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Introduction
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people and to promote anti-racism. Its primary concerns are police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The movement began in response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, among others. BLM and its related organizations typically advocate for various policy changes related to black liberation and criminal justice reform. While there are specific organizations that label themselves "Black Lives Matter", such as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the overall movement is a decentralized network with no formal hierarchy. As of 2021[update], there are about 40 chapters in the United States and Canada. The slogan "Black Lives Matter" itself has not been trademarked by any group.
In 2013, activists and friends Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi originated the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two more African Americans, Michael Brown—resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri—and Eric Garner in New York City. 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. In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter activists became involved in the 2016 United States presidential election.
The movement gained international attention during global protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. An estimated 15 to 26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, making it one of the largest protest movements in the country's history. Despite being characterized by opponents as violent, the overwhelming majority of BLM demonstrations have been peaceful.
The popularity of Black Lives Matter has shifted over time, largely due to changing perceptions among white Americans. In 2020, 67% of adults in the United States expressed support for the movement, declining to 51% of U.S. adults in 2023. Support among people of color has, however, held strong, with 81% of African Americans, 61% of Hispanics and 63% of Asian Americans expressing support for Black Lives Matter as of 2023. (Full article...)
Selected general articles
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Image 1Patrick Harmon was a 50-year-old African-American man fatally shot from behind by police officer Clinton Fox in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 13, 2017. The shooting took place after Harmon was pulled over by an officer for riding a bicycle without proper lighting. The incident led to protests in Salt Lake City, some organized by Black Lives Matter. (Full article...)
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In June 2020, the Trump administration began deploying federal law enforcement forces to select cities in the United States in response to rioting and monument removals amid the George Floyd protests. Federal law enforcement elements were deployed under Operation Legend, Operation Diligent Valor, and the Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cited an executive order regarding "monuments, memorials and statues" as allowing federal officers to be deployed without the permission of individual U.S. states, as the federal government "has the right to enforce federal laws, investigate crimes and make arrests" within states.
On June 1, 2020, in Washington, D.C., federal law enforcement deployed riot control tactics and munitions against protesters to expand a security perimeter, which allowed for President Donald Trump to later walk from the White House to the historic St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square for a brief photo op. Days later, anonymous federal personnel in tactical and riot gear began to appear on D.C. streets, with many refusing to identify themselves. In July 2020, federal forces were deployed in Portland, Oregon as part of the PACT, where their use of unmarked cars and officers in camouflage without clear identification badges generated outrage. DHS officials defended the use of unmarked vehicles and unidentified officers in camouflage; acting DHS deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli said "Unmarked police vehicles are so common it's barely worth discussion" and that officers wore the same uniforms and equipment each day, so demonstrators could nevertheless identify them. (Full article...) -
Image 3Colin in Black & White is an American drama television limited series that premiered on Netflix on October 29, 2021.
In advance of the series premiere, the pilot episode received a preview screening in the Primetime program at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. (Full article...) -
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On May 3, 2024, United States Air Force serviceman Roger Fortson was fatally shot in his home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, by Deputy Eddie Duran of the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office. Duran was fired by the end of the month, after the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office concluded that Duran's "use of deadly force was not objectively reasonable" because "Fortson did not make any hostile, attacking movements". (Full article...) -
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Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and TV personality, who is also the founder of the National Action Network civil rights organization. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts a weekday radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, which is nationally syndicated by Urban One, and he is a political analyst and weekend host for MSNBC, hosting PoliticsNation.
Sharpton is known for making various controversial and incendiary comments over his career. He has been accused of making homophobic, antisemitic and racially insensitive remarks as well as inciting incidents of violence. In 1987 he was highly active in publicizing the Tawana Brawley accusation in the media; the allegation was later proved to be false. (Full article...) -
Image 6Edson Da Costa was a 25-year-old Black Portuguese man who died on 21 June 2017 after being stopped by police on 15 June in Beckton, London. The unclear circumstances of his death led to protests. In June 2019, an inquest jury found that Da Costa died by misadventure from the consequences of a cardiorespiratory arrest after he placed in his mouth a plastic bag containing 88 wraps of class A drugs. The coroner ruled that there was no "legal or factual basis" for a conclusion that could be critical of the police. An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct concluded that the restraint by officers was necessary and proportionate.
The incident prompted a call for a review of first aid training and advice given to police officers for dealing with a person who is believed to have swallowed items. (Full article...) -
Image 7Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin is a non-fiction book written by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the parents of Trayvon Martin, a teenager whose death by shooting drew nationwide protests against racial violence. (Full article...)
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Image 8"Snow on tha Bluff" is a song by American rapper J. Cole. Named after the 2012 drama film of the same name, the track addresses an unnamed woman, assumed to be fellow rapper and activist Noname, while touching on police brutality and race relations. The track's critical reception was mixed, and albeit with some praise for Cole's lyricism, with most criticizing him for taking aim at Noname.
It was released on June 16, 2020, marking J. Cole's first release of 2020. (Full article...) -
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In August 2020, eight artists painted a Black Lives Matter street mural in Salt Lake City's Washington Square Park, outside the Salt Lake City and County Building, in the U.S. state of Utah. The city had commissioned the painting with a contest "to support and memorialize the national movement to eliminate systemic racism". (Full article...) -
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Police brutality is the use of excessive or unwarranted force by law enforcement against civilians. Police brutality involves physical or psychological harm to a person and can involve beatings, killing, intimidation tactics, racist abuse, and torture.
In the 2000s, the federal government attempted tracking the number of people killed in interactions with US police, but the program was defunded. In 2006, a law was passed to require reporting of homicides at the hands of the police, but many police departments do not obey it. Some journalists and activists have provided estimates, limited to the data available to them. In 2019, 1,004 people were shot and killed by police according to The Washington Post, whereas the Mapping Police Violence project counted 1,098 killed. Statista claimed that in 2020, 1,021 people were killed by police, while the project Mapping Police Violence counted 1,126. From 1980 to 2018, more than 30,000 people have died by police violence in the United States, according to a 2021 article published in The Lancet. For 2023, Mapping Police Violence counted at least 1,247 individuals killed, making it the deadliest year on record. The US police has killed more people compared to any other industrialized democracy, with a disproportionate number of people shot being people of color. Since 2015, around 2,500 of those killed by police were fleeing. (Full article...) -
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Brittany Ann Byuarm Newsome Bass (born May 13, 1985) is an American filmmaker, activist and speaker from Charlotte, North Carolina. She is best known for her act of civil disobedience on June 27, 2015, when she was arrested for removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house grounds in the aftermath of the Charleston church shooting. The resulting publicity put pressure on state officials to remove the flag, and it was taken down permanently on July 10, 2015. (Full article...) -
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DeRay Mckesson (born July 9, 1985) is an American civil rights activist, podcaster, and former school administrator. An early supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement, he has been active in the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore, Maryland and on social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram. He has also written for HuffPost and The Guardian. Along with Johnetta Elzie, Brittany Packnett, and Samuel Sinyangwe, Mckesson launched Campaign Zero, a policy platform to end police violence. He is currently part of Crooked Media and hosts Pod Save the People.
On February 3, 2016, Mckesson announced his candidacy in the 2016 Baltimore mayoral election. He finished with 3,445 votes (2.6%), placing sixth in the Democratic Party primary on April 26. (Full article...) -
Image 13Deborah Danner, 66, was fatally shot by New York City Police Department Sgt. Hugh Barry on October 18, 2016, in her home in the Bronx, New York. According to police sources, she was armed with first a pair of scissors and then a baseball bat. According to an emergency medical technician, she had put the scissors down, and later on picked up a baseball bat. Barry was charged with murder and manslaughter in May 2017. He was acquitted in February 2018.
On October 18, 2016, a neighbor called 911 at 6:05 p.m. and reported that Danner was erratic. Police had been called to her apartment before. According to the police, Danner had scissors, and Barry talked her into putting them down. Then she picked up a baseball bat and swung at him. Barry shot Danner twice, fatally wounding her. He was the only officer in the bedroom, although others were on the scene. (Full article...) -
Image 14Generation Revolution is a 2016 British documentary film directed by Cassie Quarless and Usayd Younis. It follows the stories of Black and Asian activists in London who aim to change the social and political landscape in the capital. The film preceded the inception of the UK's Black Lives Matter movement.
The film premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest on 14 June 2016. It released on Netflix UK & Ireland on 1 October 2020. (Full article...) -
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Black Feminist Future is a community initiative formed by members of the African American feminist community, with the aim of amplifying the power of black women and girls in community organizing and online engagement. The group was formed in reaction to the aftermath of a police shooting at Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.
In the aftermath of the shooting of Korryn Gaines, Black Feminist Future urged people across the country to build altars to honor black women. (Full article...) -
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Civil unrest began in the Uptown district of the U.S. city of Minneapolis on June 3, 2021, as a reaction to news reports that law enforcement officers had killed a wanted suspect during an arrest. The law enforcement killing occurred atop a parking ramp near West Lake Street and Girard Avenue. Police fired several rounds, killing the person at the scene. In an initial statement about the encounter, the U.S. Marshals Service alleged that a person failed to comply with arresting officers and produced a gun. Crowds gathered on West Lake Street near the parking ramp soon afterwards as few details were known about the incident or the deceased person, who was later identified as Winston Boogie Smith, a 32-year-old black American man.
An initial period of civil disorder occurred over four nights along a three-block stretch of West Lake Street. Several business were vandalized during the overnight hours of June 3 and 4, resulting in several arrests. Protests were held over subsequent days with demonstrators periodically occupying a street intersection near where Smith was killed. There was no known video evidence of the police encounter with Smith, and an attorney for the passenger in Smith's car and protesters disputed the law enforcement account of events. The night of June 13, a protester, Deona Marie Knajdek, was killed when a vehicle rammed into a demonstration in the street. Over the next several days, demonstrators attempted to reoccupy a portion of the street and erected makeshift barricades that were removed by Minneapolis police officers. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state's National Guard on standby orders for possible deployment to Minneapolis. (Full article...) -
Image 17Muhiyidin El Amin Moye (April 22, 1985 – February 6, 2018), also known as Muhiyidin d'Baha, was a leading Black Lives Matter activist known nationally for crossing a yellow police tape line to snatch a Confederate battle flag from a demonstrator on live television in Charleston, South Carolina, in February 2017. (Full article...)
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Image 188 to Abolition is a police and prison abolition resource created during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. (Full article...)
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Image 19"Driving while black" (DWB) is a sardonic description of racial profiling of African-American motor vehicle drivers. It implies that a motorist may be stopped by a police officer largely because of racial bias rather than any apparent violation of traffic law. It is a word play of driving while intoxicated. (Full article...)
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Image 20
In the aftermath of the August 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake, protests, riots, and civil unrest occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and around the United States as part of the larger United States racial unrest and Black Lives Matter movements. In addition to street protests, marches, and demonstrations, the shooting also led to the 2020 American athlete boycotts.
The demonstrations were marked by daily peaceful protesting followed by confrontations with law enforcement, rioting, and arson at night. A state of emergency was declared on August 23, and the National Guard was activated the next day. Further confrontations arose when armed militia members, whom Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth described as "like a group of vigilantes", arrived with the express intent to protect businesses in the city. (Full article...) -
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Janaya Khan is a social activist from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Khan is a co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto as well as an international ambassador for the Black Lives Matter Network. Much of their work analyzes intersectional topics including the Black Lives Matter movement, queer theory, Black feminism, and organized protest strategies. (Full article...) -
Image 22On July 18, 2016, Charles Kinsey, a behavior therapist, was shot in the leg by a police officer in North Miami, Florida. Kinsey had been retrieving his 27-year-old autistic patient, Arnaldo Rios Soto, who had run away from his group home. Police encountered the pair while they were searching for an armed suicidal man. Kinsey was lying on the ground with his hands in the air, and trying to negotiate between officers and his patient, when he was shot. The officer who shot Kinsey said he had been aiming at the patient, who the officer believed was threatening Kinsey with a gun. Both Kinsey and his patient were unarmed.
Following the shooting, Kinsey said he was handcuffed and left bleeding on the ground for 20 minutes without police giving him medical aid. The incident received significant media attention following the appearance of cellphone video footage. The officer who shot Kinsey, Jonathan Aledda, was arrested in 2017, and charged with attempted manslaughter and negligence. In June 2019, Aledda was found guilty by a jury of culpable negligence. One day after being found guilty, Aledda was also fired from the police force. He was sentenced to probation and required to write a 2,500 word essay on policing. He ultimately completed a total of five months of probation and no prison time. After Aledda was found guilty, Kinsey and the City of North Miami reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount in a federal lawsuit Kinsey had filed. In February 2022, Aledda's conviction was overturned. (Full article...) -
Image 23On March 28, 2019, Javier Ambler II died of heart failure while being arrested by police in Austin, Texas, after fleeing from deputies who sought to stop him for a traffic violation. Ambler was tased multiple times by authorities. Video of Ambler's death, recorded by police officers, was obtained and released by news organizations in June 2020. During the arrest Ambler repeatedly stated "I can't breathe" and "please save me" before dying. Ambler's death was recorded by a Live PD television crew, and the recording has since been destroyed, according to A&E Networks. (Full article...)
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Image 24
During the civil unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, a number of monuments and memorials associated with racial injustice were vandalized, destroyed or removed, or commitments to remove them were announced. This occurred mainly in the United States, but also in several other countries. Some of the monuments in question had been the subject of lengthy, years-long efforts to remove them, sometimes involving legislation and/or court proceedings. In some cases the removal was legal and official; in others, most notably in Alabama and North Carolina, laws prohibiting the removal of monuments were deliberately broken.
Initially, protesters targeted monuments related to the Confederate States of America. As the scope of the protests broadened to include other forms of systemic racism, many statues of other controversial figures such as Christopher Columbus, Junípero Serra, Juan de Oñate and Kit Carson were torn down or removed. Monuments to many other local figures connected with racism were also targeted by protestors.. Statues of American slave owners such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and Francis Scott Key were also vandalised or removed. According to the Huffington Post, by October 2020 over a hundred Confederate symbols had been "removed, relocated or renamed", based on data from the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Full article...) -
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Blair Imani (born Blair Elizabeth Brown, October 31, 1993) is an American author, historian, and activist. She identifies as queer, Black, bisexual and Muslim. She is a member of the Black Lives Matter movement, and is known for protesting the shooting of Alton Sterling and Executive Order 13769. (Full article...)
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Selected images
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Image 1Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., as seen from space on June 8, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 3Protest in response to the Alton Sterling killing, San Francisco, California, July 8, 2016 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 4Protest march in response to the Jamar Clark killing, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 6Black Lives Matter demonstration in Oakland, California, December 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 7Protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London, June 7, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 8A Black Lives Matter die-in over rail tracks, protesting alleged police brutality in Saint Paul, Minnesota (September 20, 2015) (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 9A demonstrator raising awareness of the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, April 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 10Black Lives Matter protest on September 20, 2015, against police brutality in St. Paul, Minnesota (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 11Protest march in response to the killing of Philando Castile, St. Paul, Minnesota, July 7, 2016 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 12Black Lives Matter protest at Herald Square, Manhattan, November 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 13"What happened to 'All Lives Matter'?" sign at a protest against Donald Trump, January 29, 2017 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 16Vehicle with a BLM sticker, September 18, 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 17The empty pedestal of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol. Subject to increasing controversy since the 1990s, when his prior reputation as a philanthropist came under scrutiny due to a growing awareness of his slave trading, in June 2020 the statue was toppled, defaced and pushed into Bristol Harbour. (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 18"Black Lives Matter" on the facade of the Washington National Cathedral, June 10, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 19Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter activists in Westlake Park, Seattle, August 8, 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 20Demonstration at Christiansborg Slotsplads, Copenhagen, June 7, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 21A Black Lives Matter protest of police brutality in the rotunda of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, in December 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 22Ferguson, Missouri, August 17, 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 23Al Sharpton led the Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 24George Floyd protests at Lafayette Square, Washington D.C., May 30, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 25Map depicting rates of police killings by state in the United States in 2018 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 27Black Lives Matter protest against St. Paul police brutality at Metro Green Line, September 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 28Protests in May 2020 after George Floyd's death (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 30Black Lives Matter protester at Macy's Herald Square, November 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 31Black Lives Matter protest in Aotea Square, Auckland, June 14, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 32One-year commemoration of the killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson unrest at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, August 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 33An activist holds a "Black Lives Matter" sign outside the Minneapolis Police Fourth Precinct building following the officer-involved killing of Jamar Clark on November 15, 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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