Black Lives Matter is an activist movement that began as a hashtag back in July of 2013. This came after a man named George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida. The death of the african-american teenager was the first of a few that made the movement larger in 2014.
The movement recently sparked voices and protests around the world after George Floyd was killed on May 25th during an arrest – after a store clerk alleged he had used a counterfeit $20 bill to pay.
George Floyd passed away after white, now ex-police office, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on Floyd’s neck for a reported time of 7 minutes and 46 seconds.
Black Lives Matter then became an internationally-known activist movement, with protests happening in all 50 states, as well as in over 60 other countries in 2020. Demonstrators sought justice for Floyd and the wider Black Lives Matter movement, and spoke out against police brutality.
Vincent Dombokah, 21 year old London resident, attended the Black Lives Matter Protest in London in the summer. “I think especially for for black individuals, like it made me feel more comfortable just being in my city knowing that other people support the matter” he says.
Recently, Black Lives Matter has been out of headlines and the movement has seemed to have gotten quieter. Sydney Joao, the Vice President of Events for the Black Student’s Association at Western, says the movement acted almost like a trend on social media and the US election and COVID-19 ended up taking over.
“For a good amount of people, it was fun to be an ally for a month and then go back to their regular lives. When it doesn’t affect you, for some people that’s not enough to go fight. But for the most part, I think it still was a good thing though, because people were still able to learn stuff and really see what’s happening. Hopefully it was an awakening for a lot of people who haven’t been seeing what’s been happening before” she says.
Still today racism and discrimination are being spotted everywhere. Joao and Dombokah share their experiences:
Joao says that in the past, there was never a clear way to report racism on Western’s campus, so now Western is working with the anti-racism working group on a new reporting process so students’ voices can be heard.
How to report racism and discrimination on Western’s campus:
It’s evident that changes are being made and that the movement has been successful. But a lot more still has to get done.
Justice for Walter Wallace Jr social media post / Black Lives Matter London Facebook page
Deaths of black citizens by police officers have not stopped. The most recent cases include a black-transgender woman who died in police custody on October 26th in Toronto. Also on October 26th, Walter Wallace Jr was shot 10 times by Philadelphia police officers who were responding to a mental health crisis call. He was a father to 7 children and was shot in front of his own mother.
This goes to show that the Black Lives Matter movement is still ongoing and shouldn’t be stopped talking about.
