Topics:

What is the Black Lives Matter Movement and why is it important?

Is the Black Lives Matter Movement doing more harm than good?

What is the purpose of the Black Lives Matter Movement?

Who founded the Black Lives Movement?

Titles:

The Troubled State of Race Relations in America:  The Rise of the Black Lives Movement

The Impact of the Black Lives Movement on the Discourse over Race Relations in the U.S.

How a Grassroots Idea became an International Movement through Social Media

The Purpose and Future of the Black Lives Matter Movement[h1]

Abstract:[h2]

Established in 2012 following the high-profile shooting of 17-year-old African-American Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman who was subsequently acquitted. Since that time, the Black Lives Matter movement has become a global phenomenon that has attracted both praise and criticism.  The three co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, also remain active today in their efforts to educate Americans concerning the extrajudicial killings of black Americans by vigilantes and law enforcement authorities across the country. To gain some new insights into this movement, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature concerning the Black Lives Matter movement to provide an overview of the organization and what initiatives it has undertaken to promote its causes. Finally, a discussion concerning the implications of the Black Lives Matter movement for the future is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning the Black Lives Matters movement in the conclusion.

Keywords:  [h3]Black Lives Matter, racism, Trayvon Martin

Outline:

I.  Introduction

II.  Body:

     a.  Overview of the Black Lives Matter movement

     b.  Initiatives by the Black Lives Matter movement

     c.  Implications of the Black Lives Matter Movement for the Future

III.  Conclusion

Beginning notes

Writing about a fast-moving issue such as a Black Lives Matter essay is akin to trying to hit a moving target – as soon as you find what you think is the latest information, something is already taking place elsewhere that makes everything you found obsolete. Consequently, students must learn how to recognize where to draw the line on timeliness and relevancy of their resources, and use the best of what is available to support their thesis. Writing a Black Lives matter essay can also be challenging because of the sensitive nature of the issues that are involved, and it can be difficult to avoid being forthright without being offensive. Nevertheless, the straightforward steps presented here can help guide the process and provide a useful framework in which to write about virtually any topic.

Introduction

The Black Lives Matter movement is a nationwide chapter-based organization that is committed to validating the lives of African-Americans (About the Black Lives Matter network, 2016). Founded in 2012 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman who was responsible for the death of Trayvon Martin, the Black Lives Matter movement represents a renewed effort on the part of the African-American community in the United States to counter the violent racism that continues to permeate throughout American society today (About the Black Lives Matter network, 2016). Despite significant progress in other civil rights areas, the organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement emphasize the need to educate all Americans concerning the extrajudicial killings of black Americans by vigilantes and law enforcement authorities across the country. [h4]To determine the facts, this paper reviews the relevant literature to provide an overview of the Black Lives Matter movement, its efforts to date and its implications for the future. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning the Black Lives Matters movement are presented in the conclusion[h5].

Overview of the Black Lives Matter Movement

The creation of the Black Lives Matter movement was a response by the African-American community to a number of deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement authorities and vigilantes across the country in recent years. For instance, according to the executive director of the Africa masters program in international studies at Concordia University Irvine, “These criminal acts by police against their own citizenry have been exacerbated by the failure of the justice system to convict or in many cases even investigate the perpetrators which for many equates to a system of state-sanctioned police violence” (Faraji, 2016, p. 3). For instance, the guiding principles of this organization state that the Black Lives Matter movement “is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally...
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1).[h6]
The three co-founders of Black Lives Matter, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, report that the impetus for the organization’s creation was the brutal murder of a young black man, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, by a white man, George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch leader, who was not held accountable by the state of Florida based on his claim of self-defense and Martin was even inexplicably charged with his own murder posthumously (The creation of a movement, 2016).  The reaction of organizer Garza to the acquittal of the defendant in Trayvon Martin’s murder case became the rallying cry and hashtag for a major movement when she wrote on her Facebook page, “I continue to be surprised at how little Black lives matter" (Greenburg, 2017).  

This reaction, which was echoed across the country, was due in large part to the increased use of deadly force against African Americans by law enforcement authorities in particular with apparent impunity. Moreover, Zimmerman subsequently auctioned off the gun used in this killing, describing it as an “American Firearm Icon” and reported that a portion of the proceeds would be donated to the Black Lives Matter movement (Linder, 2014). Representatives of the Black Lives Matter organization refused to comment on the intended donation and reiterated their guiding principles of “ending senseless gun violence in the United States” (as cited in Linder, 2014, para. 4).[h7] This tragic seminal event became the inspiration for many of the initiatives launched by the Black Lives Matter movement since its foundation and these initiatives are discussed further below.

Initiatives by the Black Lives Matter Movement

To further their cause, the organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement sponsor 9-month-long youth empowerment programs for young people aged 11 to 17 years in various venues nationwide as well as in other countries. According to the organization’s Web site, the purpose of the empowerment programs are “To empower our youth with the knowledge, skills and confidence to conduct themselves with poise and professionalism” (Youth empowerment strategy program, 2016, para. 2). The Blacks Lives Matter movement also received significant nationwide publicity during the recent presidential campaign when representatives from the organization challenged Democratic candidates, including Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, concerning their views about rampant violence against black people across the country (Fletcher, 2015). In addition, the Black Lives Matter movement also sponsors periodic monthly events such as the recent “Black Lives Matter – Black Futures Month” in February 2016 (Youth empowerment strategy program, 2016). Beyond the foregoing initiatives, the Black Lives Matter movement is gaining growing assistance from the 41,000-member strong InterVarsity Christian Fellowship which has called for its national membership to actively support the organization’s efforts and mission (Grant, 2016).

Implications of the Black Lives Matter Movement for the Future

"Black lives matter" is a simple affirmative sentence. The need to affirm, explain, or qualify that affirmation stems from the fact that this statement is not universally accepted as a truthful or legitimate claim. Concomitantly, the inverse proposition is always present: Black lives do not matter. That proposition requires no amplification for explanation. It is the ground on which all other claims about black life seem to rest in this society (Gafney, 2017, p. 204). Although racism within the criminal justice system is not a new phenomenon, over the past few years incidents of state (or state-protected) violence and the Black Lives Matter movement— founded in response—have become a dominant feature of our national conversation (Neary, 2017).

According to one of the organization’s co-founders, Alicia Garza, the implications of the Black Lives Matter movement for the future include its use as a global platform for those working to ensure that black lives do in fact matter and holding policymakers accountable for their decisions (Fletcher, 2015). Indeed, it is reasonable to suggest that the Black Lives Movement even played a role in Hillary Clinton’s surprising upset loss in the recent U.S. presidential election. For example, in an interview with Hillary Clinton, Garza pointed out that:

You ran one of the most racist presidential campaigns against what is now the first Black president in this country, in 2008. You were an adamant supporter of policies that led to hyper-incarceration. Now, your campaign speeches are all about saying 'Black Lives Matter' and ending mass incarceration. But you helped facilitate it. (as cited in Fletcher, 2015[h8], p. 9)

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Democratic front-runner refused to respond to this observation, but…