Black Lives Matter is a political and social movement against racial-based violence against black people and police brutality. The movement recently gained significant attention from international and domestic media as a result of people’s reaction to the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin. This paper will describe 5 points that support the movement and 10 points that oppose it.
Firstly, the movement raises awareness of the issue of police violence, as it became one of the leading causes of death for young men in the United States. Next, the movement addresses the overall issue of white supremacy and racism in the United States. The issue has brought attention to the gun control policy, as police violence that implements the use of guns to intimidate or shoot people is also gun violence. Racial aspects in crime rates were brought to light, emphasizing the fact that violent crimes against black people are reported more than against whites or Asians. Lastly, the people were made aware of issues of racial stereotypes in neighborhood crimes and young black men being associated with neighborhood crimes.
The opposing points focus majorly on the goals of the movement. A significant amount of the population does not know about the movement or could not form their opinion on the topic because of media confusion. Other people express that the goals of the movement are not clear to them. That mainly comes from the fact that the name of the movement as the name focuses mainly on the racial aspect rather than attracting attention to the problem of police violence. Next, the support for the movement comes mainly from black people or the more interested audience; moreover, the main body of the movement consists of adults younger than 30 years.
There are multiple organizations within the movement, and some support reparations for black people in the form of guaranteed income without working. Some of the supporters use the movement for personal goals, i.e., to push the Marxist propaganda. Due to unknown reasons, some of the protests resulted in a violation of property, looting, and vandalism.
In conclusion, the movement’s overall goal attracts attention to the urge for change and, but it should be clear to the people who could not invest their time into research of the issue. For example, the movement proposes defunding the police as a solution to the problem, but it could reduce the population’s level of security. The movement lacks essential organizational components like research on the problem and proposing initiatives to solve the issue.