Black Lives Matter Movement

Black Lives Matter Name Institutional Affiliation Black Lives Matter Introduction In the wake of deaths of Blacks at the police hands, sprang a cause in 2013 with a hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter”, launched by three radical Blacks, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi. The project was formed following the release of George Zimmerman who was wrongly convicted for the murder of Trayvon Martin (Jacobs, 2018). As a political and conceptual intervention project, members of now a global network of over 40 chapters intervene in cases of violence inflicted against Black communities by criminals and the state and has become one of the most influential social movements in post-civil rights period (Roberts, 2018). While the movement has received harsh criticism over inciting the Blacks against the police, Alicia Garza, one of the cofounders demystifies that the movement is not a terrorist organization, but a group with a clear objective of exposing the forms of injustices and despicable deeds witnessed by African American communities in everyday life. This paper argues that the movement matters today because it has led to a decline in racism since inception, helped fight corruption, and has had a positive cultural impact among Americans. Research shows that rallies and demonstrations by members of the movement have had a positive impact on reducing racism in the United States (Jacobs, 2018). The social and political crusades at the start of the movement decreased both cognizant and insentient pro-white prejudice. In their study, Jeremy Sawyer and Anup Gampa, anti-racist movements such as BLM have an influence of moving racial groups toward more egalitarian racial insolences (Jacobs, 2018). The authors, whose study is published in one of the respected journals, analysed data retrieved from the Project Implicit website that allows users take a number of tests to gauge their levels of prejudice, implicitness or unconsciousness. Among the studies the researchers focused on, was race and they concluded that social struggles have an impact on attitude and promote further protests, which will in turn transform attitudes. The success of the movement in transforming attitudes is a verdict that the movement matters and should be supported to eliminate racism. Since 2013, movement organizers and members have effected a number of changes both nationwide and locally in matters related to corruption such as ejecting high-profile corrupt attorneys (Roberts, 2018). For instance, in Chicago, efforts by groups affiliated to the movement such as the Assata’s Daughters and BYP100, among others, ensured that Anita Alvarez loses her re-election bid for fail...