Essay: #BlackLivesMatter Movement's Impact on US Civil Society

This essay examines the #BlackLivesMatter movement, a significant civil rights movement in the United States, sparked by rising instances of police brutality and racial injustice against Black individuals. The essay highlights the historical context, drawing parallels to the 1970s and referencing Brent Staples' 'Just Walk On By' to illustrate persistent societal prejudices. It discusses the influence of Malcolm X and his advocacy for self-defense in the face of violence. The essay then analyzes the Trayvon Martin case, which galvanized the movement, emphasizing the role of racial bias and the legal system's shortcomings. The essay concludes by underscoring the systemic issues contributing to the marginalization of Black people and the ongoing struggle for equality and justice within the United States. The essay also references key academic sources to support its arguments.

Running head: #BLACKLIVESMATTER
#BLACKLIVESMATTER
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The civil society of the United States of America has been witnessing a civil rights
movement under the banner of the punchline #blacklivesmatter ! The contemporary social
movement has been a reaction to the rising number of atrocities against the blacks living in USA,
and the most intriguing fact is that even the police personnel are involved in it along with the
general public (Bonilla-Silva, 2019). The Trump regime has witnessed a steep rise in crimes
against the blacks and the mass hysteria and suspicion against the blacks have been on rise which
is similar to the situations prevailing in the 1970s as described by Brent Staples in ‘Just Walk On
By’ as “The fearsomeness mistakenly attributed to me in public places often has a perilous
flavor (Staples, 1993) .” This quotation hunts at the fact that back in the 1970s the blacks were
viewed upon as criminals and thus a prejudice and a biased baseless generalization which
incriminated the blacks had become the dominant culture. The situation at the contemporary
times are however not very different from the 1970s as the atrocities against the blacks are
happening unabated and the involvement of the police along with the lackadaisical attitude of the
legal set up acknowledge the atrocities against the blacks are making the black more vulnerable
by inspiring more crimes against the blacks (Donohue, 2017).
Malcolm X the one to actually start the civil rights movement under the banner of the
punchline #blacklivesmatter had in his interest articulation voiced out the police atrocities
against the blacks specifically. In his speech at the Ford Auditorium he had urged upon the
blacks of the country to take upon themselves the charge of securing their own lives and liberty
against the onslaught which were categorically directed towards them (Taylor, 2018). He had
lamented over the incident of Selma, in Alabama when a black woman was mercilessly dragged
and knocked down on the streets while the men belonging to her ethnicity instead of helping her
out by standing up for her, had chosen to observe the motto of non-violence. He made it very

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clear by his speech that if the blacks wanted justice then they must stand up for it themselves by
stating that it is not unjustified at all to take recourse to violence at the mouth of a life
threatening crisis for the sake of self-preservation. The #blacklivesmatter movement was
however was not violent, but it did demonstrate that the blacks have started taking things on their
hands to make themselves heard and demand for justice (Malcolm X, 1965).
On the morning of 30th of July in the year 2012, Trayvon was visiting the fiancée of his
father at a gated community of a mixed neighbourhood in Florida (Lee, 2012). He was fatally
shot down by a Hispanic man by the name George Zimmerman, who supposedly mistook Martin
for a burglar or some miscreant who had broken into the premises of the community. Martin was
17 years old and he measures 5 feet 11 inches at the time of his death. He was wearing a dark
hued hoodie. Zimmerman had contacted the local police station and intimated to them his
worries (Lee, 2012). By the time the forces had arrived, Martin was already shot dead by
Zimmerman, and he was having some marks of injuries on his nose and at the back of his head.
He escaped a prison sentence as it was concluded by the law courts that the act was committed in
a fit of paranoia and self-defense. However, eye witness reports say that the injuries were not
incurred by Zimmerman at the time of the shooting. This incident had sparked the
#blacklivesmatter movement in the country. The issue was raised that it was the lives of the
blacks which were in danger in reality, and the whites, the racial supremacists were the real
threat (Giroux, 2017).
Thus from the abovementioned incidents it becomes quite clear that the culture of
incriminating the blacks have been there throughout the history of United States of America and
the role of the police in perpetrating the atrocities is also not something new, just that in the
contemporary times under the regime of Trump the likelihood of the black people to get detained

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or even shot at by the police has increased manifold times. The legal system is also contributing
to the discriminatory attitude against the blacks by not acquitting the culprits involved in
atrocities committed against the black as cases of culpable homicide, which was very much
apparent in the case of Trayvou Martin. Thus when the social order is anti black then it should
not be surprising to actually find the police forces also following suit.

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References
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2019). “Racists,”“Class Anxieties,” Hegemonic Racism, and Democracy in
Trump’s America. Social Currents, 6(1), 14-31.
Donohue, J. J. (2017). Comey, Trump, and the puzzling pattern of crime in 2015 and beyond.
Colum. L. Rev., 117, 1297.
Giroux, H. A. (2017). White nationalism, armed culture and state violence in the age of Donald
Trump. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 43(9), 887-910.
Lee, C. (2012). Making race salient: Trayvon Martin and implicit bias in a not yet post-racial
society. NCL Rev., 91, 1555.
Malcolm, X. (1965). After the bombing/speech at ford auditorium. the Malcolm X Museum and
Noaman Ali, http://www. malcolm-x. org/speeches/spc_021465. htm (hereafter cited as
AB).
Staples, B. (1993). Just walk on by. The Blair reader: Exploring contemporary issues, 450-453.
Taylor, K. (2018). American political development and black lives matter in the age of
incarceration. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 6(1), 153-161.