Since the 2000s, there has been a resurgence of mass political and social movements—reminiscent of the anti-Vietnam protests of the 60s. One such movement, Black Lives Matter, has captured the public's interest and conversation in recent years. Four years ago, three African American women founded BLM in response to anger over the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teen, killed while walking home, by George Zimmerman—a neighborhood watch volunteer. They created #blacklivesmatter and the rest was history. However, this week, on the 5-year anniversary of Trayvon’s death, there’s still a lot of confusion and misconceptions that surround this movement. Many people still don't know who leads it, what they want, or how they plan on achieving …show more content…
They like the fact that it’s a “leaderfull” movement, because everyone is a leader. As stated earlier, the movement does have founders, but no one stands out in the way that Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X did— something that seems purposeful according to their website. They say that a movement with visible leaders can be harassed or killed. They also like to comprise themselves of other local leaders and movements, to send the message that they are bigger than just one person. This may work short-term, but creates a lot of confusion among the average person. And some believe this ultimately lead to Occupy Wall Street’s demise (Gitlin …show more content…
During the summer of 2015, numerous media outlets reported that Campaign Zero, launched by Ferguson activists in association with BLM, released a practical and achievable ten point policy demand for police reform. Yet a July 2016 poll by Pew Research found that “36% of Americans who have heard about Black Lives Matter, say they don’t understand its goals too well—or at all.” This is yet another factor that proved detrimental to Occupy Wall Street, remembered only for their massive camp-outs on government lawns. This is not entirely BLM’s fault. In fact, everything about their beliefs and guiding principles is on their website. First off, they aren’t anti-white or anti-police, secondly they mainly protest peacefully but that doesn’t get the news their views and clicks, or fit into the doubter narrative. They even published an article about the public’s many misconceptions about them. However, they need to use their numerous celebrity supporters and news segments to better spread the word before it’s too late. Next, once they become organized and everyone knows their positions, they can support politicians like the Tea Party did (Klein 2011). They should make an effort to pressure elected officials, locally, to implement these policies. Campaign Zero’s website does an excellent job of instructing supporters on ways to find their local representatives and state-by-state