Lakita Wilson - What Is Black Lives Matter?

On February 26, 2012, seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin left his fathers girlfriends home, in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, to get a quick snack. He purchased a bag of Skittles and an Arizona Iced Tea. Throwing his dark gray hoodie over his head to protect himself from the rain, Trayvon walked home.

As Trayvon made his way back into his quiet community, a man named George Zimmerman watched him from his car and reached for his cell phone. Over the last several years, George had called the police many times to report people in his neighborhood. However, every suspicious person George reported was a Black male.

Weve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, George told the police dispatcher. And theres a real suspicious guy. This guy looks like hes up to no good or hes on drugs or something.

The dispatcher asked George questions as his car door creaked open. Are you following him? she asked. We dont need you to do that.

George answered, Okay.

But he left his car and continued following Trayvon on foot. Cornering him, George began to harass the teenager, and a fight began. Moments later, shots rang out, and seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin fell to the concrete sidewalk, his bag of Skittles still tucked safely in his pocket, only seventy yards from his destination.

Trayvon Martin was a teenager who loved video games and fixing things. He liked trying new things like snowboarding and visiting New York City to see a Broadway play. He had dreams of becoming a pilot someday. Instead, Trayvon was gunned down before he even had the opportunity to attend his high-school prom. And the man who killed him was still free to walk around his gated community, patrolling for more suspicious people.

Disappointment rippled through the Black community. In the United States, there is a history of treating Black lives like they dont matter. Many people who commit crimes against Black people are not punished for their actions. Fifty-seven years before Trayvon Martins death, two white men in Mississippi killed fourteen-year-old Emmett Till after a white woman accused him of flirting with her. Emmetts killers were found not guilty. Twenty-one years before Trayvons death, in Los Angeles, a Korean convenience-store owner shot fifteen-year-old Latasha Harlins to death after accusing her of stealing a bottle of orange juice. A California jury decided that Latashas killer was guilty, but a judge only sentenced the shop owner to five years of probation.

The Black community demanded justice for Trayvon so strongly that his death made national news. The police finally arrested George Zimmerman, but he claimed self-defense, and in 2013, he was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon.

The evening after the George Zimmerman verdict, community organizer Alicia Garza posted a letter to Black people on Facebook. She wrote, I continue to be surprised about how little Black lives matter. Alicia urged everyone in her community to stop giving up on Black life.

Then she ended her post by affirming, I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. Later, Alicias friend, Patrisse Cullors, changed the last three words into the now famous hashtag: #BlackLivesMatter.

CHAPTER 1

Three Friends Start a Movement

Alicia Garza was born on January 4, 1981, in Los Angeles, California. She lived with her mother, stepfather, and younger brother, Joey. When Trayvon Martin was killed, Alicia, then thirty-one years old, thought about her younger brother. Trayvon had been racially profiledor targeted because he was Black. Joey was tall and had brown skin and curly hair. Someone could racially profile himjust like they had Trayvon. Alicia felt powerless in that moment. But in reality, Alicia had been full of power since she was a child.

Alicia Garza

Alicias mother began teaching her self-defense moves in their kitchen late at night when she was young. She told Alicia she didnt have to do anything with anyone if she didnt want to. Alicias mother had been attacked when she was younger, and she wanted her daughter to understand how to protect herself.

When Alicia was twelve, she thought a lot about protection. All around the country, adults argued about what teenagers should do with their bodies. Many adults felt like teenagers were too young to make their own health decisions. But Alicia believed teenagers had a right to protect themselves and their bodies. She fought to bring health education and resources to middle and high schools in her districtand she won. This was Alicias first time organizingand she found great power in seeing a problem and making a plan for change.

In college, Alicia joined the student association at University of California San Diego. There, she fought for higher pay for the university janitors. As an adult, Alicia worked as the special projects director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance. This organization fights to make sure labor workers like nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers are treated fairly on the job. Alicias efforts supporting people who needed protection would help her later with her activist work.

Patrisse Cullors was born in Van Nuys, California. Living with her mom, sister, and two brothers in a low-income neighborhood had its challenges. Patrisse was nine when she saw her eleven- and thirteen-year-old brothers slammed into a wall by police officers. She was thirteen when she saw Los Angeles police handcuff and haul away her older brother Monte.

The problem was that Monte suffered from schizoaffective disorder, a mental health condition that affects the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. Instead of helping Monte, police officers often put him in jail. When Patrisse got older, Monte started writing her letters from jail. He explained that he was beaten and forced to drink toilet water by county sheriffs who patrolled the jails. One time in 1999, he was almost killed. Patrisse and her mom wanted to tell someonebut there was no one to turn to. The police, in most cases, were always believedespecially over the word of a poor person with brown skin.