Identity And Impact Of The Black Lives Matter Movement

“Black Lives Matter has become what black communities all over the world have needed it to become. At times it is a hashtag, at other moments it is a declaration, a cry of rage, a sharing of light” (Hillstrom xiii). These are the words of Patrisse Khan-Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Movement, and they encapsulate the identity and impact of the Movement and suggest how it has evolved over time to achieve systemic change. On February 26, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking back to the home of his father’s fiancee and her son who live in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. He had just stopped at a local convenience store where he bought a bag of Skittles and iced tea.With the candy and drink in his hands and wearing

Trayvon Martin’s killing created outrage and protests in the Black community and beyond. Although Zimmerman was charged with second degree murder and tried, he was acquitted. Shortly thereafter, protests broke out in Florida and across the country. Protestors demanded more police accountability and an end to racial profiling. Angry and frustrated by the killing of Trayvon Martin and many other young Black men at the hands of police and vigilantes, three Black women - Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Khan-Cullors - created the hashtag for Black Lives Matter as a way to increase the awareness of the many injustices Black people face due to racial inequality. The Black Lives Matter movement has been effective in changing policy and attitudes about how police departments, prosecutors, and communities respond to a police-involved killing as well as creating awareness about the need for equal justice for Black

The use of social media has been the key to starting this movement as well as spreading information to thousands of people to participate in direct action.

The BLM movement sprouted from social media with the use of the hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter. Since then, BLM activists have diversified their tactics to reach a wider audience and to better foster change. Activists take political action, conduct letter-writing campaigns, and march in nonviolent protests, seeking to combat the abuses committed by the police or other authorities against underserved communities. (“Black Lives