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Black Lives Matter 2020

The Black Lives Matters movement was founded in 2013 after the killing of an Black

American teenage boy by a white officer known as George Zimmerman. The movement has

been widely recognized worldwide. It rose into popularity in 2020, after the death of George

Floyd. The purpose of the movement is to protest against the discrimination of the black people

by the whites. Since the beginning of time, racism has been a part of the society. No one is born

with racist attitudes or ideas. Racism is however an aspect that individuals learn overtime.

Racism does not harm the racist. However, it adversely hurts the receiver. The black lives matter

movement is one of the largest movements in the history of the United States that advocates for

equality. Approximately 15 million to 26 million people were involved in the black lives matter

protests in 2020 (Perez, p.54). This made this protest the one of the biggest in the country’s

history. The movement comprises a broad array of demands and multiple perspectives. The

central argument of the Black Lives Matter movement is the criminal justice reform. The Black

Lives Matter in 2020 was greatly stirred by the inhuman killing of Gorge Floyd.

More than 40 percent of states in the United States were involved in the protests.

Unlike Black Lives Matters protests that had been conducted in the past, almost 95% of the

counties that participated were majority resided by the whites. This is a great number compared
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to the number of whites who supported the movements against racism in the early 1960s. This is

an indication of the reality of the white’s support in eliminating racism in the United States.

The protests done by the Black Lives Matters in 2020 indicate the importance of

solidarity and allyship. The movement had changed the lives of many Americans. The

movements unrelenting efforts in ensuring that there is equity in the law enforcement sector has

made the world a secure place for the black community. Although discriminatory activities still

exist, they have been lessened to a great measure. Police brutality in most countries such as the

United States highly affected the black race. However, with the Black Lives Matters protests in

2020, racist activities in the law enforcement sector have been reduced.

The blacks have been constantly fighting to ensure that the institutionalized racism in the

United States is ended. The Black Lives Matter movement has risen to defend the rights of the

black race and also to respond to most of their demands. Although there exist many critics to the

movement, it is indisputable that it has become wide spread and recognized that had challenged

and changed the nature of American politics and the view of the black community. In order to

repair the harms that had been done to the black people, the Black Lives Matters required various

basic policies. These are community control, reparations, economic justice, political power,

invest-divest. These are policies that the movement has fought for many years, and also the same

it was advocating for in 2020.

The Black Lives Matters in 2020 was agitated by the need to end criminalization, killing

of blacks and incarceration. The police in the United States had for a long time criminalized and

brutalized the black people. Therefore, the initiatives of the Black Lives Matters movement did

not arise from the killings of one or three police brutality cases. It has been a continuing process

and no effective measures were taken against the police officers. Prior to the killing of Gorge
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Floyd in 2020, there are many other killings in the history of America. For example, in 2012, a

Black American teenager boy was shot and killed by an officer named George Zimmerman

(Kelley, pg.54). In 2013, George was acquitted of his charges as the ruling said that there did not

exist any evidence that he was involved in the killing. This is an indication of the rate of

corruption in the law enforcement system and the exploitation of the black race. The protests of

the Black Lives Matters are therefore meant to ensure that these acts do not appear in the society.

The Black Lives Matters became highly recognized in 2020. However, the foundation

was formed in 2013. Does this mean that there did not exist acts of racism in the previous years?

Certainly not. Racism and discrimination of the black has existed since time immemorial. The

oppression of the blacks by the whites can be dated back even to the medieval era, when the

Africans were treated as slaves. Therefore, the movement had only emerged to address an issue

that has been affecting the black race for a long period of time. Most of the American

philosophers addressed the aspect of discrimination against the black.

How were the Black Lives Matters protests in 2020 essential for the well-being of the

black community? Today, there are many positive things that have been brought about by the

Black Lives Matters protests. First, diversity has been embraced in the United States. Racism

shows that people in a nation do not respect individual ethnic differences and diversity.

However, the 2020 protests have positively impacted how the Americans embrace diversity. The

protests have also led to improvements in the state of restorative justice. The law enforcement

unit has greatly changed and equity has been instituted in the justice system (Adelakun, pg.52).

Since the start of 2021, there has been a reduction in the cases of police brutality compared to the

past years.
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The protests have also helped in creating awareness of the aspect of black lives. Many

companies have adopted the practices and the rights of the black people have been advocated.

Globalism is also another aspect that has been contributed by the Black Lives Matter protests.

The police have also been informed of the consequences of brutality against the people of color.

Unlike in the past, cases of police brutality in the recent days are taken with much weight and

therefore, police brutality cases have greatly reduced. The black community has suffered in the

brutal hands of the white police officers. The Black Lives Matters movement has therefore risen

to ensure that the police only protect but do not endanger the lives of the black people.

The president of the United States at the time, Donald Trump did not however the Black

Lives Matters movement. This was one of the reasons why the Americans continued with their

protests for a long time and demanded more security (Trembath, pg.76). However, organizations

that protest for the wellbeing of the black people in the United States collaborated to ensure that

they brought a great impact to the government.

Looking back to 2020, we can say that the Black Lives Matters protestors have led to the

creation of a better America. If there had not been protests after the death of George Floyd,

probably, we could be experiencing many cases of police brutality than we are experiencing

today. Are there still cases of police brutality in the United States? The answer to the question is

yes. Police brutality is still evident in the United States. For example, in on 27th of January 2021,

Kevin Levira Desir, who was a Black American aged 43 years was killed by a police officer.

This is an indication that the Black Lives Matter 2020 protests did an excellent work, but they

still need to do more (Crusto, pg.54). As this movement had become one of the greatest in

American history, it can achieve equity for the black community.

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In conclusion and summary, the Black Lives Matters protests in 2020 especially after the

death of George Floyd were important in the reformation of the United States criminal justice

system. The movement is probably the largest to ever exist in the history of the country. The

purpose of the movement is to prevent the killings of the black people as well as ensuring that

they are not wrongly criminalized. The movement has attained a great success despite the

existence of critics. Although it has not been able to address all the cases of racism in the

country, it has led to a creation of awareness about the aspect of protection of the rights of the

black people. The existence of the movement has therefore changed how black people are treated

in the United States. As the movement is continually growing, it is likely to influence the

political system to ensure that the rights of the Black Americans are instituted into government.

Work Cited

Adelakun. “Black Lives Matter! Nigerian Lives Matter!: Language and Why Black Performance

Matters.” Genealogy, vol. 3, no. 2, 14 Apr. 2019, p. 19, 10.3390/genealogy3020019.

Asante, Molefi Kete. “Virtual Theme Collection: Body Politics: Making Black Lives Matter.”

Journal of Black Studies, 12 Nov. 2020, p. 002193472097007,

10.1177/0021934720970070.

Crusto, Mitchell F. “Black Lives Matter: Banning Police Lynchings.” SSRN Electronic Journal,

2020, 10.2139/ssrn.3747340.

Hebah Farrag. “The Spirit in Black Lives Matter: New Spiritual Community in Black Radical

Organizing.” Transition, no. 125, 2018, p. 76, 10.2979/transition.125.1.11.

Kelley, Robin D. G. “Beyond Black Lives Matter.” Kalfou, vol. 2, no. 2, 16 Oct. 2015,

10.15367/kf.v2i2.71.
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Pashia, Angela. “Black Lives Matter in Information Literacy.” Radical Teacher, vol. 106, 21

Nov. 2016, 10.5195/rt.2016.305.

Perez, Craig Santos. “Black Lives Matter in the Pacific.” Ethnic Studies Review, vol. 43, no. 3,

2020, pp. 34–38, 10.1525/esr.2020.43.3.34.

Trembath, Sarah. “Teaching Black Lives in College When Black Lives Didn’t Matter That Much

K through 12.” Radical Teacher, vol. 116, 3 Mar. 2020, pp. 18–25, 10.5195/rt.2020.663.

Tuitt, Frank, et al. “Transforming the Classroom at Traditionally White Institutions to Make

Black Lives Matter.” To Improve the Academy, vol. 37, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 63–76,

10.1002/tia2.20071.