Black Lives Matter explained: The history of a movement

00:15:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG8GjlLbbvs

Summary

TLDRThe Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 in response to systemic racism and police brutality against Black individuals, originating from the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012. Its message gained traction through various incidents, notably the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, which led to widespread protests and the use of social media to amplify their cause. The movement has consistently called for significant reforms in policing, advocating for the defunding of police departments and reallocating resources towards community services. Events such as the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor have intensified the urgency and visibility of the movement, pushing it onto the global stage and sparking new dialogues about racial justice. Activists aim for long-term solutions to dismantle the existing police system and ensure a future free from the threats of police violence.

Takeaways

  • ✊ The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 after Trayvon Martin's death.
  • 📊 Black individuals are disproportionately affected by police violence in the U.S.
  • 🔥 Eric Garner's last words became a rallying cry for the movement.
  • 📢 Social media played a pivotal role in mobilizing support.
  • 🚨 The movement calls for defunding the police and investing in communities.
  • ⚖️ Key figures include Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi.
  • 🌍 BLM has inspired international protests against racial injustice.
  • 🤝 The movement is rooted in a long history of black freedom struggles.
  • ✈️ Events like George Floyd's death reignited global awareness and activism.
  • 🔄 The movement seeks radical systemic change in policing and society.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The movement Black Lives Matter (BLM) emerged from a collective response to police brutality, particularly highlighted by the deaths of individuals like George Floyd and Trayvon Martin. The movement emphasizes the urgent need for justice, with the slogan 'get your knee off our necks' encapsulating its message. BLM started as a response to the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin, catalyzing discussions on systemic racism and excessive police force against black individuals, illustrating that black men are disproportionately killed by police in America, with few officers facing accountability for these actions.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:15:13

    Rallying cries such as 'I can't breathe,' originating from the incident involving Eric Garner, signaled a turning point for BLM, leading to mass protests across the country. These protests gained further momentum after the deaths of several unarmed black men, including Michael Brown, which resulted in widespread unrest and highlighted the ongoing cycle of violence against black individuals by law enforcement. As the political landscape shifted with the election of Donald Trump, BLM faced backlash, yet the movement continued to push for change, culminating in a resurgence following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, which sparked global protests inspiring calls for a fundamental overhaul of policing and systemic racism in society.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • When did the Black Lives Matter movement start?

    The movement began after Trayvon Martin's death in 2012.

  • What is the main focus of the Black Lives Matter movement?

    The movement aims to address police brutality and systemic racism against Black people.

  • What sparked widespread protests in 2014?

    The death of Eric Garner and the phrase "I can't breathe" became rallying cries for protesters.

  • How did the movement gain momentum?

    The acquittal of George Zimmerman and later events like the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson raised awareness.

  • What changes does the Black Lives Matter movement advocate for?

    They call for defunding the police and reallocating funds to health care, education, and community programs.

  • Who were key figures in the formation of the movement?

    Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi were instrumental in creating the Black Lives Matter hashtag.

  • What role did social media play in the movement?

    Social media was crucial for organizing protests and spreading awareness globally.

  • How did the tone of the movement change under different presidential administrations?

    The movement faced backlash and support fluctuated with the political climate, especially following Donald Trump's election.

  • What was the significance of George Floyd's death?

    His death reignited global protests and brought renewed attention to the Black Lives Matter movement.

  • Is the movement gaining international support?

    Yes, activists around the world are advocating for racial justice and equality inspired by BLM.

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  • 00:00:00
    these were their last words
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    [Music]
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    their names Define a movement
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    their deaths are rallying cry for
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    justice
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    the killing of George Floyd has
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    protesters demanding change LED by black
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    lives matter once again
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    it's time for us to stand up in George's
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    name and say get your knee off our necks
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    [Music]
  • 00:00:52
    the black lives matter group has been
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    fighting to be heard since 2013 and the
  • 00:00:57
    phrase itself is now being seen on
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    streets and screens all over the world
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    but how did the movement get hit how did
  • 00:01:04
    it begin their message comes from an
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    urgent need to tackle police brutality
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    and the statistics are stuck police
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    killed more than a thousand people in
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    America in 2019. black people are
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    currently three times more likely to be
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    killed by police and 99 of killings by a
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    police officer between 2013 to 2019 have
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    not resulted in criminal charges but the
  • 00:01:29
    black lives matter bubble didn't
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    actually start with police brutality it
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    began after the death of Trayvon Martin
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    at the hands of an armed vigilante it is
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    a story that no one can stop talking
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    about the shooting of Trayvon Martin on
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    a February evening in 2012 in Sanford
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    Florida neighborhood watch volunteer
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    George Zimmerman called the police to
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    report suspicious person this guy looks
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    like he sucks no good or he's on drugs
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    or something it's raining he's just
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    walking around looking about okay and
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    this guy he went back to Hispanic
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    he looks black he's told not to approach
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    the person in question are you following
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    him
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    yeah okay we don't need you to do that
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    Zimmerman ignored the instructions and
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    started following 17 year old Trayvon
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    Martin
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    moments later neighbors reported hearing
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    gunfire
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    you just have gunshots yes how many
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    verse one Zimmerman accepted he shot
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    Martin claiming self-defense he wasn't
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    immediately charged in fact it took 44
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    days for him to be arrested only after
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    National media attention a petition
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    signed by more than a million people and
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    a public response from the then
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    president you know if I had a son he'd
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    look like Trayvon we're going to get to
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    the bottom of exactly what happened a
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    year later Zimmerman was found not
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    guilty of all charges by a jury of Six
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    Women five of them white the acquittal
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    caused outraged and sparked the birth of
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    a new kind of civil rights movement long
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    before there was a black lives matter
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    movement there was a movement for black
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    lives it comes as a great shock to
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    discover that the country which is your
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    birthplace and to which you owe your
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    life and your identity
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    has not in its whole system of reality
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    evolved any place for you
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    BLM from its beginning was the
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    continuation of a tradition uh and a
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    remix of a much longer black Freedom
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    struggle but it has its roots uh and the
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    labor of black women after Zimmerman's
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    acquittal activist Alicia Garza posted
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    on Facebook black people I love you I
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    love us our lives matter black lives
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    matter Garza's friend Patrice Collier
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    shared the final three words as a
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    hashtag on the 7th of March 2013 black
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    lives matter was first seen on Twitter
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    writer and immigrant rights activist
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    Opel tumetti offered to build social
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    media platforms for it where activists
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    could connect with one another with this
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    hashtag new conversations were being
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    created online and ultimately in our
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    everyday lives black lives matter is our
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    call to action
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    it is a tool to re-imagine a world where
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    black people are free to exist
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    free to live it is a tool for our allies
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    to show up differently for us the
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    movement gained popularity in the summer
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    of 2014 with Eric Garner's last words
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    now of rallying cry I can't breathe
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    caught on video
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    the incident went viral in July 2014 on
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    a street in New York Staten Island 43
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    year old Ghana was arrested on suspicion
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    of illegally selling cigarettes
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    he died in a confrontation with officer
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    Daniel pantaleo after being placed in a
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    choke hold he was the father of six
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    pantalea was fired five years later but
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    a state grand jury still refused to
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    press criminal charges black lives do
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    not matter to the system when you time
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    and time again you're seeing us being
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    murdered and time and time again you're
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    seeing the police go free just two
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    months after Eric Garner's death another
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    fatal shooting there is growing outrage
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    tonight after an unarmed
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    African-American teenager was shot and
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    killed by police in the St Louis suburb
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    of Ferguson Missouri 18 year old Michael
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    Brown allegedly stole a pack of
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    cigarillos from a corner store police
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    officer Darren Wilson shot Brown after
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    suspecting him of being involved in the
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    robbery police shot this man for no
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    reason Brown was due to Stark College
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    two days after he was killed for weeks
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    hundreds of people who'd never taken
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    part in organized protests before took
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    to the streets
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    more tear gas more rubber bullets anger
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    boiled over Ferguson's Governor called
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    in the National Guard black lives matter
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    was used on Twitter over 50 000 times a
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    day despite the anger surrounding the
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    case Darren Wilson wasn't prosecuted he
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    resigned from the fourth and said he
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    acted in self-defense
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    and Michael Brown Jew
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    will be a defining moment
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    on how this country
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    deals with policing
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    after Ferguson the black lives matter
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    movement took roots and gained momentum
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    as black people continue to die at the
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    hands of white police it was a cycle of
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    killings protests and no criminal
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    charges no federal charges no state
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    criminal charges this was all happening
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    with America's first black president and
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    attorney general at the helm I chose to
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    run for president
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    at this moment in history because I
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    believe deeply that we cannot solve the
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    challenges of our time unless we solve
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    them together racial discrimination has
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    been around since the founding of this
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    country to ask that the first black
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    president fixed that is asking too much
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    this is lawyer Roy Austin he works in
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    the white house as Deputy assistant to
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    President Obama in the office of urban
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    Affairs Justice and opportunity we took
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    a ton of steps and under very difficult
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    circumstances because there was this
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    narrative that we were anti-police for
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    taking these steps some of the steps
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    taken under Obama included issuing
  • 00:07:21
    consent decrees these allow the court to
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    overhaul police departments accused of
  • 00:07:26
    civil rights abuses putting limits on
  • 00:07:29
    the ability of local police forces to
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    have military-grade weapons and more
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    pattern and practice investigations into
  • 00:07:37
    police departments so where are they
  • 00:07:39
    using excessive force repeatedly where
  • 00:07:42
    are they aging and discriminatory
  • 00:07:44
    policing repeatedly activists at the
  • 00:07:47
    time thought the administration should
  • 00:07:48
    have been doing more to dismantle
  • 00:07:50
    systems in place that were protecting
  • 00:07:52
    the police qualified immunity is a legal
  • 00:07:55
    doctrine that essentially Shields police
  • 00:07:58
    um from from persecution uh or legal uh
  • 00:08:01
    retribution police officers are
  • 00:08:03
    protected by Union contracts which make
  • 00:08:05
    it very difficult for them to be fired
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    police officers have a all too cozy
  • 00:08:10
    relationship with District Attorneys all
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    these ingredients taken together create
  • 00:08:15
    a culture where police officers are
  • 00:08:18
    Licensed to Kill and almost always get
  • 00:08:20
    away with it
  • 00:08:24
    so even though black lives matter
  • 00:08:26
    representatives were invited to the
  • 00:08:28
    Obama White House they were also some of
  • 00:08:30
    its harshest critics so their idea was
  • 00:08:33
    yes show up yes be at the table but if
  • 00:08:36
    you don't get the kind of policy
  • 00:08:37
    responses that you demand then flip that
  • 00:08:40
    team and then the table flipped totally
  • 00:08:43
    in 2016. well you see them marching and
  • 00:08:47
    you see them on occasion at least I've
  • 00:08:49
    seen it where they're essentially
  • 00:08:50
    calling death to the police
  • 00:08:53
    and that's not acceptable in the Years
  • 00:08:55
    running up to the 2016 election black
  • 00:08:58
    lives matter faced a backlash some
  • 00:09:00
    started using the slogans all lives
  • 00:09:02
    matter White lives matter and blue lives
  • 00:09:05
    matter in response when you say black
  • 00:09:07
    lives matter that's inherently racist
  • 00:09:11
    well I think there are other lives
  • 00:09:12
    matter White lives matter Asian lives
  • 00:09:15
    matter Hispanic lives matter that's
  • 00:09:17
    anti-American and it's racist America's
  • 00:09:20
    Police and law enforcement Personnel are
  • 00:09:23
    what separates civilization from Total
  • 00:09:26
    Chaos I am
  • 00:09:29
    the Law and Order candidate
  • 00:09:33
    Donald Trump's then election marks a new
  • 00:09:36
    era for America and the world the summer
  • 00:09:39
    after the inauguration racial tensions
  • 00:09:41
    inflamed again
  • 00:09:44
    last night's Torchlight protest march by
  • 00:09:47
    the alt-right in Charlottesville
  • 00:09:49
    Virginia has Eerie Echoes of the past
  • 00:09:52
    violence unfolded as white nationalists
  • 00:09:54
    clashed with counter protesters a car
  • 00:09:57
    accelerated into the crowd killing a
  • 00:10:00
    woman and leaving five others critically
  • 00:10:02
    injured president Trump failed to
  • 00:10:04
    immediately call out the white
  • 00:10:06
    supremacists we condemn in the strongest
  • 00:10:09
    possible terms
  • 00:10:11
    this egregious display of hatred bigotry
  • 00:10:15
    and violence on many sides on many sides
  • 00:10:18
    the following year violent hate crime in
  • 00:10:21
    the states hit a 16-year high killings
  • 00:10:24
    of black people at the hands of white
  • 00:10:25
    police continued it just barely made the
  • 00:10:28
    news Donald Trump essentially sucked all
  • 00:10:30
    the life and oxygen out of the media
  • 00:10:32
    black lives matter was no longer you
  • 00:10:35
    know the lead story many Americans were
  • 00:10:37
    also enjoying the relative calm of a
  • 00:10:39
    booming economy African Americans had a
  • 00:10:42
    record low unemployment rate of 5.4
  • 00:10:44
    percent in August 2019. that shows his
  • 00:10:48
    support for the black community when the
  • 00:10:49
    President says I understand I hear you
  • 00:10:52
    the president has people around him that
  • 00:10:54
    look like me who get what's happening at
  • 00:10:57
    the beginning of 2020 U.S election year
  • 00:11:00
    Echoes of 2012 and 2013 hit the
  • 00:11:03
    headlines again public outcry at the
  • 00:11:06
    actions of Vigilantes and a video gone
  • 00:11:09
    viral we turn now to the case of Ahmad
  • 00:11:11
    Aubry the unarmed African-American man
  • 00:11:13
    who was shot and killed while out for a
  • 00:11:16
    jog in his Georgia neighborhood I
  • 00:11:18
    thought that a mod story
  • 00:11:20
    would Open the Eyes of the other leaders
  • 00:11:23
    that I thought maybe it was losing them
  • 00:11:26
    on it would help by the 21st of May the
  • 00:11:28
    men involved in the kidding had been
  • 00:11:30
    arrested and faced murder charges but in
  • 00:11:33
    less than a month after aubry's death
  • 00:11:34
    Rona Taylor was fatally shot by police
  • 00:11:37
    in her own apartment in Louisville
  • 00:11:39
    Kentucky
  • 00:11:43
    no one was immediately arrested in June
  • 00:11:46
    the FBI reopened an investigation Fiona
  • 00:11:49
    Taylor was an emergency room technician
  • 00:11:51
    yet her killing slipped largely under
  • 00:11:54
    the radar as covid-19 swept the U.S
  • 00:11:57
    disproportionately affecting communities
  • 00:12:00
    of color I and many black Americans are
  • 00:12:03
    at higher risk for covid Coronavirus is
  • 00:12:05
    killing more African Americans African
  • 00:12:09
    Americans bear the brunt of the economic
  • 00:12:10
    downturn brought on by the coronavirus
  • 00:12:12
    in Minneapolis Minnesota 46 year old
  • 00:12:15
    George Floyd was victim to these
  • 00:12:17
    conditions he lost his restaurant job
  • 00:12:19
    and tested positive for covid-19
  • 00:12:22
    suspecting Floyd of using a forged 20
  • 00:12:24
    Bill police officer Derek Chauvin held
  • 00:12:28
    his knee on his neck for several minutes
  • 00:12:30
    the world watched and started speaking
  • 00:12:33
    out
  • 00:12:36
    [Applause]
  • 00:12:39
    certainly with 40 million people
  • 00:12:42
    unemployed 100 uh thousand Americans
  • 00:12:45
    dead
  • 00:12:46
    um a white nationalist in office and
  • 00:12:49
    then a televised public lynching those
  • 00:12:52
    are certainly the perfect conditions for
  • 00:12:54
    the emergence of rebellion all four
  • 00:12:56
    police officers involved in Floyd's
  • 00:12:58
    killing were arrested on murder charges
  • 00:13:00
    brought about by that video but also in
  • 00:13:03
    part by the strength of black lives
  • 00:13:05
    matter protests Across America and the
  • 00:13:07
    world people of all backgrounds genders
  • 00:13:11
    and races have come together to demand
  • 00:13:14
    change
  • 00:13:15
    honored him on a charge and make the
  • 00:13:19
    necessary changes that make law
  • 00:13:22
    enforcement the solution in the run-up
  • 00:13:24
    to Floyd's death President Trump's
  • 00:13:26
    critics have pointed to his dismantling
  • 00:13:28
    of the steps Obama took to tackle racist
  • 00:13:31
    policing those things we mentioned
  • 00:13:33
    earlier consent decrees limiting
  • 00:13:35
    military-grade weapons expanding
  • 00:13:36
    investigations into police units accused
  • 00:13:39
    of abuses have all been overturned under
  • 00:13:42
    President Trump some campaigners are
  • 00:13:44
    arguing for those measures to be
  • 00:13:46
    reinstated and enforcing policies like
  • 00:13:48
    Banning chokeholds and better
  • 00:13:50
    de-escalation training but the black
  • 00:13:52
    lives matter movement is calling for a
  • 00:13:54
    more radical solution the group is
  • 00:13:56
    demanding the money spent on policing
  • 00:13:59
    should instead be spent on Health Care
  • 00:14:01
    education and Community programs the
  • 00:14:03
    institution of the police is
  • 00:14:05
    fundamentally corrupt and many of us
  • 00:14:07
    believe
  • 00:14:08
    um is unpreparable right they simply
  • 00:14:10
    must end in its current formation and
  • 00:14:13
    that's a deep cultural conversation that
  • 00:14:15
    takes a long time for us to figure out
  • 00:14:17
    he angry at 46. I'm angry at 31. you
  • 00:14:22
    angry at 16. three generations of
  • 00:14:24
    African-American men stood together here
  • 00:14:27
    looking to Solutions y'all coming with a
  • 00:14:30
    better way
  • 00:14:33
    a call to defund the police has been at
  • 00:14:35
    the center of the black lives matter
  • 00:14:37
    campaign since 2016 but now it has media
  • 00:14:41
    attention countries around the world are
  • 00:14:43
    now working out what black lives matter
  • 00:14:45
    means to them and campaigners hope that
  • 00:14:47
    the year 2020 will be the last time
  • 00:14:50
    they'll need to have protests like this
  • 00:14:52
    again
Tags
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Trayvon Martin
  • Eric Garner
  • George Floyd
  • police brutality
  • social justice
  • racism
  • activism
  • protests
  • community programs