After teenager Trayvon Martin’s killer was found ‘innocent’ in 2013, a group of three female activists used the slogan Black Lives Matter for the first time. The Black Lives Matter movement was born that same year and soon positioned itself as one of the largest movements in the history of social movements in the United States, in terms of capacity for mobilization, protest and participation.
‘They are going to kill me!’ George Floyd (1973-2020) shouted a few minutes before being assassinated by an officer in the Minneapolis Police Department, as if he already knew what would happen. The importance of George Floyd’s case is that his death did not spark only a simple protest the next day, but transcended, made history, and gave even more life to the already existing Black Lives Matter movement. Floyd’s unfortunate death outraged and, at the same time, inspired many people to join the ongoing mobilization in the streets across the United States and around the world.
As noted in ‘Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter’ by Veronica Chambers, “At least fifteen million Americans participated in some sort of Black Lives Matter action in 2020, likely making it the largest protest movement in the country’s history.”
Black Lives Matter has stood out as a resistance movement that, in essence, is against police brutality, against discrimination, against white supremacy, and in favor of the freedom of the African American people. It is supported by artists, professionals, public figures, athletes, working class people, students, men, women, and youth. It is a movement that encourages us to be outraged every time a member of the African American community (or even a member of another historically oppressed community) is unjustly killed. It inspires us to continually organize ourselves through social struggle to strive for true justice.
‘Defund the police!’ is one of the calls frequently made by activists during protests, marches and civil disobedience actions. Dismantling the repressive police force is the least that could be done to repair the damage that has been done, to end the violence and unnecessary police killings of civilians. To struggle for the right to a life with dignity, for the end of police brutality and so the crimes committed by the police do not go unpunished.
Those who make up the Black Lives Matter movement understand very well that freedom is won through struggle. And that is what they have been doing since 2013, that is the example that this movement leads with. In these interesting times in which we have lived, we must not hesitate to stand in solidarity with the most oppressed communities, and support those whose circumstances have led them to say: Black Lives Matter!
Marco I. Dávila C. | Email: maidaca85@gmail.com| Facebook: Ixtli Amoxtli | Instagram: @xmiraza | Twitter: @pormiraza1
Imagen: Financial Times
