BLACK LIVES MATTER
Black Live Matter is an international activist movement, originating in the African American community, that campaigns against violence and systematic racism towards black people. Black Lives Matter holds protests speaking out against police killings of black people, and broader issues such as racial profiling. police brutality, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system.
The movement began with the use of the hashtage #BlackLivesMatter on social media after the shooting and death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin in February 2012. The movement became nationally recognised for street demonstrations following deaths of two African American; Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
GEORGE FLOYD
George Floyd was as 46 year-old who was known by friends as ‘Big Floyd’ and ‘Gentle Giant’. On May 25th 20202, George Floyd was killed by Derek Chauvin in downtown Minneapolis, he was unarmed and arrested for allegedly using a forged $20 note, as Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the city streets during his arrest; Derek Chauvin who is a white Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd’s neck for over 8 minuets, as this was occurring George Floyd repeatedly told officers at the scene he couldn’t breathe and called out to his mother, however Chauvin didn’t stop his actions and continued to use force while kneeling on him. For 2 minuets and 53 seconds George become unresponsive, leading to his death and murder.
Videos of this incident appeared all over social media showing George Floyd lying face-down on the ground begging for air with a white officer’s knee on his neck. He says “I can’t breathe. Please, I need my neck, I can’t breathe, shit”.This was then followed with the hashtage #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd. As these videos were shared people all over America started going out and protesting for justice and to show support and to tell people that Black Live Matter and that racial profiling and inequality is still happening and we need to change that.
HIS NAME WAS GEORGE FLOYD AND HE COULDN’T BREATHE
Social Media has played a huge part in fighting for justice not just for George Floyd but for every single black person who has been killed by the hands of police officers and for the people who have experienced police brutality and racism.As threads on twitter have been shared about how people can help, petitions have been made and fundraisers. Social Media as a whole has been very supportive as it is helping and telling people all around the world what has happened and how this can’t go on any longer.
PETITIONS TO SIGN:
The tragic death of George Floyd has caused many celebrities to speak about the current situation and get involved with protests, they have spoken up and used their platform to tell people about how this cannot go on any longer and how many more police officers are going to get away with killing innocent black people and most importantly that Black Live Matter and they will always matter.
WHAT OTHER ISSUES HAVE BEEN RAISED BY GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH?
The issues that have been raised following the current situation and the death of George Floyd are the Black Lives Matter Movement, Black Lives Matter serves not to devalue the lives of any other ethnic group and deem the black community to be better, but serves to highlight how this is a minority group in desperate need of their voices to be heard, their experiences to be heard that will never be understood by those of a different ethnic group; protests and online platforms have shown their respect and that they are their to support, they have done this by having #blackouttuesday which is were people all around the world post black squares on Instagram to show support ( it has been told by the black community that this wasn’t helpful and to post links to petitions instead) this issue has been raised due to the recent murder of George Floyd who has killed by a white police officers; this is seen as an issue as Derek Chauvin wasn’t being held accountable for his actions (later reviled that he has been charged with third degree murder-UPDATE: now has been charged with second degree murder and the other 3 police officers have been charged)
The black community and fellow allies have had enough with police brutality in American and all over the world, they want their voice to be heard and want a change.Police brutality or police violence is legally defined as a civil rights violation where officers exercise undue or excessive force against a civilian. Police brutality includes but is not limited to, physical or verbal harassment, physical or mental injury, property damage and death; The one that is mostly used is physical injury, Police officers can use batons, nerve gas/ tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets/ guns; to intimidate or to physically hurt citizens who are protesting or in general. These types of methods have recently been used with the on going protests in america as peaceful protests have been turned into something terrifying, as thousands of people have been arrested and been shot with rubber bullets, the police officers have even go out there way to start riots and maced a young girl who wasn’t even part of a protest.These violent actions started when President Donald Trump stated “When the looting starts the shooting starts” , giving right to police officers around America to shoot anyone who is caught looting from branded shops.
Another issue that has been raised is white privilege which refers to the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies,White privilege does not mean that a white individual cannot have have a life with struggles and hardship because they can, however it just means that root of their struggle is not to do with the colour of their skin. White privilege is there not to discriminate white people it’s there to put them into perspective of POC (people of colour) as they are the ones facing struggles and hardships due to the colour of their skin, it is simply there to show them that certain systems society has in place favours them for being white, and fails those who aren’t white for the same actions and behaviour. Some people online have stated “What if the roles were reversed”, well if the roles were reversed George Floyd would not have been killed and if the roles were reversed he probably wouldn’t have been stopped by the police.It clearly shows that white privilege exists everywhere as white people don’t have to fear for their life when being stopped by the police, they don’t get discriminated into a social group and they do not have to fight for basic human rights. However as protests have occurred white privilege has been seen as a somewhat good thing as white men and women have been using themselves as shields for black people as they know that because they are white they are more unlikely to be attacked by the police forces.
Another issue that has been brought up is the hashtag #AllLivesMatter this is a racists and damaging statement , as all live do matter however these situations do not involve or effect all lives, they effect Black Lives and if all live mattered why is it only Black Lives that are being oppressed and have to fight for basic human rights. ALL LIVES CAN’T MATTER UNTIL BLACK LIVES MATTER. The rise of the phrase ‘ACAB’ which stands for All Cops Are Bastards. There has been a lot of controversy with this phase as some people believe not all cops are bad/ corrupting police systems in the US, however this phrase is being used due to the thousands of caps that have gotten away with their actions and brutality against black people, this phrase applies to the cops who are willingly hurting people are playing a part of the corrupt system. However as ‘ACAB’ has appeared this has caused many police officers to want to join the people in the protests and fight for whats right however they have been denied that access by fellow officers and the stations they work for leading to them quitting their jobs so they can fight for justice against police.
ALL AROUND THE WORLD
18 other countries all around the world have been involved with protests and getting the word out, a few of the countries have been England,Scotland, France,Japan and Syria. There has been huge protests all around the UK as we ourselves are not incontinent of police brutality, however they British media have been reporting on the US police brutality acting as if they didn’t bombard Megan and Harry for months on end due to her skin colour and how she was an American being married into the British Royal family,and continuously attack artists/figures like Stormzy or Sterling.
THE UK IS NOT INNOCENT
Black communities have dealt with hardship in the UK. Going back to 1687 when the slave trade started in Britain, they were involved with tri-continental slave trade between Europe, Africa and America.Black slaves were attendants to sea captains and ex-colonial officials, as well as traders, plantation owners and military personnel. Recently with the Black Lives Matter protests, a controversial topic has occurred as protests ripped off the statue of Edward Colston, and dumped it in the canal, Edward Colston was an English merchant, slave trader.This action by protesters can be seen as revolutionary as they have gotten rid of something that represents the pain that was caused to black communities hundreds of years ago, it also questions the UK’s stance as why would they have a statue of a slave trader? However this situation is controversial as some people see it has vandalism and disrespectful but some see it as justice.
In the UK black communities have also face police brutality and killings. In 1969 a police officer was successfully prosecuted in the UK concerning the death of somebody in custody at the time; two Leeds city police officers were involved in the death of David Oluwale who was a homeless British-Nigerian man who they had repeatedly targeted in the attempt to get him out of Britain.The officers abused Oluwale whenever he was spotted, he died while being in his custody and the police officers were charged with manslaughter. This man was solely targeted due to the colour of his skin, police wanted him out of the UK, why?because of his skin colour. For years many black women and men faced racial hate due to their skin colour especially in the 60s which was known as a very racist time.
There is a large amount of racism in the UK not just against black communities but other ethnic groups. Boris Johnson who is the Prime Minister stated ‘Britain is not racist’. However he himself has said racist statement such as ‘blacks have lower IQs’ , he as said that Muslim women who wear Burqa’s look like ‘Letterboxes’, he has said countless of racial words yet the have been over looked by tory voters who voted him to be Prime Minister, further leading to the UK having a racial background.
Another issue that has occurred since protests is the negative hate a blame protesters are having. They are being blamed for breaking lockdown and for the sole reason of a second wave of COVID-19 which might happen; which isn’t right. These protesters are fighting for justice and human rights yet some British citizens do not care they are playing the blame card, there has also been uproar as people have stated ‘they don’t need to protest’ however the majority of people who are against the movement are white people who these problems do not involve them. This is still a racial issue as weeks ago thousands of UK citizens went to beach or had parties with friends however nothing was said about this but as soon as it a different group of people there’s uproar.
Media Outlets
Vox news has talked about how due to the killing of George Floyd, “Minnesota, has sparked protests across the country”, this shows that by one single act can change the whole country; as the pandemic is still occurring people have gone out their way to get justice and protest whats right.
The article discusses how many people and cities across America have joined in with protests, they have also stated most of these protest have been peaceful however “some have turned violent, with police clashes, burning buildings, and looting”, this quotation shows that protests have been civil and peaceful however by police getting involved they start to get more violent, as police use tear gas and rubber bullets on the citizens involved, by these violent actions it has caused people to retaliate and leading to burning of buildings and police cars and looting. The article talks a about a protests that occurred on Friday 29th of May in Atlanta, and how it grew tense and violent as cars were set ablaze, and windows at the CNN building were smashed in. Collisions with police and protesters occurred in Brooklyn on the same evening as disturbing videos emerged online of the evening including one of an “officer pushing a women to the ground” and another of a “police card door hitting a protester”, VOX are telling their readers that the protesters aren’t the ones staring the violence as videos all over social media of police officers targeting peaceful protesters and harming them which brings them to retaliate and burn buildings and loot.
HOW DOES THE CASE OF GEORGE FLOYD AND BLACK LIVES MATTER LINK TO WHAT I AM STUDYING IN MEDIA?
The Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd link to a set text I have studied which is Formation by Beyoncé. Beyoncé is known for speaking out about the BLM movement and recently talks about shootings and police brutality against people of colour in America.The Formation video has a number of different political statements and movement revolving around black culture and communities.In formation Beyonce also uses the theme and references to police brutality, this is shown through a small clip of graffiti on a wall stating “Stop Shooting Us”, this connotes the pain and fear black people face and shows how they have to beg and plea for the violence to stop, it also points to recent cases in which black men were killed by police. Police brutality is also shown through the scene of a young black boy dancing in front of a line of all white police in riot gear, reinforcing that they will take charge.This scene suggests how far will police officers go to hurt people of colour and would they hurt the child which is a powerful statement and is very relevant to this day. There is also a scene regarding the Antebellum period in America, during the Antebellum period black minorities were used for slavery, Furthermore Antebellum dresses were worn by the most elite white women during the 1800s, showing their statues and importance at the time. However Beyoncé contradicts the history of white privilege in the Antebellum period, as she and multiple black women and little girls are shown wearing the dresses also reinforcing the treatment of black people at the time, also turning this scene into a strong and powerful political statement. The video also covers the theme of neglect and white privilege as the opening scene represents Hurricane Katrina and the floods in New Orleans, the scene shows Beyoncé on top of a police car but then later herself and the car submerge under water, possibly reinforcing the lack of help from police forces during the time of need.Regarding to white privilege their are several shots of black communities in basements and shots of floods which links to the time of the New Orleans floods as rich, white people were evacuated first and black poorer communities were left behind.
Molly Goldthorpe Media 