Black Lives Matter is a social and political movement that highlights social injustice with racial inequality, discrimination, and police brutality against people of color. The movement began in July of 2013 after numerous shootings and killings of innocent p.o.c’s . It shook the world at the time and will continue to in the years to come. There have been too many cases of a p.o.c dying and not getting justice because everyone jumps to blame the victim. “Well, s/he was probably the original aggressor,” when nine times out of ten they were not. Some of them were simply walking home, or even just peacefully sitting in their home. People don’t take the time to deescalate a situation or hear different sides to a story, and justice is not served properly because of this.

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old black male who was fatally shot and killed in Sanford, Florida on February 26th, 2012, by George Zimmerman, a member of the community who reported Trayvon Martin because he was “suspicious” as he was walking home from the convenience store. A couple minutes after reporting Trayvon, an altercation happened between Zimmerman and Martin, resulting in Martin getting shot in the chest and dying. George Zimmerman was then put on trial and was found not guilty due to the “stand your ground law.” A lot of people were very upset over this and protested for a re-trial of Zimmerman, which they got in July of 2013, where Zimmerman was convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

This isn’t the first case of something like this happening, and it certainly is not the last. An earlier case of brutality against p.o.c’s that created global outrage was the case of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black male who was abducted, tortured, and shot in Mississippi in August of 1955 because he “offended a white lady” by talking to her in her family’s store. He was 14 years old, so young and so pure. This lady was 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, and she told her husband Roy about meeting him. Roy planned with his half-brother to hurt him. They went to Till’s uncle’s house, took him away, beat him, and mutilated his body, and then proceeded to shoot him in the head and throw his body into the Tallahatchie River.

Emmett’s body was found three days later, and it was barely recognizable. Apparently shooting him wasn’t enough for Roy; he had to mutilate his body even after he had lost his life. What kind of person does that? His body was brought back to his mother, where she insisted on having an open casket so everyone could see how bad these grown man ruined her little baby. They were found not guilty for Till’s murder, despite walking around with their heads held high and bragging about it after the trial. The story was brought back to light with a recent movie Till, and was a big key point for people showing injustice in the black community. There’s no reason to take a 14-year-old boy from his home to torture and kill him. This boy had dreams; he was just as anyone else his age,

This type of injustice has always been an ongoing theme in the p.o.c community. Why do we not get the proper justice that should be served. Even though all the protesting and rallying has led to getting the justice that some deserve. An example of this is the case of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black male who was suspected to be using a 20$ counterfeit bill at the local convenience store on May 25, 2020. The store employee called the cops and they soon showed up where Floyd was sitting in the car with two other passengers, then the cops proceeded to forcibly remove Floyd from the car and handcuffed him. They put Floyd face down on the pavement while Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on Floyds neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd pleaded with the officer yelling out of breath, “I can’t breathe.” During the final two minutes Floyd was unresponsive and had no pulse, but Chauvin kept his knee of Floyds back and neck even when paramedics arrived. George Floyd had passed away from cardiopulmonary arrest, although they did find traces of fentanyl and meth in his system so that could’ve added to the effect of his death.

A bystander had recorded this incident and posted it online where the internet was outraged that the police officer didn’t get any reproductions for this. There were protests all around the country, and this was the most widespread movement during 2020. This is where the other movement “Say Their Names” came from. “Say their names” is a social movement that highlights police brutality against black people, that got no justice for their murders. On April 20th, 2021, Derek Chauvin was charged with second degree murder, third degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

I remember in my hometown in Manassas, Virginia, there were a lot of peaceful protests, and I begged my mom to let me and my siblings go because we were very passionate about it. My mom said no because she had seen that there were riots in other cities. But it was different in my city, everyone was banding together rather than fighting against each other and destroying our city. The sheriff of our city sat down at one of the protests and listened to what our community had to say and took advice from us rather than shutting us down and causing more chaos.

I think talks about racial indifference and equality are very important nowadays, especially in this political climate. If you don’t talk about it, there won’t be change. We need to start holding people accountable for their actions, especially in situations where the non- colored person was the original aggressor. There are so many cases of the p.o.c just simply standing up for themselves and dying next to their pride. We will never forget the beautiful souls we’ve lost to this injustice. And we will continue chasing justice for those who cannot chase it for themselves. SAY THEIR NAMES.