I was not able to attend the Black Live Matter event on Sunday 7 June 2020 in Brussels. Instead, I spent my afternoon with my eyes glued to my phone screen, passionately following the news of the movement on Instagram; a kaleidoscope of images and video under the background of hashtag. Anonymous people from all over the world united under the banner of "putting an end to racism and police violence". I was particularly captivated by the slogans chanted by the demonstrators and the media coverage of the demonstrations. I would like to ask about the origin of some of the symbols and slogans used during the marches. The idea would be that the symbols or slogans during demonstrations contribute to the legibility of the message carried by the crowd. A bit like the "Make love no war" of the 60s to contest the Vietnam War.
It's July 13, 2013. George Zimmerman has just been acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin. A young black American man he shot at close range on February 26, 2012. Trayvon had no weapons on him, just a bag of skittles, a lighter, a juice can, and his headphones. We're a long way from Zimmerman's 911 caller and closer to that of a 17-year-old teenager. The verdict provoked an outcry across the United States, Alicia Garza published on her Facebook page "I continue to be surprised at how little black lives matter...Our lives matter" Patrisse Cullors shared the comment with the BlackLivesMatter hashtag. With Opal Tometi, Alicia and Patrisse founded the Black Lives Matter Foundation in 2013, a non-profit organization active in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom that campaigns for an end to institutional racism, racial profiling and police violence in arrests of which African-Americans are most often victims.
Why does BlackLivesMatter even mean ?
If all lives were equal then you wouldn't come across people sleeping on the cobblestones, you would have understood long ago that making war is a barbaric practice from another time (because all lives are equal, isn't it) and I could continue my list. So either the "All lives matter" are idealists or people of bad faith. People walk in the streets because they want to draw public attention to the problems that affect them, nothing more, nothing less.
KNEELING
It's September 2016, Colin Kaepernick refuses to stand up during the national anthem and kneels on the ground in opposition to the police violence suffered by African-Americans. Colin Kaepernick was then considered one of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League and the rising star of the San Francisco 49ers. If this gesture will cost him his career in American football, he is undoubtedly one of the strong symbols of the events that have taken place in recent weeks.