What Happened to the Promise of Racial Justice?
The U.S. has moved backward in the four years since the supposed racial reckoning after Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd
The Black Lives Matter campaign began in 2013 after the police killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Rekia Boyd, and several others. At the time, activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi began using the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag after the acquittal of George Zimmerman who murdered Trayvon Martin. Attention on the movement grew in 2014 after the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City.
Black Lives Matter’s purpose has always been to spotlight discrimination, racism, and racial inequality with a focus on police brutality and racially motivated hate crimes against Black people in the U.S. Attention on the movement exploded after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin in 2020 garnering broad support.
This time, it seemed most people in the U.S. were hyper-focused on addressing broad concerns about racism on a national and systemic level. There were discussions of moving funds away from the growing police state in the U.S., allocating those funds for education, and providing economic opportunities for poor…
