The BLM Effect: Hashtags, History and Race

Author(s): Eric K. Arnold

Source: Race, Poverty & the Environment , 2017, Vol. 21, No. 2, CONVERSATIONS ON
RACE & RESISTANCE (2017), pp. 8-15
Published by: Reimagine!

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Janelle Monae and members of Wonderland at SF rally for victims of police violence.
© 2016 Eric K. Arnold

The BLM Effect:

Hashtags, History and Race
By Eric K Arnold

Four days after the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, legendary hip hop
group A Tribe Called Quest appeared on Saturday Night Live (SNL). Emcee Q-Tip an-
nounced, "Everybody stand up, one fist up in the air!" and proceeded to perform "We The
People," the most overtly-political song of their 26-year career. Tip peeled off some incen-
diary lines which referenced police brutality - "You be killing off good young brothers."
The songs chorus took a direct stab at the bigotry aroused during the long Presidential
campaign: "All you Black folks, you must go/ All you Mexicans, you must go."
Post-election, even as much of America doubled down on bigotry or despair, Kamala
Harris, Californias newly-elected Senator, offered her own message to immigrant families
and communities of color (via her Facebook page): "We are going to come together and
build a movement of people who will fight back against hate, xenophobia, racism and
sexism."

These are two of the most powerful recent examples to date of the "BLM Effect" - a
willingness for Black people to use whatever platform they have - be it social media, politi-
cal protests or SNLs stage - to directly address issues of race and inequality. From everyday
people swarming to the site of the latest incident of police murder, to Colin Kaepernicks
protest during the national anthem, the BLM effect is empowering a new generation to
challenge the racist practices and institutions.

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 Family members of victims of police violence at a SF rally © 201 6 Eric K. Arnold

Birth of a Movement
On July 13, 2013, George Zimmerman was found not guilty by a Florida jury of mur-
dering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The night of the verdict, Oakland prepared for the
worst. Several downtown businesses boarded up their windows in anticipation of property
damage - a reasonable assumption, given that protest marches had been frequent occur-
rences since the murder of Oscar Grant III by a BART policeman on New Years Day
2009. Many Oakland residents were pained by another failure of the courts to administer
justice, yet tired of hearing police helicopters circling over downtown. As darkness fell,
hundreds of protestors took to the streets. Once again, trashcans were set ablaze, anarchist
graffiti was sprayed and store windows were broken.
Alicia Garza, a community organizer with the National Alliance of Domestic Workers,
watched the verdict on TV from a local bar. Logging into Facebook, she wrote a long post
which ended with, "Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter." Garzas friend,
prison-reform activist Patrisse Cullors, commented "#blacklivesmatter" on Garzas post.
Cullors started tagging friends' Facebook walls with the hashtag; others did the same, and
it quickly went viral.
The next day, Solespace, a downtown art gallery, offered a safe place for traumatized
people to express themselves constructively, by making art. Garza spent her afternoon
writing the slogan on sheets of colored paper over and over again. Afterwards, Garza, Cul-
lors and another activist-organizer friend, Opal Tometi, announced through social media
they had decided to form a new organizing project, called Black Lives Matter (BLM).
More than three years later, BLM has grown from a hashtag into a full-fledged, yet
oft-misconstrued, movement. In August of 2014, following the murder by police of Mike
Brown, Black Lives Matter organizers put together a bus tour to bring 600 Black com-

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Cephas Johnson, the uncle of Oscar Grant, and his wife at SF rally against police violence .
O 2016 Eric K. Arnold

munity activists to assist with on-the-ground efforts in Ferguson and St. Louis. Their
direct solidarity with Ferguson networks of young African Americans brought BLM into
national prominence. The movement gained further momentum in 2015, when the first-
ever National Convening of the Movement for Black Lives in Cleveland was attended by
more than 2,000 "freedom fighters."
Journalist Jamilah King, then a staff writer for Colorlines, covered BLM extensively
during its early days. Her reportage helped demystify a movement which seemed to come
out of nowhere and identified BLM s cofounders as three Black women who were ground-
ed in progressive social justice circles. In a 2014 Colorlines article written by King, Garza
explained how the movement s focus extended beyond the outcome of one legal case, to-
ward a larger vision of making Black lives matter through effecting transformative change:
"Whaťs going to make those lives matter is working hard for an end to state violence in
Black communities, knowing that thaťs going to benefit all communities."
BLM has been at the forefront of whaťs frequently been called a new Civil Rights
movement, infusing fresh urgency into discussions around race in America. In 2015, BLM
was a runner-up for Time Magazines "Person of the Year" award, and Garza has gone
on to give TED talks. The social media hashtag has become a global network with more
than 40 BLM chapters worldwide. BLM is one of 28 organizations in the Movement for
Black Lives (M4BL) coalition of 28 affiliated organizations, which has issued a platform
for Black liberation, and numerous policy briefs outlining necessary steps in that direc-
tion. Endorsers of M4BL include Color of Change, Race Forward, Brooklyn Movement
Center, PolicyLink, Million Women March Cleveland, ONE DC and dozens of other
organizations.

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 Janelle Monae and members of Wonderland at a SF rally for victims of police violence.
©201 6 Eric K. Arnold

Shifting Pop Culture Toward Consciousness

"Black Lives Matter is arguably a more powerful cultural movement than it is a political
one," suggests King. "I say that because you have these moments in pop culture [where]
we've seen the biggest shift: Kendrick Lamar at the Grammys, Solange [Knowles] releasing
her album.... Those are really incredible moments [that] people are talking about."
Nowadays, King says, "you cant not talk about race publicly on a huge platform." In
201 5, singer Janelle Monae's BLM-inspired song, "Hell You Talmbout" recalled the social
protest anthems of the late '60s and early '70s; Monae followed up by joining with local
community organizers against police violence during every stop on her national tour. The
awakening of R&B singers extended to J. Cole and D'Angelo, while dozens of politically-
conscious underground rappers - from St. Louis' Tef Poe to Chicago's Lil Herb to Pitts-
burgh's Jasiri X to Oakland's Kev Choice - also felt inspired to make protest songs. In the
BLM era, attempts at colorblindness by Black celebrities like Stacy Dash and Lil' Wayne
have been met with furious clap-backs from their peers and social media commentators
alike.
We've even witnessed an emergent social and political consciousness coming from star
athletes - whose voices have been mostly silent since the late '60s - symbolized by San
Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the National Anthem.
Kaepernick subsequently held a youth camp in Oakland called "Know Your Rights" which
outlined a racial- justice platform.
In an ESPN interview, Kaepernick related that "[The] spreading of knowledge is hap-
pening... you start to break down ignorance, you start to break down some of those preju-
dices."

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Selassie Blackwell , one of the " Frisco 5" hunger-strikers. © 2016 Eric K. Arnold

Local Organizing, National Networking

BLM has also impacted conversations within activist circles, King says, adding, "The ef-
fect has been cultural and political, and that cultural element has given people a way to talk
about race." Well-intentioned POC [people of color] groups have attempted to insert their
own ethnicities into the "

Harsher criticisms have been directed at onerous attempts to redirect

"All Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter."
The movements biggest single political action to date may have
an organization, not to endorse a candidate in the 2016 presiden
most impressive accomplishment has been the networking, coaliti
ground organizing work its done to assemble its social justice troo
what's to come under a Trump presidency.
In the Bay Area, BLM helped organize direct actions like a shutd
Friday and protests held at the Oakland Police Department's head
hosted candidate forums in heavily African American City Council di
bring police reform efforts into mainstream awareness, resulting in
sure. BLM members were active in the "Frisco 5" protests which dire
resignation of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr; a Departmen
the SFPD subsequently found "numerous indicators of implicit an
against minority groups," and made 272 specific recommendations fo
BLM 's national actions include lending organizational assistance to d
in cities across America; disruption of the Republican National
dential debates; and most recently, on the ground mobilizing around
proposed pipeline threatening a Sioux reservation in Standing Roc
BLM members are veteran community organizers who have long

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such as immigration rights, affordable housing, police accountability, prison reform, medi-
cal cannabis, economic equity, media justice, gender identity and other interconnected
issues which all relate to the Black experience in America.
BLM has garnered praise from Barack Obama - even though Garza criticized his State
of the Union Address - yet it s also been the target of considerable backlash. Right-wing
pundits have labeled it a terrorist organization. Others have taken issue with its queer-
friendly focus - Garzas husband is transgender, and BLM has been outspoken about
violence against the Black queer community. BLM's critics have included both expected
sources like Fox News and Breitbart flacks, and the unexpected: NAACP leaders com-
plaining about direct action tactics; and former Black Panther Chairperson Elaine Brown,
who accused BLM of having a "plantation mentality."
BLM takes a strategic approach regarding disinformation, says Malkia Cyril, executive
director of the Center for Media Justice, and a member of BLM s communications team.
As Cyril explains, "We know disorganized truth can be overcome by a well-organized
lie. Sometimes, we simply don't respond, to not give the lies credibility. Sometimes, we
put out press releases and statements to correct inaccuracies. But mostly, we try to build
a powerful counter-narrative. We communicate, strategically, as part of a larger strategy
for change. But we are up against a powerful disinformation campaign driven by historic
national commitment to white supremacy, so we take it one day at a time."

Protesters against police

violence hold up " Black
Lives Matter " signs in
San Francisco .
©201 6 Eric K. Arnold

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Panther Parallels, People Power
Numerous points of connection between BLM and the Black Panthers suggest a histor-
ical continuum is at play. Its no coincidence that both the Panthers and BLM originated
in Oakland, or that the Panthers Ten-Point Program demanded freedom, full education,
a jail moratorium, and an end to police brutality, while the M4BL's platform states, "We
demand an end to the criminalization, incarceration, and killing of our people." Such ap-
parent similarities explain why many see BLM s emergence as part of the Panther legacy.
Conversely, BLM's existence has affirmed the continued relevance of the Panthers.
"People are feeling the conversation about race and justice, not only in the presidential
election, but also in the era of Black Lives Matter," says Rene de Guzman, curator of a
recent Oakland Museum of California exhibit. "All Power to the People: The Black Pan-
thers at 50." In addition to archival material, and recent photographs of more than 100
rank-and-file former Panthers, the exhibit featured a video installation of BLM activist Cat
Brooks speaking, driving the point home about the BLM/BPP connection.
The Panthers legacy, Cyril says, is "one of brilliant Black militancy and also deep frac-
ture and suffering. As a Panther Cub, I've been shaped by both. Today, as a member of the
Black Lives Matter Network specifically and the Movement for Black Lives in general, I
see tons of similarities between the two organizations - and some important differences."
According to Cyril, "Both organizations were birthed by organic intellectuals whose
love for Black people and all oppressed people is unwavering. Both organizations seek
alliances across the lines of difference and make every attempt to embrace and engage all
Black people, but especially those pushed to the margins of society. Both organizations
have an internationalist approach, both (in different ways) value and uphold the leader-
ship of women, and both have made a unique commitment to rejecting homophobia as
a principle and a practice. Both have a critical and clear commitment to the concept of
Black Power, as articulated by Kwame Ture [aka Stokely Carmichael]. Also, both were/are
under attack by the FBI and local police and under constant and illegal surveillance for
democratically-protected activities."
Cyril is careful to note that "these organizations... didn't emerge in the same political
context and shouldn't be expected to mirror each other. The Black Panther Party emerged
after several decades of decolonization movements in the global South, including the in-
dependence of Cuba. BLM emerged after three decades of neoliberal attack on the Black
communities of the US, specifically decimating national and global movements, a massive
expansion of the prison system, and a systematic destruction of public education."
Hodari Davis, organizer of Oakland's annual Life Is Living festival - held in DeFremery
Park, a former Panther stronghold in West Oakland - points out that "the Panthers didn't
have hashtags. They didn't have social media. They weren't able to Tweet their story." Still,
he says, the phrase "Black Lives Matter" reminds him of Panther slogans like "Black is
Beautiful," which he says had a "profound" impact on him as a child.
For Cyril, some of the takeaways from the Panther experience reflect a more evolved
view of social equality and civil rights: "The lessons we must learn are how to not allow pa-
triarchy, heterosexism and internalized racism to become the fracture points that open the
door to FBI surveillance and COINTELPRO-style activities. These weaken movements
and threaten them as well."
The specter of state-sponsored repression has indeed loomed large over every would-be

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revolutionary uprising since the Panther days. The tools of oppression, however, have only
gotten more sophisticated over the decades; the fire hoses of Bull Connors time have been
updated by mobile sonic disruptors and portable cellphone signal-collecting devices.

Different Day, Same Movement

Ultimately, both BLM and the Panthers are part "of one movement: the movement for
Black liberation," Cyril says. "Its a continuation of the resistance that Black people have
been engaged in since the first slave revolt," adds Brooks.
Similarly, Brooks says, "Direct action is not new to this moment in time. The Freedom
Rides were a form of direct action. The lunch counter sit-ins were a form of direct action.
The Montgomery bus boycott was direct action. All of those things interrupted business as
usual.... You cant uphold those [actions] and then call those of us who shut down freeways
or BART trains or presidential debates troublemakers."
While BLM is "not your grandfathers Civil Rights Movement," Brooks says, the eco-
nomic reality for Black people in America means the movement must revisit what the Pan-
thers called "survival programs." Some communities of color, she explains, dont engage in
political activism because of pressing economic hardships, like paying electricity bills, or
grappling with rising rents and eviction notices. That's why, Brooks maintains there's also
a need "to be articulating and advocating for policies that make it less oppressive to live in
this country."
BLM may be many things to many people, but one thing it has consistently been is a
wake-up call. Most people are unaware, as Davis points out, that the Panthers' member-
ship was two-thirds female. When museums curate exhibits on BLM five decades from
now, there should be no denying that Black women and queer folks were at the forefront
of the movement. As King notes, that would be a key pivot from the downplaying of queer
Civil Rights-era figures like Bayard Rustin and Ella Baker, who are rarely mentioned in the
same breath as Dr. King and Malcolm X. ■

Eric K Arnold is a contributing editor to Race, Poverty & the Environment and the
founder ofoakculture.com blog.

Endnotes
1. http://au.complex.com/music/2016/ll/tribe-called-quest-saturday-night-live-performance
2. http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/justice/zimmerman-trial/
3 . http://www.cleveland.com/ metro/ index, ssf/ 20 1 3 /07/ thousands_of_freedom_fighters.html
4. http://www.colorlines.com/articles/facing-race-spotlight-organizer-alicia-garza-why-black-lives-matter
5 . http:// time.com/ time-person-of-the-year-20 1 5-runner-up-Black-lives-matter/
6. http:// www. rollingstone.com/ music/ news/how-blacklivesmatter-changed-hip-hop-and-r-b-
in-2015-20151216
7. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/t-blasts-lil-wayne-black-lives-matter-comments-
article- 1.2861 145
8 . http : / /www. espn.com/nfl/ story/_/id/ 17918655/ san-francisco-4 9ers-qb-colin-kaepernick-hosts-know-
your-rights-camp-oakland-area-youth
9. http://www.oaklandrising.org/es/blog/black-lives-matter-election-town-hall-and-candidate-forum
1 0. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/justice-department-report-blasts-san-
francisco-police/20 16/10/1 2/becb84 1 c-90a2- 1 1 e6-a6a3-d5006l aa9rae_story.html
1 1 . http://time.com/4l79702/black-lives-matter-obama/
12. http://www.eastbaytimes.eom/2015/07/07/black-lives-matter-leader-cat-brooks-playing-the-role-of-her-
life/

1 3 . http://www. spiked-online.com/newsite/article/black-lives-matter-has-a-plantation-mentality-elaine-
brown-black-panthers/ 1 8888#.WAqKD2Wt59I
14. https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-Point_Program
1 5. https://policy.m4bl.org/end-war-on-black-people/

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