BLM: Yes, and what about it?

You’ve heard about it, we all did as well. The story of this social group goes way back in time, with the official movement starting in 2013. And especially this year, despite the pandemic, the operation has been escalating, representing one of 2020’s key points. Ever since the wrongful death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old man while he was arrested for using a counterfeit bill, the campaign had been amplified, with enormous media recognition The Police officer who dealt with this arrest, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for about nine and a half minutes, while the man was lying face down. Two officers assisted Derek Chauvin to restrain George Floyd, while a third was preventing bystanders from getting involved in the arrest.

George Floyd had been complaining for some minutes that he was not able to breathe, since he was held down by Chauvin’s knee when he stopped talking. The officer kept his knee until the medical staff explicitly told him not to do so. After an autopsy, it was found that the cause of death was asphyxia.

After videos from witnesses that had been stopped from actually helping the situation, his death triggered millions of reactions and protests against police brutality, racism, and accountability, since, even if the officers were dismissed the second day after that, only after social pressure, the situation back then started to change. Celebrities such as Ariana Grande, Halsey, Anne Hathaway Tyler the Creator, and Timothée Chalamet got involved in the protests, conferring the movement bigger visibility. Twitter, the platform where it started gaining popularity, with about 92.4% Americans on the platform and an audience of 275 million, compared to 269 in 2019 or less in the previous years in the audience, which started to put weight on powerful political figures to call them out for their actions. You do the math. The cops involved in the George Floyd situation, but not limited to, were discovered after a period of uncertainty and were called out on their actions.

According to a Monmouth poll, 54% of Americans believe that burning down the police department in Monopolis after George Floyd’s death was justified. This later resulted in a series of violent attacks of public institutions and sights, as well as the destruction of shops during protests, since the security level decreased, all known as riots. And while they instigated violence since people got rid of waiting and thought that through this they will attract a result, they were right, even if this can also be considered the bad side of the BLM overall context.

On the other hand, many people are criticizing the situation, since it provoked the destruction of property, numerous burnings of American flags, and emerged to violent acts against both civilians and law enforcement. It has not only been detrimental to the supposed purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement, but it has painted a picture of them in the eyes of the nation that they are doing little to change. The benefit from this movement obviously exists, even though it comes from two different perspectives: one of change and revolution, a dominant trait in the younger generations, and also the popularity that was given due to the controversy around it.

However, the Black Lives Matter movement was already around and this situation only brought it back right into the lights.

A brief explanation of the movement

A vocalized wave of narrative lines emerged in 2013 when multiple situations of police brutality were reported around the United States. The movement then spread worldwide, leading to the making of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and manoeuvre. As of today, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign is now identifying as all racially motivated violence against black people.

Deaths such as the ones of George Zimmerman and of African-American teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier in February 2012 lead to the spark that created the social group. The movement became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans.

Public opinion has been switching throughout the years. Even if it still was the issue, media coverage had an essential role in it. Whereas public opinion on Black Lives Matter was net negative in 2018, it became more popular during these last two years. Under the broader banner of BLM, there are several other organizations and activists involved. In 2015 it had between 1,500-2,000 members, part of 50 groups that represented the interests of the black communities in the United States.

Solidaire, the donor coalition focusing on "movement building", had donated more than $200,000 to the BLM movement by 2015. Between May and December last year, donations to BLM related causes are thought to be about 10.6 billion dollars. The donations then help BLM causes in order to minimize any discriminating situation they encounter.

Since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, the movement has been mentioned in movies, television, and music, while numerous media outlets have started producing and providing material related to racial injustice. Michael Jackson’s song “They don’t care about us” has been streaming more and more, showing an overall growth in all the possible media-related areas.

Recent events

Even after the protests escalated, police brutality still continued. Even more, in the context of George Floyd’s death, people were keeping their eyes and attention close to the officers. The deaths of more African-Americans that resulted because of police brutality, such as Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, were proof that the change was still not made. To give out some numbers, out of the 765 people killed by police in 2020, 28% were black, despite them comprising 13% of the total US population As several polls suggest, about 15 million to 26 million people participated in June 2020 in the street protests in the US, making it efficient and visible for the public eye.

The three taboo words for a large part of Republicans and the competition that they initiated

Trump and Rudolph Juliani, the former mayor of New York, and also one of President Trump’s strongest advocates in the Republican Party, agree with each other on the terms of the “Black Lives Matter” slogan, saying that “ä lot more lives matter” and that this movement only isolates people of colour. One of the Republican Senators, Bill Cassidy declared that: “I heard someone say it should be ‘Black Lives Matter, Too,’ as opposed to, ‘We matter, no one else does. There is an understanding that it’s about all people.” Therefore, the Republican supporters took those elements and created the “All Lives Matter” slogan, making it seem like a competition for each one’s struggles, and invalidating those of the Black community during these times, when media recognition was so important.

There has also been initiated a movement to celebrate the efforts of police officers, under the name of “Blue Lives Matter”, a quite hypocritical one, given the protests against police brutality.

Even if a common argument the supporters of these two slogans will use would be that you can have “whatever opinion you want”, it is important to understand why these two phrases are inherently racist. The first one not only tries to cover the struggles of People of Colour but also comes from white persons that do not acknowledge how they are continuing the oppression. The movement of “Black Lives Matter” doesn’t forget about Latino, LGBTQ+ people, and other underrepresented groups. It simply responds punctually to police brutality cases that were reported and reached social media visibility around the world. However, the argument that some conservatives bring is that "If Black lives matter, they have to matter all the time," and "Black-on-Black killing, any killing that is unnecessary, they all matter". Some activists consider that "Black-on-Black crime" is an offensive phrase; having its roots in America's racist legacy and meant to demean Black people as criminally inclined, when there is no such discussion as “white on white crime”. It simply just nullifies all the efforts to stop the police brutality that has been going around, and especially this year when the movement rose almost immediately compared to other years, perhaps actually leading to a result in the future.

The same goes as well with “Blue Lives Matter'' when an apparently innocent initiative actually does more harm than good. The moment, which appeared exactly during the period of time when the protests started, indicates how there was a need for competing in this situation. And no, not in a good manner. By celebrating the police organs that otherwise are being asked through these protests to hold accountability for their previous actions, they are just cancelling the whole effect of “Black Lives Matter” and are proving that the stance taken by the police is right and that those killings are justified.

To make a parallel, take the Capitol Riots situation. After the November US elections, people had been contesting the results of the mail-in ballots, despite the fact that President Donald Trump told his supporters to vote physically, while President-elect Joe Biden, who was actually worried about the COVID-19 pandemic, suggested online voting. As a result, after counting the palpable votes, it was logical that those online would be predominantly for Joe Biden. In the end, he was elected and now people of the Republican Party are getting out in the streets with the purpose of defending “democracy” and ironically condemning the choice of the senate, with a republican majority , out of which 61/70 senior republican national security officials signed a document that attested "How threatened they felt under the leadership of President Donald Trump" to impeach Trump for the second time. This makes him the first president to ever be impeached two times during a single mandate. If the result will stay the same and the protests will be in vain, he will be imprisoned, so we could say there might be multiple interests in between. Plus, the initiators of the riots were asked nicely by the police forces to leave the area, whereas other victims that later proved to be innocent, such as Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and so on were hurt numerous times. If it would had been them in the Capitol riots, they would have been shot long by now.

The difference here is that compared to the Black Lives Matter situation where those that were oppressed went out and protested, people that are the oppressors, the Trump supporters that want him to win are the ones that are not pleased with the situation. This would be an example that shows that not every comparison can be considered correct.

What you can do

When talking about continuing to raise awareness, no matter the place you are in, many persons step up and say that, since you are not in the US, you shouldn’t be concerned. However, it is essential to do what you can without exhausting yourself to help others. Especially since we can learn from this movement as well, it would be indicated to act in such a manner. In Romania, we happen to have a similar situation with Romani people, who are poorer on average. This caused them to emigrate to other countries in order to make money. Not all of them are willing to go to such lengths in order to gain money, hence some of them have started to beg for money. Foreign people confused Romanians with Romani people and took that as a bad sign, causing Romanians to have a bad reputation. That’s just a part of the story. Each foreigner may or may not have met a Romani person that made them have a bad impression. However, just as this could have happened, some Romanians can make their own country have a bad reputation as well. When making this parallel, many of the Romanians that may hear this think that it’s not the same and that Romani people compared to Black people really steal, so, therefore, they deserve this treatment. No one should ever generalize the temper of a whole country based on a person or a minority they have met. Even if we are far, it doesn’t mean that we have to be ignorant.

The movement still continues, even if the media stopped portraying it so much during these last few months. What we can do to help, in order to lead to the improvement of the situation would be to continue to spread awareness, since we can contribute to the social media that did so much good when the movement reappeared.

Hence, sign petitions, because, even if we are just observers and not judges, we can still influence through social media pressure; understand your privilege and help others if you see a situation that is discriminatory to someone in any way if you are able to and share your own opinion without feeling forced to have the same mind-set as other people around you. You are not them, they are not you. If you decide to support any financial cause, check first to see if you can trust the source, as well as the purpose of the gained money. Lastly, continue to be well informed. Many times we meet with fake news that wants to dramatize or to promote a different message that would benefit them, so try to take your research materials from trusted sources. Understand both or the multiple points of view of the problem, since there can be arguments on multilateral sides, so that you can also learn from it.

Many times, politics can become a taboo subject, and, especially in the USA, with the elections happening this year, family tensions rose. Some of the members don’t even talk to each other due to political differences. Why would you choose to hurt others with your opinions by being racist, homophobe or misogynistic? And while no one forces you to support what you don’t believe in, why would you want to promote a message that does no good to other people, just based on assumptions?