Black Lives Matter

HOW #BLM CHANGED THE GAME: This is an informational bulletin that can be used in clubs, classrooms, meetings, shared with friends and family, or just simply for your own education. There are sections on: definitions, videos, statistics, articles, resources and questions to think about. We hope that this information is useful for your community. 

What is #BlackLivesMatter?

The #BlackLivesMatter campaign is a primarily American movement that started after the acquittal of George Zimmerman after the Trayvon Martin shooting and received fresh energy following the shooting of unarmed Michael Brown by a police officer. The movement has received worldwide media attention and has been receiving major popularity after cases such as Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, and Freddie Gray caused international outrage. The movement has generated controversy by calling police power into question as well as bringing up the conversation of racism in the United States again.

DEFINITIONS TO CONSIDER

Prejudice: A judgment or belief that is formed on  insufficient grounds before facts are known or  in  disregard of facts that contradict it. Prejudices are learned and can be unlearned.

Discrimination: The unequal allocation of goods, resources, and services, and the limitation of access to full participation in society based on individual membership in a particular social group; reinforced by law, policy, and cultural norms that allow for differential treatment on the basis of identity.

Social Power: Access to resources that enhance one’s chances of getting what one needs in order to lead a comfortable, productive and safe life.

Oppression: When an agent group, whether knowingly or unknowingly, abuses a target group. This pervasive system is rooted historically and maintained through individual and institutional/ systematic discrimination, personal bias, bigotry, and social prejudice, resulting in a condition of privilege for the agent group at the expense of the target group.

Racial Profiling: refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity and/or national origin.

Reverse Racism: Doesn’t exist. Racial Discrimination however can happen to any racial group. Reverse racism is sometimes categorized as “racism” against members of a dominant or majority group – White people in the United States. However, since White people hold systematic and historical power in the United States, they cannot experience racism. They can experience Racial Discrimination, which is just as hurtful and damaging on a personal level, but is not backed by systems and laws.

Organization for group campaigns: For a campaign like #BlackLivesMatter, you must make sure  that  Black people are organizers of the campaign and represented instead of someone who isn’t Black because they don’t have the full experience of what a  Black person goes through. That doesn’t mean other races can’t participate  but it does mean that they should be an ally to support, not to lead.

VIDEOS

Below are videos of Black boys and men that have been murdered by the Police. These videos are an active part of the #BlackLivesMatter campaign.

An unedited video of Walter Scott who was unarmed getting shot by a South Carolina cop.

An incident involving unlawful denial of medical attention to a spinal injury and wrongful stopping of Freddie Gray by police. He died from his injuries a week later. This sparked the Baltimore riots.

Police shot 12-Year-old Tamir Rice with no warning because they believed he had a gun but he actually had a squirt gun. Ohio is an open carry state.

The police release footage of the shooting death of Philando Castile.

After the shooting of Michael Brown, outrage has been set off in Ferguson.

ARTICLES/HANDOUTS

34.9 percent of the people killed by cops—even though they were unarmed and not attacking—were black. The likelihood and facts about people of color dying by police.

The real time effects of men and women of color getting jailed at a rapid rate; this also includes facts about the rates.

Criminalization of Black Boys and Men

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

• What are some ways I could contribute to this campaign?
• What type of training do police officers receive? What type of training should they be getting?What ways do I hold racial stereotypes in my life? How might that affect how I interact with people of different races?       
• What ways do I hold racial stereotypes in my life? How might that affect how I interact with people of different races?

RESOURCES

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2012/03/13/11351/the-top-10-most-startling-facts-about-people- of-color-and-criminal-justice-in-the-united-states/

Schauer, Pete. Police Training and Excessive Force. Greenhaven Publishing, 2018.

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-racial-discrimination

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cops-killed-8-hours-2015-early-graves-day/

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-black-lives-hard-facts-article-1.2154579

http://blacklivesmatter.com/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2016/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/11/arent-more-white-people-than-black-people- killed-by-police-yes-but-no/?utm_term=.79d32f1a9b88

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2017/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30339943

http://gawker.com/unarmed-people-of-color-killed-by-police-1999-2014-1666672349

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/philando-castile-no-justice_us_59444c46e4b0f15cd5bb6415

https://thinkprogress.org/this-is-how-many-people-police-have-killed-so-far-in-2016-7f1aec6b7098/

Photo credit: https://blacklivesmatter.com