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Black Lives Matter Movement

The Black Lives Matter Movement refers to a decentralized political and social movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against the continued incidences of police brutality as well as the racially motivated violence against people of African descent. Based on this, the movement advocates for black people’s rights, especially against police use of violence by the police in the United States. Also, the movement aims at advocating for various policy changes that are considered to promote black liberation. In terms of origin, the Black Lives Matter Movement began as a hashtag #BlackLivesMatter which saw circulation on social media after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting that resulted in the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old teen of the African American descent who was shot dead in February 2012.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been vocal in advocating for black people’s rights and freedoms. Based on this spirit, the movement’s platform published in 2016 in August, entitled “A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and justice.” The platform postulated six demands that included: an end to the war on the black people, reparations for past and continuing harms, as well as community controls of the laws, institutions, and policies that most impact us. Also, the platform demands the divestment from the institutions that criminalize, cage, and harm black people, and investment in the education, health, and safety of black people. In addition, the platform advocated for economic justice for all as well the reconstruction of the economy to ensure that the communities have collective ownership, not merely access. Another demand from the Black lives Matter platform includes the independent black political power and Black self-determination in all areas of the society.

Race can be defined as a grouping of human being based on a shared characteristic such as physical or social qualities into categories that are generally perceived as being distinct by society. Based on the above demands advocated by the Black Lives Matter Movement, racism can be considered as permanent as it is propagated in terms of dominant races over others. White supremacists often consider the white race as superior to that of the blacks, leading to racism being recognized across the globe. Based on this, societies around the world have adopted the issues of racism, perpetuating it to become a permanent idea.

Racial prejudice is defined as hostility directed towards people of a different race or color from those perpetrating the injustices. On the other hand, racism refers to the belief that some human groups possess different behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on one race’s superiority over another. Based on the definition of racism, it is evident that racial prejudice is propagated by superior or dominant races over those considered as minor or inferior races. For example, white supremacists perceive their race as superior to that of African Americans, which explains why there has been continued perpetration of injustices against people of Black color, not only by the police but also by the ordinally white citizens.