Black Lives Matter Movement Explained

Black Lives Matter, an international social movement, formed in the United States in 2013, is dedicated to fighting racism and anti-Black violence, particularly in the form of police brutality. The name Black Lives Matter signals condemnation of the unjust killings of Black people by police, as Black people are disproportionately killed by police in the United States compared to white people. It also expresses the demand that society value the lives and humanity of Black people equally to the lives and humanity of white people.

Black Lives Matter activists have organized large and influential protests in cities across the United States and internationally. It is a decentralized grassroots movement led by activists in local chapters who organize their own campaigns and programs. These chapters are affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a nonprofit civil rights organization active in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The movement was cofounded in 2013 by three Black community organizers—Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi—as an online movement using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media. They formed Black Lives Matter after George Zimmerman, a man of German and Peruvian descent, was acquitted on charges related to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Sanford, Florida, in February 2012. Zimmerman, a neighborhood-watch volunteer, had seen Martin walking in his neighborhood and called the police, believing Martin looked “suspicious.” Despite being told not to intervene, Zimmerman followed Martin, an argument ensued, and Zimmerman shot and killed him. Zimmerman claimed he was assaulted by Martin and fired in self-defense upon law enforcement arrival.

Zimmerman remained free for weeks, but demonstrations demanding his prosecution were held nationwide as the shooting gained national attention. He was charged with second-degree murder and arrested in April 2012. At his trial more than a year later, Zimmerman claimed self-defense, citing Florida’s “stand your ground” law. His acquittal in July 2013 was widely perceived as a miscarriage of justice and led to further nationwide protests.