Black Lives Matter, sometimes shortened to “BLM,” is an anti-racist movement that highlights racism and the disparities that evolve from racism, including police brutality and other anti-Black violence. Black Lives Matter gained popularity online after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer was recorded and shared by a bystander. In response to the video, which shows officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, protests erupted around the world. These protests were often met with police violence, some of which has been declared illegal while protestors have been falsely arrested.
The momentum continued to draw attention to police violence, both as more Black lives were taken and as previous stories came to light. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Breonna Taylor are also victims who the movement has recognized. Thanks to the attention given to these cases, some of the perpetrators have finally faced justice, including Derek Chauvin, who has been convicted with murder.
BLM also encouraged police reform and greater investigations into policing, with some activists calling for reparations or to defund the police and reroute funds to other social programs that may be more effective. The movement has further brought attention to international conflict and raised funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. In some ways, the movement reflects the previous Civil Rights Movement, which lasted through the 1960s to 1980s including the Black Panther Party, which provided community assistance. Because of this, the movement has been recognized for its historical significance.
However, the movement has come under fire for protests that turned violent, for focusing too much on Black men, and for mismanaging funds raised.
A nonprofit organization, The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, also exists. Some people may refer to it as simply “Black Lives Matter.”
See all of our Black Lives Matter content below, starting with the most recent.
Posts Tagged ‘Black Lives Matter (BLM)’
School Tries To Censor BLM Article. These Students Had The Final Say.
In a recent post, “School Tries To Censor BLM Article. These Students Had The Final Say” Zahara Hill sheds light on young black voices taking a stand for racial injustice.
Read MoreJay Z and Harvey Weinstein to Bring Trayvon Martin’s Story to Film and TV
From: Colorlines Written By: Sameer Rao In the article “Jay Z and Harvey Weinstein to Bring Trayvon Martin’s Story to Film and TV,” culture reporter/blogger Sameer Rao highlights Jay Z Carter’s collaboration with producer Harvey Weinstein to create a narrative film and docuseries on the 2012 murder that lit the fuse of the Black Lives…
Read MoreHorror Film About Racism Earns Coveted 100 Percent On Rotten Tomatoes
From: Huffington Post Black Voices Written By: Carla Herreria Herreria writes: “‘Get Out,’ a psychological thriller about racism written and directed by Peele, earned a coveted 100-percent score on the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.” In a recent post, “Horror Film About Racism Earns Coveted 100 Percent On Rotten Tomatoes,” Carla Herreria expresses critics’…
Read MoreWhite allies show solidarity with Black Lives Matter
In the wake of the recent police killings of two black men, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, public opinion, particularly among white people, has started to shift. Forty new chapters of a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice –– Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) –– have formed in the weeks since the incidents.
Read MoreIn the Turmoil Over Race and Policing, Children Pay a Steep Emotional Price
By YAMICHE ALCINDOR, New York Times In the past week alone, there was the 4-year-old girl in Falcon Heights, Minn., who was captured on video consoling her mother after they watched a police officer shoot the mother’s boyfriend through the window of a car. And there was the 15-year-old boy in Baton Rouge, La., who sobbed uncontrollably in…
Read MoreStudy Supports Suspicion That Police Are More Likely to Use Force on Blacks
A new study has found that the race of the person being stopped by police officers is significant in terms of how much force is used. The study of thousands of use-of-force episodes from police departments across the nation has concluded what many people have long thought, but which could not be proved because of a lack of data: African-Americans are far more likely than whites and other groups to be the victims of use of force by the police, even when racial disparities in crime are taken into account.
Read MoreEx-Cop William Melendez Gets Up to 10 Years for Beating of Michigan Driver Floyd Dent
Judge Vonda Evans: “You were so into your bravado that you forgot the eye of justice was recording you,”
Read MoreThe Unflattering History of the Cop Who’d Run Over Black People
Sgt. Jeffrey Rothecker is very, very sorry about a recent Facebook post advising Twin Cities residents to run over Black Lives Matter protesters.
Read MoreBeing Black And Loud Is Necessary, One Poet Demands
“This can’t be the land of the free and home of the brave only for some.” By Taryn Finley, The Huffington Post Black voices should never be silenced. This was April Wells’ message in her poem “Loud Voices,” which she performed at the Get Lit Classic Slam in Southern California. The teen shunned the notion that…
Read MoreHow Rosa Parks’ Legacy Lives On In The Black Lives Matter Movement
Rosa Parks would believe that #BlackLivesMatter, too. By Zeba Blay, the Huffington Post Sixty years ago on this day, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus and settled in to American history. We’ve seen the iconic pictures of Parks getting booked at the police station, or later staged seated on…
Read More