posted by Jack
Black Lives Matter (BLM) was founded in 2012 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, for what the organization terms as “the validity of Black life.” It is also sometimes called an ideological reincarnation of the Black Panther movement that flourished in the ’60s.
BLM was created in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who murdered and manslaughtered a 17-year-old boy called Trayvon Martin. According to BLM, Zimmerman committed the crime as a result of the “virulent anti-Black racism” that “permeates our society” and continues to magnify “the deep psychological wounds of slavery, racism and structural oppression.”
BLM has faced criticism over the years for its controversial statements and quotes. Here are some of them:
DeRay Mckesson, a Black Lives Matter leader, was under fire in May 2015 for his controversial tweets about the police. McKesson had criticized former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who called the Black Lives Matter movement racist. McKesson said that the police were ”engaged in ethnic cleansing” in one of his tweets.
Tweet: The police are killing people. Officer Friendly is akin to the myth of the American Dream — seductive but a deadly illusion nonetheless.
Tweet: This “feared for my life” language is perhaps the new execution motto of America’s largest gang, the police.