Thus the Republic falls to applause: Black Lives Matter

[Armonica_Templar]

I have decided to do this thread

It is not an easy task on this job so lets get the basics down

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence toward black people. BLM regularly organizes protests around the deaths of black people in killings by law enforcement officers, and broader issues of racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system.


In 2013, the movement began with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for its street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans: Michael Brown, resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, and Eric Garner in New York City.[1][2]

Since the Ferguson protests, participants in the movement have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African Americans by police actions or while in police custody, including those of Tamir Rice, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Jonathan Ferrell,Sandra Bland, Samuel DuBose, and Freddie Gray, which led to protests and rioting in Baltimore. In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter began to publicly challenge politicians—including politicians in the 2016 United States presidential election—to state their positions on BLM issues. The overall Black Lives Matter movement, however, is a decentralized network and has no formal hierarchy or structure.[3]

Contents
  [hide] 

• 1Founding
  • 1.1Structure and organization
    
  • 1.2Tactics
    
  • 1.3Philosophy
    
  • 1.4Influence
    
• 2Notable protests and demonstrations
  • 2.12014
    
  • 2.22015
    
  • 2.32016
    
• 32016 presidential election
  • 3.1Influence
    
  • 3.2Protests
    
• 4"All Lives Matter"
  • 4.1Criticism
    
• 5Criticism
  • 5.1Issues protested
    
  • 5.2Tactics
    
  • 5.3White groups
    
• 6Media depictions
  
• 7See also
  
• 8References
  
• 9Further reading
  
• 10External links
  

Founding

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Nekima Levy-Pounds speaks during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Minneapolis.

In the summer of 2013, after George Zimmerman's acquittal for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the movement began with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.[4] The movement was co-founded by three black community organizers: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, andOpal Tometi.[5][6]
BLM claims inspiration from the African-American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power movement, the 1980s Black feminist movement,Pan-Africanism, Anti-Apartheid Movement, Hip hop, LGBTQ social movements and Occupy Wall Street.[7]

Garza, Cullors and Tometi met through "Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity" (BOLD), a national organization that trains community organizers.[7] They began to question how they were going to respond to the devaluation of black lives after Zimmerman's acquittal. Garza wrote a Facebook post titled "A Love Note to Black People" in which she wrote: "Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter". Cullors replied: "#BlackLivesMatter". Tometi then added her support, and Black Lives Matter was born as an online campaign.[7]

In August 2014, BLM members organized their first in-person national protest in the form of a "Black Lives Matter Freedom Ride" toFerguson, Missouri after the shooting of Michael Brown.[7] More than five hundred members descended upon Ferguson to participate in non-violent demonstrations. Of the many groups that descended on Ferguson, Black Lives Matter emerged from Ferguson as one of the best organized and most visible groups, becoming nationally recognized as symbolic of the emerging movement.[7] Since August 2014, Black Lives Matter has organized more than one thousand protest demonstrations. On Black Friday in November, Black Lives Matter staged demonstrations at stores and malls across the United States.[7]

In 2015, after the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, black activists around the world modeled efforts for reform on Black Lives Matter and the Arab Spring.[7] This international movement has been referred to as the "Black Spring".[8][9] Connections have also been forged with parallel international efforts such as the Dalit rights movement.[10] Expanding beyond street protests, BLM has expanded to activism, such as the 2015 University of Missouri protests, on American college campuses.[11]

The U.S population's perception of the movement varies considerably by race. According to a September 2015 poll on race relations, nearly two-thirds of African Americans mostly agree with Black Lives Matter, while 42% of white Americans are unsure or do not have an opinion about Black Lives Matter.[12] Forty-one percent of white people thought Black Lives Matter advocated violence, 59% of whites thought Black Lives Matter distracted attention from the real issues of racial discrimination, and 46% of whites thought Black Lives Matter was a movement. By comparison, 82% of black people thought Black Lives Matter was a nonviolent movement, 26% of blacks thought Black Lives Matter distracted attention from the real issues of racial discrimination, and 67% of blacks thought Black Lives Matter was a movement.[12][13] A similar poll in June 2016 found that 65% of black American adults supported Black Lives Matter and 40% of white American adults support it. Fifty-nine percent of black Americans thought Black Lives Matter would "be effective, in the long run, in helping blacks achieve equality" and 34% of white Americans thought so.[14][15]

Structure and organization
The phrase "Black Lives Matter" can reference a twitter hashtag and a slogan, social movement, and loose confederation of affiliated groups and organizations that advocate for multiple causes related to racial injustice. As a movement, Black Lives Matter is decentralized, and leaders have emphasized the importance of local organizing over national leadership.[16] Activist DeRay McKesson has commented that the movement "encompasses all who publicly declare that Black lives matter and devote their time and energy accordingly" [17]

In 2013, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi formed the Black Lives Matter Network. Alicia Garza described the network as an online platform that existed to provide activists with a shared set of principles and goals. Local Black Lives Matter chapters are asked to commit to the organization's list of guiding principals, but operate without a central structure or hierarchy. Alicia Garza has commented that the Network was not interesting in "policing who is and who is not part of the movement".[18][19] Currently, there are at least twenty-three Black Lives Matter chapters in the U.S., Canada, and Ghana.[20] Other Black Lives Matter leaders include: DeRay Mckesson, Shaun King, Marissa Johnson,Nekima Levy-Pounds, and Johnetta Elzie.

In 2015 Johnetta Elzie, DeRay McKesson, Brittany Packett, and Samuel Sinyangwe, initiated Campaign Zero, a campaign aimed at promoting policy reforms to end police brutality. The campaign released a ten point plan for reforms to policing, with recommendations including: ending broken windows policing, increasing community oversight of police departments, and creating stricter guidelines for the use of force.[21] New York Times reporter John Eligon reported that some activists had expressed concerns that the campaign was overly focused on legislative remedies for police violence.[22]

The loose structure of Black Lives Matter has contributed to confusion in the press and among activists, as actions or statements from chapters or individuals are sometimes attributed to "Black Lives Matter" as a whole.[23][24] Matt Pearce, writing for the Los Angeles Times, commented that the “the words could be serving as a political rallying cry or referring to the activist organization. Or it could be the fuzzily applied label used to describe a wide range of protests and conversations focused on racial inequality.” [25] Political Scientist Frederick C. Harris has argued that this "group-centered model of leadership" is distinct from the older charismatic leadership model that characterized civil rights organizations like Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. [26]

Tactics

Black Lives Matter protest against police brutality in St. Paul, Minnesota

Black Lives Matter originally used social media—including hashtag activism—to reach thousands of people rapidly.[7] Since then, Black Lives Matters has embraced a diversity of tactics.[27] BLM generally engages in direct action tactics that make people uncomfortable enough that they must address the issue.[28]

BLM has been known to build power through protest.[29] BLM has held rallies and marches, including one for the death of Corey Jones inPalm Beach, Florida.[30] BLM has also staged die-ins and held one during the 2015 Twin Cities Marathon.[31]

Political slogans used during demonstrations include the eponymous "Black Lives Matter", "Hands up, don't shoot" (a later discredited reference attributed to Michael Brown[32]), "I can't breathe"[33][34] (referring to Eric Garner), "White silence is violence",[35] "No justice, no peace",[36][37] and "Is my son next?",[38] among others.

Most of the protesters actively distinguish themselves from the older generation of black leadership, such as Al Sharpton, by their aversion to middle-class traditions such as church involvement, Democratic Party loyalty, and respectability politics.[39][40]

Songs such as "Alright" have been used as a rallying call.[41] Beyoncé's most recent production Lemonade featured Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin's mothers crying while holding the last images they have of their sons, in effect propelling the issue of police brutality to a national stage.[42] The video for her single "Formation" (2016) celebrates southern black culture and features a line of policemen holding up their hands while a hooded black boy dances in front of them. The video also features a shot of graffiti on a wall reading "stop shooting us".[43]
Memes are also important in garnering support for and against the Black Lives Matter new social movement. Information communication technologies such as Facebook andTwitter spread memes and are important tools for garnering web support in hopes of producing a spillover effect into the offline world.[44] The use of ICTs facilitate the spread of the message "All Lives Matter" as a response to the Black Lives Matter hashtag as well as the "Blue Lives Matter" hashtag as a response to Beyonce's halftime performance speaking out against police brutality.[45][46]

Philosophy

Black Lives Matter protest at Union Square, Manhattan

Black Lives Matter incorporates those traditionally on the margins of black freedom movements.[7] The organization's website, for instance, states that Black Lives Matter is "a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of black people by police and vigilantes" and, embracing intersectionality, that "Black Lives Matter affirms the lives of black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, black undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all black lives along the gender spectrum."[47]

Founder Alicia Garza summed up the philosophy behind Black Lives Matter as follows: "When we say Black Lives Matter, we are talking about the ways in which Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity. It is an acknowledgement Black poverty andgenocide is state violence. It is an acknowledgment that 1 million Black people are locked in cages in this country–one half of all people in prisons or jails–is an act of state violence. It is an acknowledgment that Black women continue to bear the burden of a relentless assault on our children and our families and that assault is an act of state violence."

Garza went on: "Black queer and trans folks bearing a unique burden in a hetero-patriarchal society that disposes of us like garbage and simultaneously fetishizes us and profits off of us is state violence; the fact that 500,000 Black people in the US are undocumented immigrants and relegated to the shadows is state violence; the fact that Black girls are used as negotiating chips during times of conflict and war is state violence; Black folks living with disabilities and different abilities bear the burden of state-sponsored Darwinian experiments that attempt to squeeze us into boxes of normality defined by White supremacy is state violence. And the fact is that the lives of Black people—not ALL people—exist within these conditions is consequence of state violence."[48]

Influence

Black Lives Matter protest at Herald Square, Manhattan

In 2014, the American Dialect Society chose #BlackLivesMatter as their word of the year.[49][50] Over eleven hundred black professors expressed support for BLM.[51] Several media organizations have referred to BLM as "a new civil rights movement".[1][52][53]#BlackLivesMatter was voted as one of the twelve hashtags that changed the world in 2014.[54]

In 2015, Serena Williams expressed her support for Black Lives Matter, writing to BLM: "Keep it up. Don't let those trolls stop you. We've been through so much for so many centuries, and we shall overcome this too."[55]

As a part of a general assembly, the Unitarian Universalist Church passed a resolution in support of BLM and staged a die-in in Portland, Oregon.[56] Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza—as "The Women of #BlackLivesMatter" — were listed as one of the nine runners-up for The Advocate's Person of the Year.[57]

The February 2015 issue of Essence Magazine and the cover was devoted to Black Lives Matter.[58] In December 2015, BLM was a contender for the Time Magazine Person of the Year award. Angela Merkel won the award while BLM came in fourth of the eight candidates.[59]

On May 9, 2016 Delrish Moss was sworn in as the first permanent African-American police chief in Ferguson, where he acknowledges he faces such challenges as diversifying the police force, creating dramatic improvements in community relations, and addressing issues that catalyzed the Black Lives Matter movement.[60]

Notable protests and demonstrations
2014

Black Lives Matter protester atMacy's Herald Square.

In August 2014, during Labor Day weekend, Black Lives Matter organized a "Freedom Ride", that brought more than 500 African-Americans from across the United States into Ferguson, Missouri, to support the work being done on the ground by local organizations.[61]

Black Lives Matter members and supporters rode in from New York City, Newark, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Miami, Detroit, Houston, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Portland, Tucson, Washington, D.C., and more, in a similar way to that of the Freedom Riders in the 1960s.[62] The movement has been generally involved in the Ferguson unrest, following the death of Michael Brown.[63]
In November in Oakland, California, fourteen Black Lives Matter activists were arrested after they stopped a Bay Area Rapid Transit(BART) train for more than an hour on Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year. The protest, which was led by Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, was organized in response to the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson for the death of Mike Brown.[64][65]

A Black Lives Matter protest of police brutality in the rotunda of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota

In December, 2,000–3,000 people gathered at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, to protest the killings of unarmed black men by police.[66] At least twenty members of a protest that had been using the slogan were arrested.[67] In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, BLM protested the Shooting of Dontre Hamilton, who died in April.[68] Black Lives Matter protested the Shooting of John Crawford III.[69] TheShooting of Renisha McBride was protested by Black Lives Matter.[70]

Also in December, in response to the decision by the grand jury not to indict Darren Wilson on any charges related to the death of Michael Brown, a protest march was held in Berkeley, California. Later, in 2015, protesters and journalists who participated in that rally filed a lawsuit alleging "unconstitutional police attacks" on attendees.[71]

2015

This section is outdated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2015)

In March, BLM protested at Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office, demanding reforms within the Chicago Police Department.[72] In Cobb County, Georgia, the movement protested the death of Nicholas Thomas who was shot and killed by the police.[73]

In April, Black Lives Matter across the United States protested over the death of Freddie Gray which included the 2015 Baltimore protests.[74][75] Black Lives Matter organizers supported the fast food strike in solidarity with fast food workers, and to oppose racial income inequality.[76] On April 14, BLM protested across U.S. cities.[77] In Zion, Illinois, several hundred protested over the fatal shooting of Justus Howell.[78] After the shooting of Walter Scott, Black Lives Matter called for citizen oversight of police.[79]

In May, a protest by BLM in San Francisco was part of a nationwide protest decrying the police killing of black women and girls, which included the deaths of Meagan Hockaday, Aiyana Jones, Rekia Boyd and others.[80] In Cleveland, Ohio, after an officer was acquitted at trial in the Shooting of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, BLM protested.[81] In Madison, Wisconsin, BLM protested after the officer was not charged in the Shooting of Tony Robinson.[82]

In June, after a shooting in a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, BLM issued a statement and condemned the shooting as an act of terror.[83] BLM across the country marched, protested and held vigil for several days after the shooting.[84][85] BLM was part of a march for peace on the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in South Carolina.[86] After the Charleston shooting, a number of memorials to theConfederate States of America were graffitied with "Black Lives Matter" or otherwise vandalized.[87][88] Around 800 people protested in McKinney, Texas after a video was released showing an officer pinning a girl—at a pool party in McKinney, Texas—to the ground with his knees.[89]

In July, BLM protesters shut down Allen Road in Toronto, Ontario, protesting the shooting deaths of two black men in the metropolitan area—Andrew Loku and Jermaine Carby—at the hands of police.[90] BLM activists across the United States began protests over the death of Sandra Bland, an African-American woman, who was allegedly found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas.[91][92] In Cincinnati, Ohio, BLM rallied and protested the Death of Samuel DuBose after he was shot and killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer.[93] In Newark, New Jersey, over a thousand BLM activists marched against police brutality, racial injustice, and economic inequality.[94]

In August, BLM organizers held a rally in Washington, D.C., calling for a stop to violence against transgender women.[95] In St. Louis, Missouri, BLM activists protested the death of Mansur Ball-Bey who was shot and killed by police.[96] In Charlotte, North Carolina, after a judge declared a mistrial in the trial of a white Charlotte police officer who killed an unarmed black man, Jonathan Ferrell, BLM protested and staged die-ins.[97] In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Janelle Monae, Jidenna and other BLM activists marched through North Philadelphia to bring awareness to police brutality and Black Lives Matter.[98]

Around August 9, the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown's death, BLM rallied, held vigil and marched in St. Louis and across the country.[99][100]

One-year commemoration of theShooting of Michael Brown and theFerguson unrest at Barclays Center inBrooklyn, New York

In September, BLM activists shut down streets in Toronto, rallied against police brutality, and stood in solidarity with marginalized black lives. Black Lives Matter was a featured part of the Take Back the Night event in Toronto.[101] In Austin, Texas, over five hundred BLM protesters rallied against police brutality, and several briefly carried protest banners onto Interstate 35.[102] In Baltimore, Maryland, BLM activists marched and protested as hearings began in the Freddie Gray police brutality case.[103] In Sacramento, California, about eight hundred BLM protesters rallied to support a California Senate bill that would increase police oversight.[104] BLM protested the Shooting of Jeremy McDole.[105]

Black Lives Matter protest against St. Paul police brutality at Metro Green Line

In October, Black Lives Matters activists were arrested during a protest of a police chiefs conference in Chicago.[106] Activists in Los Angeles Black Lives Matter activists were among several organizations that disrupted a community meeting with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti at a church in South L.A.[107] The protesters said that Garcetti had broken a promise to work with their organization to plan a meeting. The pastor of the church that hosted the meeting denied that Black Lives Matter organizers had been excluded.[108]

"Rise Up October" straddled the Black Lives Matter Campaign, and brought several protests.[109] Quentin Tarantino and Cornel West, participating in "Rise Up October", decried police violence.[110] A Dunkin Donuts employee in Providence, Rhode Island wrote "black lives matter" on a police officer's cup of coffee which resulted in protests.[clarification needed][111] At UCLA, students protested "Black Bruins Matter" after some students wore blackface to a Kanye West-themed fraternity party.[112]

In November, BLM activists protested after Jamar Clark was shot by Minneapolis Police Department.[113] A continuous protest was organized at the Minneapolis 4th Precinct Police. During the encamped protest, protestors and outside agitators clashed with police, vandalized the station and attempted to ram the station with an SUV.[114][115][116] Later that month a march was organized to honor Jamar Clark, from the 4th Precinct to downtown Minneapolis. After the march, a group of men carrying firearms and body armor[117] appeared and began calling the protesters racial slurs according to a spokesperson for Black Lives Matter. After protesters asked the armed men to leave, the men opened fire, shooting five protesters.[118][119] All injuries required hospitalization, but were not life-threatening. The men fled the scene only to be found later and arrested. The three men arrested were young and white, and observers called them white supremacists.[120][121]

In November 2015, students at Dartmouth College held a peaceful meeting and march after a Black Lives Matter art installation on the campus was vandalized. After the march, a smaller group of students entered the university library and conducted a protest there.[122] The Dartmouth Review, a conservative campus publication, reported that the protesters had shoved other students and used profanity. Campus police and college officials claimed they had not observed any incidents of shoving or other physical violence.[123]

2016
In January, hundreds of BLM protesters marched in San Francisco to protest the December 2, 2015, shooting death of Mario Woods, who was shot by San Francisco Policeofficers. The march was held during a Super Bowl event.[124]

In late May, BLM activists[disputed – discuss] disrupted a speech by Milo Yiannopoulos at DePaul University. Security did not intervene to stop the protests, despite the university requiring organizers to cover the cost of additional security.[125][126]

On July 7, a sniper attack occurred during a rally in Dallas, Texas[127] that was organized to protest the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Five police officers were killed, and seven wounded. Two civilians were also shot, bringing the total number of victims to fourteen. Initial reports were of multiple coordinated snipers, but officials later reported that the suspect, Micah Johnson, who was killed in the incident, acted alone. Before he died, according to police, Johnson said that “he was upset about Black Lives Matter”, and that “he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”[128][128] Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and other conservative lawmakers blamed the shootings on the Black Lives Matter movement.[129][130] The Black Lives Matter network released a statement denouncing the shootings.[131][132][133] On July 8, more than 100 people were arrested at Black Lives Matter protests across the United States.[134]

2016 presidential election
Main article: United States presidential election, 2016
In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter began to publicly challenge politicians—including 2016 United States presidential candidates—to state their positions on BLM issues.[135]

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter#cite_note-eligon-135]
ok.. why this messed up no clue will fix