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Essay: Understanding Black Lives Matter: A Movement Against Racism and Police Brutality

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Black lives matter

Introduction:

BLM is a political and social movement that aims to bring attention to racism, injustice, and inequality that black people face. When the group’s followers join, it’s mostly to oppose police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. Three female Black activists, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullers, and Opal Tometi, founded Black Lives Matter in 2013 as a Black-centered political will and movement-building effort. After George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012, Black Lives Matter began with a social media hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter. Following the killings of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York in 2014, the campaign gained traction across the country. Since then, it has grown into a global movement, notably following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Most recently, #Black Lives Matter has led protests worldwide against police brutality and systemic racism, which affects the Black population.

Context:

The shooting of an unarmed couple in November 2012 drew widespread attention and prompted the black community to protest in order to defend their basic right to life. Following the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, African Americans realized they needed to rise up and fight back against police brutality. cruelty and inequity with which they are treated. Michael Brown was likewise a victim of police violence who did not have a family. At the time, he was just an innocent man wandering through the streets of Ferguson. The jury came to the conclusion that there was There isn’t enough evidence to convict the cop who shot Michael Brown. er, there was a feeling in the black community that the jury was favoring the police and treated Brown’s case The black community, on the other hand, believed that the jury was biased in favor of the police and that Brown’s case was treated as if black lives didn’t matter.

There was also a sense that Black people are frequently considered a threat to society, and this thinking is tragically impacting the next generation. Despite attempts to raise awareness, it is widely agreed that not enough is being done to eradicate racism. Following the continuing murder of black people, the Black Lives Matter movement was formed to inspire individuals to speak up and unite against racial discrimination against black people, as well as to fight against the expectation of normalcy established by white supremacy. Anthony Bradley believes so. Because black people are persons, their lives count.

It is insufficient to claim that black lives matter without elaborating on why they do. Some white people, for example, have depersonalized themselves from blacks because they believe they appear to be criminals and should not be treated with respect since they do not demonstrate compassion for one another. Because humans are not self-sufficient, self-reliant, individualistic beings who can thrive without the help of others, black lives count (Anthony Bradley).

As a result, society and the police must treat black people with the respect they deserve. When people discuss the lives of black people, it does not mean that the lives of other people are unimportant. Black people are given more attention simply because they are the ones who are most oppressed by the police. Furthermore, black individuals should not exploit the situation by breaking the law. If laws are broken, those who break them should face the consequences, but in a fair manner. Bad policing has had a significant impact on how black people are treated.

Aim:

Michael Brown and a companion were walking along Canfield Drive, a two-lane street in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014, when a police officer drove by and directed them to use the sidewalk. After exchanging comments, the white officer confronted Brown, a black 18-year-old. The officer and Brown got into a scuffle, which worsened the situation. Brown, who was unarmed, was shot and killed by the police. People protesting Brown’s killing shatter car windows and take away armloads of food, wine, and other looted things from businesses after a candlelight vigil. Some demonstrators mock police personnel by standing on police cars.

A Quatre convenience store on West Florissant Avenue is robbed and burnt, mere blocks from where Brown was shot. Other enterprises have been severely harmed or destroyed. It’s the start of a string of tumultuous evenings. The demonstrations bolstered the Black Lives Matter movement, which arose in the aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s killing in Florida in 2012 and the acquittal of the neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him.

How has it been compinged:

According to authorities, more than 300 fires raged around Philadelphia on June 1st, a week after George Floyd was slain. There had been reports of over a hundred business burglaries (also known as looting) and over a hundred and fifty acts of destruction in the preceding days. The National Guard was on its way after 400 individuals had been detained. Thousands of protesters crowded the streets of downtown on that Saturday, June 6th, demanding justice and screaming that Black Lives Matter. The city was engulfed in tear gas for eight nights in a row, and curfews were imposed. Even though it wasn’t quite summering, Philadelphia was ablaze.

The protests’ intensity and endurance suggested that the issues were considerably more serious than a lynching of a Black man in Minneapolis. Aside from the issue of racial police violence, Philadelphia has the highest percentage of its inhabitants living in poverty of any major US city. It also happens to have one of the largest Black populations of any major American city. Bitterness arose from the political and economic élite’s negligence and apathy to poverty, drug addiction, and housing instability in poor and working-class Black areas.

Body Paragraph Three: achievements of the movement:

Steps have been done in the United States to address police violence and improve the way laws are enforced. Following Mr. Floyd’s death, the phrase “defund the cops” became popular. Cities such as Minneapolis, Portland, Philadelphia, and Seattle have begun moving police funds to sectors such as schools and housing. Demonstrations in the United Kingdom brought attention to the country’s colonial heritage, and statues of those associated with the slave trade were desecrated. Black people continue to confront issues, such as being impacted worse by the coronavirus. The issue has also brought to light how companies might fall short at times. By 2022, all Welsh schools will be required to teach black history. Teachers in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland now have the option of teaching black history. Books about black people’s problems become top sellers. For some, Black Lives Matter also meant initiating painful dialogues about racism with friends and family. There’s more to this story.

Body paragraph four: oppositions to the movement

In May 2020, an unarmed Black man named George Floyd was declared dead after a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes despite Floyd’s repeated protestations that he couldn’t breathe. The widespread distribution of a bystander’s video of Floyd’s last moments sparked large protests in places across the United States and around the world. The incident also brought the deaths of two other African Americans, Ahmad Arbery and Breonna Taylor, to public prominence. Arbery was running in Glynn County, Georgia, in February 2020 when two white males in a truck began following him in a truck, assuming he had committed a series of break-ins. The guys with firearms surrounded Arbery, and a fight followed, culminating in Arbery’s fatal shot. Taylor, an emergency medical worker, was slain the next month in Louisville, Kentucky, during a bungled police raid at her residence. Although Arbery and Taylor had gotten little public attention before Floyd’s murder, they became the focus of countrywide protests after Floyd’s death. These actions affected public opinion in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement while also bringing widespread attention to the problem of institutionalized racism in the United States. In 2021, Chauvin was convicted guilty of murder, prompting calls for more police accountability. It was an extremely uncommon instance of police brutality that resulted in a conviction.

How did Black Lives Matter Become Successful?

In the United States, Black Lives Matter (BLM) has become one of the most effective social movements of our time. It has become bigger, stronger, and even worldwide in the previous seven years. The movement began as a Twitter hashtag and has now grown into a formidable multi-issue protesting force.

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