Aleshia Faust’s scientific contributions

This chapter discusses Black Lives Matter (BLM), which appeared in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the man who shot and killed unarmed Trayvon Martin, a Black adolescent in Florida. Since then, BLM has organized chapters across the country and the world. Rallying cries like “I can’t breathe” after the killing of Eric Garner and Colin Kaepernick “taking a knee” during the national anthem are just a few of the examples of the movement’s various tactics in attempting to achieve their goals. BLM aims to end systematic racism and oppression in America. BLM has movement campaigns, repertoire, and WUNC displays and a network and chapters like a Social Movement Organization. The transformation of BLM being used as a hashtag and then growing into an international social movement organization will be discussed. Some activists make distinctions about whether someone belongs to BLM or to the Movement for Black Lives and distinguish between each. In this chapter we do not make distinctions because from the point of view of many outside observers and participants, these actions are all directed against ending disproportionate police violence against communities of color. Similarly, the Civil Rights Movement was actually a disjointed collection of different activist, organizations, and groups with different goals, strategies, and politics. Yet, looking back, this collective action is commonly referred to as a single movement since it all revolved around and contributed to increasing the citizenship rights of Black Americans.