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{{update|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox organization
|name = Black Lives Matter
|image = Black Lives Matter logo.svg
|size = frameless
|alt = Official logo depicting name in black capital letters on yellow background with "LIVES" color inverted
|formation = {{start date and age|2013|7|13}}
|founders = {{unbulleted list|[[Alicia Garza]]|[[Patrisse Cullors]]|[[Opal Tometi]]}}
|type = Activist organization
|purpose = Anti-racist advocacy and protest
|location = International<br />(mostly in the United States)
|key_people = {{hlist|[[Shaun King]]|[[DeRay Mckesson]]|[[Johnetta Elzie]]|[[Tef Poe]]|[[Erica Garner]]}}
|website = {{URL|https://blacklivesmatter.com/}}
}}
[[File:Black Lives Matter protest against St. Paul police brutality (21587635011).jpg|thumb|Black Lives Matter [[die-in]] protest at [[Metro Green Line (Minnesota)|Metro Green Line]] against [[allegation]]s of [[police brutality]] in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]]]]

'''Black Lives Matter''' ('''BLM''') is an international<ref>{{cite web |title= Black Lives Matter Movement |publisher=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/11/europe/black-lives-matter-protests-europe |access-date= Sep 24, 2016}}</ref> activist group. They originated in the [[African-American]] community. They are against [[violence]] and systemic [[racism]] by [[white people|white]] police officers towards [[black people]].

== History ==
The movement began in 2013 with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on [[social network service|social media]]. It started after the [[acquittal]] of [[Shooting of Trayvon Martin|George Zimmerman]] in the death of [[Trayvon Martin]]. It became famous for [[Demonstration|street demonstrations]] following the deaths of [[Shooting of Michael Brown|Michael Brown]] and [[Death of Eric Garner|Eric Garner]]. The former sparked [[2014 Ferguson unrest|riots and unrest in Ferguson]], Missouri. The latter led to protests all over the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Black Lives Matter Movement Changes America |publisher=CBS News |url= http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-the-black-lives-matter-movement-changed-america-one-year-later |access-date= Sep 24, 2016}}</ref>

After the Ferguson protests, participants in Black Lives Matter demonstrated against other African-Americans' deaths, such as [[Death of Freddie Gray|Freddie Gray]], [[Death of Sandra Bland|Sandra Bland]], [[Shooting of Laquan McDonald|Laquan McDonald]], [[Shooting of Philando Castile|Philando Castile]] and [[Shooting of Alton Sterling|Alton Sterling]].

In 2020, during the [[George Floyd Protests]], Black Lives Matter became much more widely accepted. Black Lives Matter filed a lawsuit against the police department of [[Seattle, Washington]] for violence against protesters.<ref name="SeattleForbes">{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/06/10/seattle-protesters-take-over-city-hall-demand-mayors-resignation/#6569abc73caf|title=Seattle Protesters Take Over City Hall, Demand Mayor’s Resignation|author=Jack Brewster|publisher=Forbes|date=June 10, 2020|access-date=June 11, 2020}}</ref>

"It's now something where the [[Mitt Romney]]s of the world can join in, and that was something unimaginable back in 2014," said Justin Hansford, executive director of [[Howard University]]'s Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. "That is the result of six years of hard work by people who are in the movement and have put forward so many discussions that really changed people’s hearts and minds." Hansford was also an activist in Ferguson.<ref name="WPostMain">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/how-the-black-lives-matter-movement-went-mainstream/2020/06/09/201bd6e6-a9c6-11ea-9063-e69bd6520940_story.html|publisher=Washington Post|access-date=June 11, 2020|date=June 9, 2020|title=How the Black Lives Matter movement went mainstream|author1=Jose A. Del Real|author2=Robert Samuels |author3=Tim Craig}}</ref>

== Criticism ==
The movement has also been criticized. In the [[New York Times]], Deroy Murdock asked about the true number of black people killed by police, and about the way the BLM movement reported these killings. He wrote: "But the notion that America’s cops simply are gunning down innocent black people is one of today's biggest and deadliest lies".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Murdock|first=Deroy|date=2015-11-07|title=Black Lives Matter’s numbers are bogus|url=https://nypost.com/2015/11/06/black-lives-matters-numbers-are-bogus/|access-date=2021-05-02|website=New York Post|language=en-US}}</ref> Some of the black leaders of the American [[civil rights movement]] criticized the tactics of the BLM movement.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-10-30|title=Longtime L.A. civil rights leaders dismayed by in-your-face tactics of new crop of activists|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-black-lives-matter-20151030-story.html|access-date=2021-05-02|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> Glenn Loury, a professor for economics, warned about focusing on police violence against black people; the other side would only use this to compile statistics; in these statistics black people will be overrepresented. According to Loury, it would be better to reform social structures, so that people could benefit, irrespective of skin color. One of the examples he gave was early-age education.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Loury|first=Glenn|date=2015-11-06|title=Loury: The political inefficacy of saying, ‘Black lives matter’|url=https://www.browndailyherald.com/2015/11/06/loury-the-political-inefficacy-of-saying-black-lives-matter/|access-date=2021-05-02|website=Brown Daily Herald|language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{African American topics}}

[[Category:2013 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Black Lives Matter| ]]
[[Category:American civil rights]]

Black Lives Matter - Revision history

WikiDwarfBOT at 00:36, 10 October 2022