Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and racial inequality experienced by Black people in the United States, and to promote anti-racism. Its primary concerns are police brutality and racially motivated violence against Black people. The movement began in response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, among others. BLM and its related organizations typically advocate for various policy changes related to Black liberation and criminal justice reform. While there are specific organizations that label themselves "Black Lives Matter", such as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the overall movement is a decentralized network with no formal hierarchy. As of 2021, there are about 40 chapters in the United States and Canada. The slogan "Black Lives Matter" itself has not been trademarked by any group.

In 2013, activists and friends Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Ayọ Tometi originated the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. The movement became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two more African Americans, Michael Brown—resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri—and Eric Garner in New York City. Since the Ferguson protests, participants in the movement have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African Americans by police actions or while in police custody, in the summer of 2015. The movement gained international attention during global protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. An estimated 15 to 26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, making it one of the largest protest movements in the country's history. The vast majority of BLM demonstrations in 2020 were peaceful, but BLM protests from late May to early June 2020 escalated into riots and looting in most major cities.

Support for Black Lives Matter has fluctuated in recent years. In 2020, 67% of American adults expressed support for BLM, declining to 45% of American adults in 2024. Support among people of color has, however, held strong, with 81% of African Americans, 61% of Hispanics and 63% of Asian Americans expressing support for Black Lives Matter as of 2023.

Structure and organization

Decentralization

The phrase "Black Lives Matter" can refer to a Twitter hashtag, a slogan, a social movement, a political action committee, or a loose confederation of groups advocating for racial justice. As a movement, Black Lives Matter is grassroots and decentralized, and leaders have emphasized the importance of local organizing over national leadership. The structure differs from previous black movements, like the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Such differences have been the subject of scholarly literature. Activist DeRay Mckesson has commented that the movement "encompasses all who publicly declare that black lives matter and devote their time and energy accordingly".

In 2013, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Ayọ Tometi formed the Black Lives Matter Network. Garza described the network as an online platform that existed to provide activists with a shared set of principles and goals. Local Black Lives Matter chapters are asked to commit to the organization's list of guiding principles but are autonomous, operating without a central structure or hierarchy. Garza has commented that the Network was not interested in "policing who is and who is not part of the movement." As of 2021, there are about 40 chapters in the United States and Canada.

This has caused confusion in both the media and activists circles, as actions or statements by individual chapters or members are often misattributed to "Black Lives Matter" as a whole. Matt Pearce, writing for the Los Angeles Times, commented that "the words could be serving as a political rallying cry or referring to the activist organization. Or it could be the fuzzily applied label used to describe a wide range of protests and conversations focused on racial inequality."

On at least one occasion, a person represented as Managing Director of BLM Global Network has released a statement represented to be on behalf of that organization.

Broader movement

Concurrently, a broader movement involving several other organizations and activists emerged under the banner of "Black Lives Matter", as well. In 2015, Johnetta Elzie, DeRay Mckesson, Brittany Packnett, and Samuel Sinyangwe initiated Campaign Zero, aimed at promoting policy reforms to end police brutality. The campaign released a ten-point plan for reforms to policing, with recommendations including: ending broken windows theory policing, increasing community oversight of police departments, and creating stricter guidelines for the use of force. The New York Times reporter, John Eligon, wrote that some activists expressed concerns that the campaign was overly focused on legislative remedies for police violence.

Black Lives Matter also voices support for various movements and causes beyond police brutality, including LGBTQ activism, feminism, immigration.

Movement for Black Lives

The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is a coalition of more than 50 groups representing the interests of black communities across the United States. Members include the Black Lives Matter Network, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Endorsed by groups such as Color of Change, Race Forward, Brooklyn Movement Center, PolicyLink, Million Women March Cleveland, and ONE DC, the coalition receives communications and tactical support from an organization named Blackbird.

Following the murder of George Floyd, M4BL released the BREATHE Act, which called for sweeping legislative changes surrounding policing; the policy bill included calls to divest from policing and reinvest funds directly in community resources and alternative emergency response models.

On July 24, 2015, the movement initially convened at Cleveland State University, where between 1,500 and 2,000 activists gathered to participate in open discussions and demonstrations. The conference in Cleveland, Ohio, initially attempted to "strategize ways for the Movement for Black Lives to hold law enforcement accountable for their actions on a national level". However, the conference resulted in the formation of a much more significant social movement. At the end of the three-day conference, on July 26, the Movement for Black Lives initiated a yearlong "process of convening local and national groups to create a United Front". This year long process ultimately resulted in the establishment of an organizational platform that articulates the goals, demands, and policies which the Movement for Black Lives supports in order to achieve the "liberation" of black communities across America.

In 2016, the Ford Foundation announced plans to fund the M4BL Movement for Black Lives in a "six-year investments" plan, further partnering up with others to found the Black-led Movement Fund. The sum donated by the Ford Foundation and the other donors to M4BL was reported as $100 million by The Washington Times in 2016 (equivalent to $134 million in 2025); another donation of $33 million (equivalent to $44 million) to M4BL was reportedly issued by the Open Society Foundations.

In 2016, M4BL called for decarceration in the United States, reparations for harms related to slavery, and more recently, specific remedies for redlining in housing, education policy, mass incarceration and food insecurity. It also called for an end to mass surveillance, investment in public education, not incarceration, and community control of the police: empowering residents in communities of color to hire and fire police officers and issue subpoenas, decide disciplinary consequences and exercise control over city funding of police.

Funding

Politico reported in 2015 that the Democracy Alliance, a gathering of Democratic-Party donors, planned to meet with leaders of several groups who were endorsing the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Politico, Solidaire, the donor coalition focusing on "movement building" and led by Texas oil fortune heir Leah Hunt-Hendrix, a member of the Democracy Alliance, had donated more than $200,000 to the BLM movement by 2015.

According to The Economist, between May 2020 and December 2020, donations to Black Lives Matter related causes amounted to $10.6 billion (equivalent to $13 billion in 2025). The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, one of the main organizations coordinating organizing and mobilization efforts across the reported raising $90 million in 2020 (equivalent to $112 million in 2025), including a substantial number of individual donations online, with an average donation of $30.76 (equivalent to $38.27).

Strategies and tactics

Black Lives Matter originally used various social media platforms—including hashtag activism—to reach thousands of people rapidly. Since then, Black Lives Matter has embraced a diversity of tactics. Black Lives Matter protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful; when violence does occur, it is often committed by counter-protesters. Despite this, opponents often try to portray the movement as violent.