Born as a Twitter hashtag, Black Lives Matter (BLM) has evolved into a revolutionizing political movement aimed to battle the racial injustice, isolation, and discrimination the African American community has faced for years. The Black Lives Matter Movement was established after the murder of Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old African American shot to death for simply walking home from his local convenience store. George Zimmerman, a twenty-eight-year-old Hispanic American, had seen the teenager walking back at night and reported him as “suspicious” to the Sanford, Florida Police Department. Just minutes after the call there was an altercation and Zimmerman shot Trayvon in the chest claiming self-defense. Investigators ultimately found no evidence to refute this claim. The acquittal of George Zimmerman and the failure of Sanford P.D to arrest him led to an outcry of petitions and protests across the United States that demanded justice for Trayvon Martin. The Black Lives Matter hashtag has since been used to accentuate police brutality against African Americans and has fought for justice for many other black individuals such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, George Floyd, and Brianna Taylor. According to the Black Lives Matter organization, the movement is “an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. It is an affirmation of Black folks’ humanity, [their] contributions to this society, and [their] resilience in the face of deadly oppression.” The BLM movement has not been contained by their social media presence but has taken to the streets as well. This was first seen in 2014 following the deaths of Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Garner in New York City. This set the precedent for so much more. More recently, the protests against the murder of George Floyd brought somewhere from 15-26 million people to the streets according to The New York Times. In fact, the popularity of the movement has expanded so much so that black activists have modeled such efforts all around the world. From Brazil to Japan to Denmark, many stand with the black community and against those that wish to inflict pain upon others merely because of the color of their skin. 

 

 

 

 

 

While police brutality is a profound problem, it is important to note that less mainstream issues, such as environmental racism, have an equally detrimental effect on the African American community. Rita Turner, professor at the University of Maryland – Baltimore County, states that “justice cannot be had while ignoring environmental racism, as unjust environmental conditions devalue black bodies and the potential of black and poor children worldwide” (2016). Murder motivated by racism is a blatant issue that can be easily identified, but what cannot be seen is the slow poisoning of minority communities due to their predisposition to environmental hazards. Slow demise, specifically of African Americans, contributes to the larger issue of environmental and systemic racism throughout the U.S.