#BlackLivesMatter is the movement that fights policemen violence against African-Americans, which tends to happen in the United States. Their slogan, “Black Lives Matter,” is well known by almost everyone in the world nowadays because of its rapid spread and broad support. In this paper, the question of whether the Black Lives Matter movement saves African-Americans lives by getting so much attention or not will be discussed.
The movement began as a social media hashtag in July 2013 after Trayvon Marti, African-American, was shot dead in Florida by a policeman, who then acquired. In 2020, George Floyd died because of the violent treatment of a policeman in Minneapolis, and the movement could not skip it. George Floyd’s death got a lot of attention, Black Lives Matter spread widely, and now is close to becoming a real subculture.
In June 2020, there is daily news about the movement, influencers call to donate for it, and people protest against the policemen’s violence by participating in rallies organized by the Black Lives Matter. Pew Research Center states that two-thirds of US adults say they support the Black Lives Matter movement, and 38% of them strongly support it. These statistics verify the popularity of the movement, although the question of its needfulness for the people of the United States is being discussed. There are two positions regarding the movement: is the Black Lives Matter widespread necessary saving lives, or does it severely affect the situation around the way how African-Americans are treated in the United States.
Position 1: Black Lives Matter’s widespread is necessary for saving lives
Many of today’s famous African-Americans support this position: they call to help the movement, donate, and protest against the policemen’s outrage. They act to point the society’s attention to the fact that there are double standards for the way the United States’ laws are applied, and people are punished differently depending on their race. Moreover, Ostertag claims that “black injustices are not just ignored or otherwise insufficiently acknowledged and addressed, but because of their frequency and blatant disregard, these violations were also humiliating, insulting and infuriating”(p.2). Due to the widespread of the Black Lives Matter movement, it is almost impossible to avoid publicity of any inappropriate policeman attitude against an African-American. It builds solidarity around African-Americans and surely can save their lives.
Position 2: the Black Lives Matter affects severely on how African-Americans treated in the United States
The movement is strongly unsupported by Donald Trump, and he has reasons beyond politics: protests cause economic damage, and the movement itself reminds of slavery – the harmful topic for the United States. Thomas points out that “because the value gap between African Americans and White Americans was not adequately addressed, it will always inform how institutions and policies treat African Americans” (p.32). The increased interest around this topic might let people of radical positions regarding history act violently against each other.
Moreover, the Coronavirus spread strongly affected the United States, and the fact that the citizens’ attention moved away from the pandemic is a threat for everyone regardless of race. The number of the disease’s victims might increase due to the protests, and people might start to blame each other for it. It would cause even stronger conflict between people of different races and civil positions, which is bad for society’s minorities.
After researching the movement, I decided that I support the position stating that Black Lives Matter is necessary to make changes in our lives. I can’t entirely agree with the way the movement spread as it is not safe nowadays, yet people of minorities need to be heard. The racial issue has always been a part of our society, and today there is a chance to solve it once and for all.
The Black Lives Matter movement is a phenomenon of the United States’ society: it sheds light on the problems unsolved, such as the policemen’s outrage, in-laws double-standards, and discrimination against African-American citizens. The way it spreads regardless of circumstances has to let everyone hear the message it sends and make significant changes in how people of minorities are being treated.
Works Cited
Ostertag, Stephen. “Anti-Racism Movements and the US Civil Sphere: The Case of Black Lives Matter.” Breaching the Civil Order: Radicalism and the Civil Sphere, edited by Trevor Stack, Jeffrey Alexander and Farhad Khosrokhavar, 2019, pp. 1-21.
Thomas, Dominique. “Black Lives Matter as Resistance to Systemic Anti-Black Violence.” Journal of Critical Thought and Praxis, vol. 1, no. 8, 2019, pp. 29-45.
Pew Research Center. “Amid Protests, Majorities Across Racial and Ethnic Groups Express Support for the Black Lives Matter Movement.” 2020. Web.