A look at Black Lives Matter
You’ve seen it on protester signs and in your neighbor’s yard, or maybe painted in block letters on your street. But what is Black Lives Matter? Recent coverage has sparked public interest, and the Tribune answers some pressing questions.
You’ve seen it on protester signs and in your neighbor’s yard, or maybe it’s painted in block letters on your street — but what is Black Lives Matter? What’s the difference between the phrase, the hashtag and the group of people behind it? And how is it connected to this summer’s unrest in Chicago?
Recent coverage has sparked public interest surrounding Black Lives Matter, as well as public questions. Here are 10 frequently asked questions about Black Lives Matter, answered.
What does Black Lives Matter mean? What about Blue Lives Matter and “All Lives Matter”?
Black Lives Matter began as a slogan in response to police violence and racist violence against Black people. The phrase means that Black lives matter as much as those of any other racial group, and is used to call attention to racial discrimination and racist violence.
The countermovement Blue Lives Matter was created in 2014, in response to Ismaaiyl Brinsley’s shooting and killing of two NYPD officers, presumably in retaliation for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The officers’ deaths inspired other members of law enforcement to start the movement, with some arguing police were under attack or that the Black Lives Matter movement is antipolice. Blue Lives Matter NYC is a registered nonprofit organization that supports police officers and their families.
“All Lives Matter” is a slogan directly criticizing Black Lives Matter protests and its specific focus on Black lives. Those who use the slogan argue that saying “Black Lives Matter” diminishes other racial groups. There is no movement, organization or leader associated with the “All Lives Matter” slogan.
Is Black Lives Matter a political movement?
“The line between social and political movements is really blurry,” said Atef Said, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago . “Social movements are … people who have some collective grievance who do collective action.”
Black Lives Matter as a movement seeks social change through various community-led efforts to support Black people and diminish the effects of racial discrimination. The network and its local chapters have various programs and events such as a video series on being a Black artist or food drives for communities that struggle to get fresh food.
“Black Lives Matter, it is a political movement too,” Said said, calling Black Lives Matter an “uprising” and a movement for civil rights.
Black Lives Matter Global Network has said it’s committed to “struggling together and to imagining and creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive,” according to its website.
What is the history of the Black Lives Matter Global Network?
Black Lives Matter Global Network is a decentralized, grassroots movement that seeks to end the criminal justice system’s abuse of Black people. It exists as a global network but also has small community chapters, including Black Lives Matter Chicago.
According to the Black Lives Matter website, #BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 by Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer. The hashtag became an organizing tool for communities to raise awareness about violence against Black people, including the deaths of Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and Tanisha Anderson. In 2014, Michael Brown was killed by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, sparking community action that helped to build the project into a movement with chapters across the country.
Out of this movement grew the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLMGN), often shortened to Black Lives Matter, a decentralized network of organizers serving their individual chapters. Through community organizing — like the highly publicized protests — these chapters operate under the principles laid out by the founders: to amplify Black voices and condemn systemic violence against Black people.
Said said there is a misconception that the movement is leaderless because of its grassroots, decentralized nature. It doesn’t look like the civil rights movements of the past, he said: “Black Lives Matter is not leaderless — it is leader-ful.”
What about the Chicago chapter?
Black Lives Matter Global Network consists of several communitybased chapters spread out across the United States and Canada. Officially recognized chapters are supported by BLMGN and share a set of principles, but each has its own unique structure.
The Chicago chapter, Black Lives Matter Chicago or BLMChi, is a BLMGN officially recognized chapter and has two paid staff members, including Executive Director Amika Tendaji. Tendaji runs administrative tasks and oversees several working groups that are focused on functions such as communications or art interactions. These groups are made up of organizers who perform a volunteer staff role at BLMChi. “The people who are holding the main organizing work would have that (organizer) distinction,” Tendaji said. BLMChi has a membership of about 100 active members, who must go through a formal orientation process to be considered members.
Black Lives Matter Chicago is funded largely through its own fundraising, but it can petition BLMGN for funds. Recently, it used funds to create Tendaji’s and another paid position. Tendaji said it’s a misconception that they have a large operating budget or are affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Foundation.
“We have no connection to any (George) Soros money,” she said. “There’s a Black Lives Matter Foundation. We have access to ask them for money, but we don’t have knowledge of how much money they have nor agency over how that gets directed.”
The goals of BLM Chicago are aligned with that of BLMGN, but with an eye toward how change can be made in Chicago specifically. “We focus on the abolition of policing, prisons, surveillance, all things carceral,” Tendaji said. “In this moment, we are very focused on the very extensive, large budget the Chicago Police Department gets. (It should) address more of the root causes of violence and harm with what is actually spent in marginalized communities that really need it.”
What does BLM Chicago want to do?
BLM Chicago has released its 10 demands, a list of actions the organization is demanding of the city of Chicago. Here are a few you may have seen in news coverage.
■ “Defund the Police”: The phrase “defund the police” in most contexts denotes the process of reallocating funds away from a municipal police department and toward other departments or agencies funded by the city. The Chicago Police Department spends 37% of the city’s Corporate Fund, the city’s general operating fund. BLMChi wants the city to instead invest in the community, reopening closed schools and mental health centers, as well as opening housing for the homeless, drug treatment centers and crisis centers.
■ Ending the school-toprison pipeline: The Chicago Police Department currently holds a contract with Chicago Public Schools to put officers in many CPS schools. BLMChi wants to cancel this contract and instead use funds to hire more aides and social workers for more “restorative practices” in schools. It also wishes to close the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, one of the largest juvenile detention facilities in the country.
■ Police accountability: This encompasses many actions BLMChi wants taken. Generally, it wishes to have police shooting cases reopened for investigation, prosecution of police involved in wrongful killing or torture, and firing of police who engage in abusive behavior. It also advocates for the release of Jon Burge torture survivors and wants to close the Homan Square “black site” interrogation facility.
Does the Chicago Chapter condone looting?
Black Lives Matter Chicago organizer Ariel Atkins went viral in early August for calling the looting of downtown stores a form of “reparations.” The statements were made in the wake of the Aug. 9 shooting of 20year-old Latrell Allen by police in Englewood. Atkins showed support for the looters, cited anger as the reason for their actions and claimed that history has not been changed through peaceful protests.
But, as an organization, Tendaji said BLM Chicago does not condone looting.
“There was definitely some misspeak, some things missaid in the press recently from one of our folks that may have sounded like support for or condoning looting,” Tendaji said. “Organizationally, we certainly don’t have anything to do with — or condone — illegal activity that, you know, really frightens and, quite frankly, pisses off a lot of Black folks.”
Tendaji said BLM Chicago’s organizers are typically on the same page because they work so closely. “But — the same for everybody around the world, now — folks are much more stressed, much more tired, much more anxious,” she said. “This is the time where people speak out more without having actually thought about ‘What am I saying?’”
However, Tendaji did share one sentiment with Atkins: Part of the reason for the looting is the economic hardship caused by COVID-19. “When protesters attack high-end retail stores that are owned by the wealthy and service the wealthy,” reads a BLMChi news release, “that is not ‘our’ city and has never been meant for us.”
“We understand that people do not have what they need in this moment,” Tendaji said. “This pandemic has really caused an economic crisis. The Black community, in Chicago, was hit the hardest. … We understand — that is the better framework — people desperately needing resources.”
What about the Black Lives Matter Foundation?
Robert Ray Barnes registered the name Black Lives Matter Foundation in 2015. It is not related to the better-known Black Lives
Matter Global Foundation, Inc., which is connected to the Black Lives Matter Global Network. The similarity between the names has caused confusion for people looking to donate to the BLMGN movement. The slogan “Black Lives Matter” is not trademarked.
The Black Lives Matter Foundation has a different mission than BLMGN and instead seeks to promote peaceful interactions with police through organized meetings and events rather than organizing protests, according to Barnes’ mission statement posted on donation site Benevity. The foundation does not yet have any programs in action.
Barnes has faced criticism and legal trouble for his foundation. Buzzfeed News estimated Barnes raised at least $4.35 million in June, although a portion of the money was frozen before Barnes and his foundation could use it. California’s attorney general’s office also issued a ceaseand-desist order in 2019 for the foundation for not filing annual financial reports.
How is the Black Lives Matter Global Network funded?
The Black Lives Matter Global Network is funded through donations and grants using its legal title Black Lives Matter Global Foundation, Inc. From 2016 to July 2020, the grant-making program Thousand Currents hosted the collective. Now, the Black Lives Matter Global Network has a partnership with the TIDES Foundation, another grant-making platform.
How can you tell who is in BLM?
Anyone can be involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, but not everyone involved is a member of the Black Lives Matter Global Network.
There is the national face of the network, which hosts its own programs and events — this is the Black Lives Matter Global Network. Then, there are 17 chapters in various cities across the United States and Canada. While these groups all exist under the same umbrella of Black Lives Matter, the chapters have their own programs and community-focused projects. Each chapter also has its own agenda and “some are more radical than others,” Said said.
To become a chapter, a group must meet certain requirements set by BLMGN. Because Black Lives Matter is a decentralized network, there aren’t exact numbers on everyone involved in the collective.
For example, in June, a number of Oak Park residents created a “Black Lives Matter” mural. The project wasn’t affiliated with the Black Lives Matter Global Network or the local Chicago chapter, but was instead an independent effort from a neighborhood exercising activism.
What are the Chicago chapter’s goals for the future?
Tendaji said her hope is that BLM Chicago can soon occupy physical spaces and become trusted political advisers within Chicago’s communities. “To have a presence for folks from Austin to Auburn Gresham to Roseland — all over the city,” she said. “To be able to be like, that’s where you can find Black Lives Matter Chicago and that’s a good space to listen.”
The ultimate goal is to no longer be needed in these communities, Tendaji said. “Our goal is to continue to be this really juicy, wonderful invitation to doing the work to make sure that Black people know and understand that we keep us safe. We are all that ever has kept us safe,” she said. “There are also some things I’m really hoping about, like ending our existence — not having the need for this kind of institution or for us to need to be an institution.”