Black Lives Matter Revisited

On February 26, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed during a confrontation with George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida.   Zimmerman was described by The New York Times as a “white Hispanic,” (whatever that is) and was acquitted of all charges sparking a national outrage that helped ignite what would become the Black Lives Matter movement.

Weeks later, on March 23, 2012—before the all the facts were revealed—President Barack Obama addressed the controversy from the White House Rose Garden, saying, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” His remarks struck a deeply emotional chord and symbolized the racial tension gripping the nation.

~ The Beginning ~

The phrase Black Lives Matter originated as a hashtag in 2013, coined by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi following Zimmerman’s acquittal.  It quickly evolved into a broader movement to protest systemic racism and police violence.  By 2014, Black Lives Matter had grown significantly, propelled by the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City—whose final words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry.

My wife and I were living in Eagle County, Colorado with a Black population of less than 0.5% – nonetheless, BLM signs proliferated—a testament to how far the movement had spread and the capacity for virtue signaling in an affluent liberal community.  The movement gained further political traction during the 2016 presidential election, amplifying calls to “Defund the Police”—a controversial campaign to redirect law enforcement funding to social services in response to perceived racial injustice.

I was a member of a local Artists Guild at the time and one of the members began posting photographs of the BLM signage in the Valley.  I emailed the member, who happened to be a friend on a thread containing almost all the guild’s members telling him to be careful because BLM was not what it was projecting itself to be and not to be fooled by media accounts.  My lord, one would have thought I was an advocate for the Ku Klux Klan from the responses on the thread.  Frankly, I had no idea just how uber-liberal roots the group was so I left the organization knowing that one day my comments would be vindicated.

Then, on May 25, 2020, the world watched in horror as George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man with eight felony convictions including aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, died while being restrained by a Minneapolis police officer.  Floyd had been arrested for using a counterfeit $20 bill and the subsequent struggle between him and the police officers resulted in his death and triggered the largest wave of civil unrest in the U.S. since the 1960s: 37 people were killed, over 2,000 officers injured, and more than $2 billion in property damage reported during the peaceful protests in the summer of 2020.

Donations to Floyd’s family and BLM poured in. The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation reportedly raised over $90 million in 2020 alone.  So, five years have passed since the heady days of BLM and with the passage of time, certain facts have surfaced making it fair to ask: what came of it?  Millions supported BLM in its call for racial justice, but racial justice requires legitimate civic engagement, not just virtue signaling.

~ A Record BLM Cannot Hide ~

Despite raising over $100 million since its inception, there are no known initiatives by BLM to build schools, fund scholarships, support Black-owned businesses, or provide rent relief for needy Black families.  Unlike the NAACP and UNCF, BLM has no established programs for education or housing; nor does it invest in community centers, mentorships, or youth programs.  But perhaps the even greater travesty is that the families of victims whose names were central to BLM’s fundraising stated they received little to no help from Black Lives Matter. Investigations have since revealed millions were spent on luxury homes in California for BLM leadership along with significant perks for staff, raising serious concerns about the organization’s financial transparency.

There’s an old saying: “You don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to—especially when the facts are still arriving.”  So, was all the death and destruction worth it?   Or is it just possible the entire matter could have been handled more judiciously from the get-go in 2012 had Barack Obama not announced to the world, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”

Quote of the day: “Black Lives Matter is a scam. They’ve taken in over $90 million and haven’t built a single school, helped a single business, or funded a single scholarship.” – Candace Owens