California activist Alicia Garza first used the phrase “Black lives matter” in a 2013 Facebook post in which she was expressing frustration and anger over the acquittal of neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed Black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida.
“[T]he sad part is, there’s a section of America who is cheering and celebrating right now. and that makes me sick to my stomach. we gotta get it together y’all… I continue to be surprised at how little Black lives matter. And I will continue that. stop giving up on black life…”
Her friend PatrisseCullors turned the phrase into a social media hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and the two along with Opal Tometi helped popularize it.
Support for the Black Lives Matter movement has dropped to its lowest level in the US since the police murder of George Floyd three years ago, according to a new poll.
The poll from Pew Research Center published on Wednesday found just 51 percent of adults support the BLM movement, down from a high of 67 percent in June 2020, when racial justice protests swept the nation.
The survey found that 67 percent of Americans, a strong majority, agree that black people are treated less fairly that white people when it comes to dealing with police.
However, 57 percent believe the increased focus on racial issues since 2020 has not led to changes that are improving the lives of black people, compared to just 40 percent who believe it has.
But there were significant differences among racial and ethnic groups.
While White adults were more likely to say the words dangerous and divisive describe the Black Lives Matter movement extremely or very well than other groups, 50% of Black adults said the word “dangerous” doesn’t describe the movement too well or at all well, the study shows.
These findings are based on a survey conducted online from April 10 to April 16 among a randomly selected sample of 5,073 adults in the US, drawn from panels originally recruited using probability-based methods.
The waning support for BLM comes amid controversy within the movement, after a group of local BLM chapters sued the BLM Global Network Foundation last year alleging financial malfeasance and fraud.
