mourning” states that the movement points out the hypocrisy of the American Dream by showing how “anti-black racism is in the culture.” The article suggests that racism is in our laws, advertisements, justice system and more aspects of our culture. This gets the reader thinking. This statement

The first issue with the BLM movement is the agenda is at war with black husbands and fathers. When viewing the BLM’s website, you would expect to see a list of references to helping black men and boys, but that’s not the case. Under the section “Guiding Principles,” a list of twelve principles serve as a vision statement for what the group hopes to accomplish. Whenever you read the principles, you quickly notice that most of them have nothing to do with the issues facing the black community or the black men and boys that the group has used as the face of their campaign to gain national voice and attention. As you read the principles, you will not find a single reference to black men and boys, except for “trans brothers,” which are men who want to be considered women. There is one section that relates to women but not black men. Accordingly, a third of Americans familiar with Black Lives Matter say they do not understand the objectives of the movement (Horowitz). This statistic is reflective of Americans’ mass misunderstanding of the mission statement for the BLM campaign.

EVEN IN THE SPLINTERED AND OFTEN FRACTIOUS world of social justice movements, Black Lives Matter doesn't fit easily into existing categories. Few grassroots uprisings have done as much, in such a short period of time, to focus attention on long-neglected issues of racial justice, gender, and economic inequality. Yet so far, BLM has not followed up on its initial victories by building the kind of lasting, hierarchical organizations that grew out of the civil rights movement; nor has it dedicated itself to a single, easily identifiable goal, like enacting the Voting Rights Act. How are we to make sense of organizers who themselves remain so loosely organized? And if Black Lives Matter isn't devoting itself primarily to bringing about substantive legal and legislative change, then how can it hope to transform its resistance into lasting and meaningful gains in human rights?

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.

Black Lives Matter, also referred to as BLM is a social justice movement that began in 2013 but garnered worldwide attention in 2014 when the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter went viral. The Hashtag was used in protests to gain attention to the killings of unarmed black men by police officers. The BLM movement seeks to end police brutality and to inspire a national debate on institutionalized racism within the US justice system. Over 250 black people have been shot by law enforcement in 2016 alone. Black people are scared for their lives when they are pulled over or see police.

BLM aims to divide and portray black people as an inferior race, and in turn trying to gain social superiority over the other races. The name Black Lives Matter as a literal concept is not evil, but their political ideologies are corrupt in nature; BLM is making opposers of their political ideology, as opposers of the literal meaning of the term “Black Lives Matter, “and against their race, this tactic is highly manipulative and separates the races. This radical movement started after a call to action for Black people after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder and the killer, George Zimmerman, was not held accountable for the crime he committed” (Blacklivesmatter.com). BLM considered the death of Trayvon Martin as an attack on all black people, and helped this movement takeoff, they intended to mark all police officers as a direct threat to every black person with a disregard to real statistics. To clarify, these statistics show that “91 percent of slain black people are murdered by other blacks” (Mad World News).

When we think of the South today, we think of a place so deeply embedded in its country roots that its very existence is piggybacked onto the well-known topics of police brutality, racism, religion, black culture, and in some cases, the argument of New Orleans and hurricane Katrina. However, as “White” America continues to weed out and denounce Black culture and Black Lives, more and more movements have risen up to take action. The Black Lives Matter organization is a liberation movement originally from the South, focused on working towards a world where African Americans are “no longer systematically or intentionally targeted for demise.” Recent

The co-founders were 3 radical black organizers named, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. The movement is a member-led global network which contains more than 40 chapters. The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation (no discrimination include all black no matter gender). Looking at the movement from a sctructural functionalist POV, we would say that these brutalities are both functional and dysfunctuonal. The climate of the people of color in the u.s. Changed and this enviroment provided a platform for the creation of the BLM movement. Socially we would consider this movement to be fucntional, supporting social stability, and bringing people of color together. We would say that what has led to this movement, (police brutality) is dysfunctional as it disrupts stability. In 2014 after Mike Brown was killed by ferguson police officer named Darren Wilson. In St Louis Darnell Moore and Patrisse Cullors organized a national ride during Labor day that year called the Black live matters Ride. After 600 people gathered, organizers from 18 different cities went back home to developed BLM chapters in their communities and towns. Guiding principles of BLM is restorative justice, diversity, globalism, queer affirming, unapologetically black, collective value, empathy, loving engagement, transgender affirming, black villages, black women, black families and

The federal bureau of investigation (FBI) defines terrorism as "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, and/or any segment thereof." If one makes the argument that BLM is a terrorist group the ideology of the movement must fit within the framework stated above. First, BLM stands for “Black Lives Matter”. It, in itself is nothing more than a concept about which all else revolves. It is true, the “Black Lives Matter” movement has motivates however the motivates of these individuals is what sets them apart from other groups in which has been labeled terrorist. Unlike terrorist groups, “Black Lives Matter” is not an organization based on their ideology, one cannot attach the use of force and violence to the BLM movement, and the movement does not coerce the civilian population.

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.

Black Lives Matter, or BLM for short, is an activist group which originated in the states but has spread across large parts of the world, to protest the alleged systemic racism against white people. The movement has first seen acceptance after the shooting of black teen “Treyvon Martin” at the hands of George Michael Zimmerman on the 26th of February 2012. Following that event; the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter was trending on several social media websites. The activist group was then officially founded on the 13 of July, 2013 by three African American community organizers: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tomiti. At the time of its formation, BLM had seen broad acceptance, whether it being from African Americans, community leaders, celebrities, public figures and even the President himself who has invited BLM activist DeRay Mckesson, an outspoken civil rights activist, into the white house. Brittany Packnett, a Minneapolis-based Black Lives Matter activist and several others were also invited.

In recent years, the “Black Lives Matter” movement has made great strides. Originating in black communities, the BLM movement is a campaign against violence and systemic racism toward black people. As a white person in this country, I understand and am grateful for the privileges I am afforded. The privilege to feel safe walking down the streets of my neighborhood. The