Black Lives Matter: The African American Civil Rights Movement

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.

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

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 Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of the murder of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin. About a year after Martin’s death, an 18 year-old unarmed male, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. That sparked weeks of protests. Years later, Asians, Latinos, and some whites joined in and realized how big of a problem this was becoming. As the years go by, the BLM Movement will keep growing and will not go

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 movement was began by three African-American women by the names of Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza began in response to seventeen year old Trayvon Martin’s murder, resulting in the accused, George Zimmerman being acquitted in July 2013, and to add insult to injury, by many, Trayvon Martin appeared to have been put on trial for his own murder by being portrayed as the aggressor leading the jury to believe this resulted in his death.

“Black Lives Matter is working for a world where black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. We affirm our contributions to this society, out humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression. The call for black lives to matter is a rallying cry for all black lives striving for liberation.” (Black Lives Matter

In the recent years, the issue of police brutality has been magnified and blown up for the entire world to see. The American media and the outside world has had their finger on the button waiting for the next incident to arise. Coming from this type of publicity a movement known as "Black Lives Matter" was born. This group has become widely popular. They have used a variety of protest methods to achieve their goals. Their main goal is to create a movement that invokes changes between the relationship between police; and the African-American community.

In 2013,George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges after wrongfully killing an innocent black teenager, Trayvon Martin. As a result, the Black Lives Matter movement,which started as a hashtag on twitter, emerged as the modern day civil rights movement. Over the past decade, BLM activists gave a new voice and platform to marginalised communities, especially the black community. They organized manifestations, protests and sit-ins that were very successful. For example, BLM organized demonstrations in Ferguson that caught national attention after another white officer wrongfully killed Michael Brown a year later. Black lives Matter’s agenda also included meetings and discussions with law enforcers on how to ameliorate policing in these communities.

This movement was the brainchild of three self-defined “Black Queer Women” named Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors. They came up with Black Lives Matter as a result of the killing of Treyvon Martin by volunteer neighborhood watch officer George Zimmerman and the trial that surrounded his death. They were infuriated by the fact that this young boy had been killed and that the man who killed him, “George Zimmerman, was not held accountable for the crime he committed” (Black Lives Matter). The entire Black community of America saw this young Black man’s death as being just another case of negligence due to the victim’s

What exactly is this #BlackLivesMatter movement? It is a movement that was created by Alicia Garza, with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in 2012 after the murder of 17 year old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman who was later acquitted of all charges, where with this trial we saw an innocent unarmed 17 year kid be tried and blamed for his own murder on a national platform rather than the justice that was so needed. (blacklivesmatter.com, n.d) This movement is working for the validity and affirmation of the Black life (Black queers, and those who identify as transgender and none gender conforming, those who are disabled, undocumented; and those with criminal records) by rebuilding the Black liberation movement. This movement

In 2013 The Black Lives Matter Movement was founded (BLM). Fighting against racism, state violence, and state neglect of black communities. They are well known for protesting against George Zimmerman, and the Ferguson protest for Michael Brown being shot by a cop. The shooting of an unarmed man is wrong, so is racial profiling, racial segregation. While the Black Lives Matter is fighting against these wrongs, they are doing it in the wrong manner. Even though the Black Lives Matter Movement is important, their claims fail to stand up to a moral test.

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

“Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a movement against police violence that is, as argued by BLM supporters, disproportionately and systematically directed at black people. The movement has highlighted incidents in which police have harassed and killed black men and women. BLM is considered one of the most visible and controversial civil rights movement of the last decades”. (Black Lives Matter. 2016) Black Lives Matter is an American social activist group that is dedicated to preventing inequality against African Americans. The group was established in 2013 after a cop by the name of George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing a black man named Trayvon Martin. The group feels that blacks are being targeted by cops and that justice is not being served, regarding those cops who show violence toward black Americans.