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Justice

Explainer

What is the #BlackLivesMatter movement?

It was the hashtag that captured the frustrations of three African American women and sparked a movement that brought worldwide attention to injustice.

Published 2 March 2016 12:38pm

Updated 2 March 2016 3:34pm

By Karina Marlow

Image: Black Lives Matter protest after George Zimmerman was acquitted of the death of Trayvon Martin (Facebook)

How did it start?

#BlackLivesMatter was born the day neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was acquitted by jury of the murder of unarmed African American student Trayvon Martin.

In July 2013, Alicia Garza was watching the news with friends in a Californian bar awaiting the verdict. When it was announced, she told USA Today, “it was as if we had all been punched in the gut.”

After checking her Facebook feed and becoming disappointed by the responses “blaming black people for our own conditions,” she penned a post urging the African American community to unite and to put America on notice that “Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter”.

Her friend and fellow community activist, Patrisse Cullors, responded by creating the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Along with Opel Tometi they started a Tumblr and Twitter account, and encouraged their audience to share their stories about why black lives matter.

The three women had begun a movement.

Alicia Garza one of the founders of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Source: Facebook

Increased awareness

The use of the hashtag and membership of the movement spread through social media and community organisations, including Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity (BOLD), the group which had initially united the three co-founders.

Further deaths including those of Eric Garner in New York in July and later Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014, solidified the presence of the movement, and raised increased awareness about the number of deaths of black men at the hands of white police.

Over 500 members from across the USA joined in a #BlackLivesMatter ‘freedom ride’ to Ferguson to take part in the rallies there.

Alicia Garza was surprised to see that many other groups protesting had also adopted the Black Lives Matter hashtag as a rallying cry for their activism.

Solidarity with Ferguson protest in St Louis, Missouri Source: Facebook

According to Travis Gosa, a social science Professor at Cornell University the hashtag spread quickly because it simplified the complex nature of police brutality, racial inequality and social justice "into a simple, easy to remember slogan that fits in a Tweet or on a T-shirt."

In the US in 2014 over 100 unarmed African Americans killed by police.

The death in custody of 25 year old Freddie Gray, who was arrested for allegedly carrying a switchblade, prompted the Baltimore protests in April, 2015. This incident once again gained international attention to the issue of police violence and the cause of Black Lives Matter.

The group has also used tactics such as disrupting large shopping centres during the holidays and challenging political candidates at rallies to gain increased awareness to the movement.

This has helped the group gain some political power after meeting with Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton in 2015 to discuss police reform, investigations into alleged misconduct and policy measures to counter discriminatory practices. The Democratic National Committee later declared its support for the movement in August 2015.

The Movement

While Black Lives Matter has drawn upon some of the heritage of the civil rights movement, it has also been accused of failing to adopt a peaceful approach to making change, particularly after violence and looting during the Ferguson protests.

The group has also been keen to move away from a male-centred representation model, instead championing the voices of black women, those with disabilities and queer-identifying communities.

Alicia Garza told USA Today that, "we want to make sure there is the broadest participation possible in this new iteration of a black freedom movement.”

We can't afford to just follow one voice. We have so many different experiences that are rich and complex. We need to bring all of those experiences to the table in order to achieve the solutions we desire.

It was around the time of the Ferguson protests that the movement began to become more organised. The early mission of stopping police violence was expanded to raising awareness about injustices, both isolated and systematic, against African Americans.

Their website proclaims:

‘Black Lives Matter is 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.’

2015: Protests at the University Of Missouri against racism. Source: Getty Images

This expanding mission has led to the creation of a grassroots movement of affiliated chapters linked by a common set of goals. This gives each chapter some freedom in its agenda and incorporates community groups campaigning locally against school closures, and for an increase to the national minimum wage, as well as university societies protesting against systemic racism in the education system.

Students at the University of Missouri successfully forced their University President to resign after he failed to address racism incited on campus such as the use of racial slurs against students and swastikas being drawn on walls in student accommodation.

Between the Ferguson protests of August 2014 and August 2015, over 950 demonstrations were organised by various chapters across the USA.

Global reach

A truly 21st century movement the use of camera phones to video incidents and social media to spread information has helped to shape international conversations about race and discrimination.

Geotagging reveals that in late 2014 there were #BlackLivesMatter tweets on every continent on an almost daily basis.

A map of geotagged Tweets sent on the 4th December 2014 Source: USA Today

By August 2015, the Black Lives Matter Movement had at least twenty-three chapters internationally including groups in Canada, the United Kingdom, Africa and South America.

While there are no chapters in Australia, there have also been calls, in opinion pieces and by community organisations, for a Black Lives Matter movement in light of Australia’s history of discrimination and accusations of racial profiling by police officers.

As Alicia Garza acknowledges what started as an online outpouring of frustration "is now continuing as a movement that has spread across the world."

See also: Dateline's special report into the death of Kalief Browder - jailed at 16-yearsold in an adult prison in New York for allegedly stealing a backpack. He was held (mostly in solitary) for over three years before being released, and tragically, committed suicide.