Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi created Black
Lives Matter (#BlackLivesMatter) as a call to action for Black people
after George Zimmerman was found not guilty for the murder of 17-year-old
Trayvon Martin (#TalkAboutTrayvon). Trayvon was 17 when George Zimmerman took
his life February 26, 2012. Trayvon was an honors student in English and loved math. He hoped to be a
pilot one day. Zimmerman targeted Trayvon because he thought it was suspicious
for a young black man to be walking in his neighborhood. In "The
Killing of Trayvon Martin," Mike
Armato and I discuss how a gendered and sexualized racism meant that Trayvon
Martin's existence as a young African-American man became the focus of
Zimmerman's trial, resulting inTrayvon's death being labeled a killing rather
than a murder because African-American boys and men were assumed to be
inherently dangerous.
Although founded
because of Trayvon Martin's death, Black Lives Matter is not limited to
addressing extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes but
is focused on affirming the lives of all Black people, including queer, trans,
disabled, undocumented, criminalized, women and across the gender
spectrum.
There have been White people who have grumbled about and
protested the idea of Black Lives Matter and have countered with All Lives
Matter and Blue Lives Matter. While of course all lives matter, these responses
miss the point that Black people in the United States face a particular and
unique set of conditions and that without attending to these conditions we
cannot create a society free from oppression. A basic idea in Black Lives
Matter is by centering the lives of Black people, we can create a better world
for all or "When Black people get free, everybody gets
free."
One way in which Black Lives Matter has influenced IMPACT
Chicago is in our examining and revising our approach to getting to safety
after an attack. For many years, our getting to safety mantra ended with
"911." We have changed that mantra to end with "Get to
safety" or "Walk to Safety." The original mantra was based
on good intentions but didn't reflect the realities of Black women who have
defended themselves against violence. The guiding principles of
Black Lives Matter and Mariame
Kaba's book No
Selves to Defend helped
us see the necessity of changing our safety mantra.
The change to "Get to Safety" is consistent with
our commitment to expanding people's choices and not offering a formulaic
approach to self-defense. Everyone has benefited from this change because the
emphasis is on people making choices based on their assessment of themselves,
their relationship with the person(s) targeting them, and their knowledge of
the situation they are in and no assumptions about what safety is for all. This
is an example of how centering the lives of Black people benefits everyone.
Martha Thompson
IMPACT Chicago Lead Instructor
Professor Emeritus Sociology and
Women's and Gender Studies
Northeastern Illinois University
Professor Emeritus Sociology and
Women's and Gender Studies
Northeastern Illinois University
#TalkAboutTrayvon toolkit
Done in partnership of Black Lives Matter Global Movement & Showing Up for Racial Justice
Done in partnership of Black Lives Matter Global Movement & Showing Up for Racial Justice
