Black Lives Matter is much more than just a catchy slogan. This movement
symbolizes the fight for social justice and equality that is so difficult to achieve. The
Black Lives Matter movement strives to eliminate the current social state where many
african americans are a target for unnecessary discrimination, whether verbal, physical,
or emotional. The process of social innovation with the goal of complete racial equality
is one that must be expedited, especially while considering the little process we have
made in the last half century. In our current political state, the Black Lives Matter
movement is not only beneficial in this process but necessary. Black Lives Matters
officially began to gain headway in 2013 after the public outcry after many police
brutality instances were publicized, like the Trayvon Martin case. For those who are not
as familiar with this example as I am, Martin was an african american high school
student in Florida. He was recently suspended from school in relations to an issue
regarding drug residue found on his person. George Zimmerman was a white
neighborhood watch captain and as Martin was going to visit his father during this
suspension, Zimmerman spotted him and reported a suspicious man in the
neighborhood. Instead of listening to the instructions he was given to stay in his car,
Zimmerman instead approached Martin and soon, gunfire was reported. Stories conflict
each other as Zimmerman reported that he shot Martin to death in self-defense but
Martin’s girlfriend, who he was on the phone with at the time of the conflict, reports that
Martin complied with Zimmerman’s questioning and that Martin was in fact the target of
inappropriate treatment and racial slurs. The details that follow with the hearing are
extensive but the institution originally sided with Zimmerman that lead to public outcry
against the brutal murder of Trayvon Martin. This story along with many others is why
the Black Lives Matter cause is a necessary component that will soon lead to the equal
treatment of all people. The racial injustice that we as a country endure can be
subdivided into two categories that consist of non-violent social injustices and hurtful
attacks.
The social aspect of the Black Lives Matters movement can be dissected in its
entirety solely by observing an article from The Atlantic titled, “The Gangsters of
Ferguson” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Yet another important police brutality case involving the
killing of an african american man, Michael Brown, by a white officer stemmed in
Ferguson and like the Martin case, the officer being questioned, Darren Wilson, was
originally found innocent of breaking any laws in this shooting by pleading that his
actions were forced and had stemmed from self-defense. Before even delving into the
content of the article, we can observe a few things from the title alone. The keyword that
we can take note of is, “Gangsters”. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines gangster
as “a member of a gang...
