Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter is a movement to bring justice, healing, and freedom to Black people across the globe by addressing systemic racism and violence against Black people.

In 2013, three Black organizers – Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi – created Black Lives Matter in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman.

Now a global movement, Black Lives Matter members organize locally to intervene in discrimination and violence inflicted on Black communities.

Black Lives Matter does not mean that other people’s lives don’t matter.

Black Lives Matter does not mean that other people’s lives don’t matter. Instead, it brings attention to the fact that right now our society, systems and institutions act as if Black lives don’t matter. This is brought home in the starkest possible way as we witness Black people dying at the hands of police at much higher rates than other people.

By valuing and affirming Black people’s lives, their humanity, and their contributions, we all will benefit as a society.

POLICE BRUTALITY IN MINNESOTA
AND THE KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD

Police in Minneapolis are seven times more likely to use force against Black people than against white people, according to data collected by the city since 2015. This means that even though Black people make up less than 20 percent of the population in Minneapolis, nearly 60 percent of the time Minneapolis police use force, the person subjected to that force is Black.

On May 25, 2020, a 46-year-old Black man named George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. His death sparked protests not just in Minneapolis and cities throughout Minnesota, but around the world. Millions of people – in the middle of a global pandemic – gathered to denounce police brutality and to call for reform after a long line of deaths of Black people by law enforcement.

While Black Lives Matter chapters took part in and organized many of these protests, many who participated had never taken part in any kind of protest. In the aftermath of the protests, governments, companies, and other institutions have called for reforms to policies, structures and systems that have been embedded with structural and systemic racism. Elected officials and community leaders have cited the George Floyd protests as a pivotal moment in our collective understanding of the pernicious effect of racism on the lives of Americans and the urgent need for change.