Black Lives Matter
From movement to revolution
Black Lives Matter (BLM) was founded on July 13, 2013, the same day George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. In 2013, BLM was little more than a hashtag, seemingly destined to die out as these organic reactions to Black deaths often do. Most people still don’t recognize the names of the founders; Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. The organization has never been dependent on a flamboyant leader but is highly decentralized, with sixteen official chapters in the United States and Canada. In 2013, there was little indication they’d reach the point where their name would be painted across from the White House in Washington, DC, in front of Trump Tower in New York City, at the site of a slave auction in Birmingham, and in Orlando, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, and more.
Black Lives Matter gained national prominence after the shooting death in 2014 of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, by the police and the choking of Eric Garner by police in New York. BLM organized mass protests in those cities, yet in the end, the result was the same as with Trayvon’s killer: no justice, no justice — never any justice. There were more deaths at the hands of the police, the pattern was predictable, anger and protests continued, the list of names we said became longer and longer, but no real…
