Hello Bimboland community,
There has been some discussion in various forum posts about the current Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement happening throughout the US, UK, and Canada. The intention of this post is to provide a centralized location for discussion focused primarily on the BLM movement. I think with a dedicated post like this, we the Bimboland community can have a more meaningful conversation on the subject and I ask that we all make an effort to listen with an open mind.
The Bimboland community is made up of amazing and diverse people from all over the world. However, since we are such a broad and global community it may not be clear to everyone what the BLM movement is. The goal of this post is to provide information and meaningful discussion on a number of key aspects.
What is the BLM movement?
What are their guiding principles?
What actions are being taken?
What can you do?
This post is by no means a comprehensive summary on everything the BLM movement stands for. I encourage you all to read more outside of Bimboland and get involved to support the Black community and the BLM movement.
What is the BLM movement?
In 2013, three radical Black organizers — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi — created a Black-centered political will and movement building project called #BlackLivesMatter. The movement began with the murder of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent acquittal of his killer George Zimmerman. Their mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, the movement is winning immediate improvements not only in lives of the Black community but other marginalized communities as well. BLM regularly holds protests speaking out against police brutality and police killings of black people, and broader issues such as racial profiling, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system. The protests we are witnessing today are the courageous efforts from people all over the country standing up against police brutality and demanding change.
What are their guiding principles?
The BLM movement stands by 13 guiding principles. They are diversity, restorative justice, unapologetically black, globalism, collective value, black women, empathy, black villages, queer affirming, loving engagement, transgender affirming, black families, and intergenerational.
The intention from the very beginning was to connect Black people from all over the world who have a shared desire for justice to act together in their communities. The impetus for that commitment was, and still is, the rampant and deliberate violence inflicted on the Black community by the state.
What actions are being taken?
BLM protests are happening across the U.S. and around the world. Every major city in the US is seeing thousands of protestors march in unison with a call for change and meaningful action to be done to end the systemic racism present throughout every level of our society.
In 2016, Black Lives Matter and a coalition of 60 organizations affiliated with BLM called for decarceration in the United States, reparations for slavery in the United States, 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. In the recent protests there has been a growing call to defund the police as they continue to become more militarized. Without meaningful oversight and virtually no consequences to their use of excessive force (literally straight up murdering in broad daylight), police brutality across the US is a huge societal problem.
What can you do?
The short answer is to get involved. The current protests began in the United States in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, following the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes during an arrest the previous day. Since then, protests have emerged in every major city across the U.S. and have since spread across the globe. I encourage you all to get involved BUT BE CAREFUL. These gatherings are rightfully and legally protesting the horrendous police brutality committed by officers on a daily basis. To try to quell these protests the police have resorted to… USING EXCESSIVE FORCE AND BRUTAILITY including TEAR GAS, RUBBER BULLETS, and BEATING peaceful protestors.
Additional ways to support the movement are to write to your elected officials on a local, state, and federal level. Make your voice heard that you support the BLM movement and want changes in your community. VOTE for representatives that will enact the changes you wish to see.
Finally consider donating to the cause.
For more information and to donate directly to the BLM movement please go to their website
For other places to contribute to the cause I have linked two articles that list a number of different organizations that support the BLM movement.
https://www.allure.com/story/black-lives-matter-where-to-donate
https://www.gq.com/gallery/ways-to-support-black-lives-matter
Finally, I would like to ask that you all adhere to the Bimboland site rules. Do not advocate for violence and please be respectful to each other.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
