Black Lives Matter movement experiencing growing pains
WASHINGTON—Hundreds of Black Lives Matter activists, black and white, marched outside the Minnesota State Fair this weekend, hoping to bring attention to the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police.
Inside the fair, a booth had T-shirts bearing the slogans “Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” for sale. Todd Gramenz, who reserved the booth, chatted with fairgoers while the other protesters were kept outside.
The competing activities in Minnesota underscore the challenge that Black Lives Matter faces as it evolves from social media hashtag to full-blown movement. Its fluid, organic nature generates confusion about exactly who is in charge, who can legitimately speak for the group, and even whether it can be blamed for violence that some say may have been inspired by its rhetoric.
Tracing its roots to the fatal 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida, the Black Lives Matter movement gained national ground after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
Since then, deaths of other unarmed black males at the hands of law enforcement officers have inspired protests under the “Black Lives Matter” moniker.
Some are affiliated with the original Black Lives Matter network founded by Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza and their allies. But some are not, although they use the slogan.
Garza said in an email interview that her organization—which has 26 chapters, including Ghana and Canada—doesn’t try to control who uses the name.
“Anytime someone identifies with a movement to make black lives matter in this country and around the world, that’s a good thing,” she said.
Some similarly loosely organized social movements, like Occupy Wall Street and the tea party, evolved beyond their grassroots beginnings, while some died.
Others followed the lead of the 1960s civil rights movement, which birthed groups like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
Having small nebulous groups linked through social media and a shared cause may be enough for now, but odds are against such groups surviving for the long haul, said Deana A. Rohlinger, a Florida State University sociology professor who studies social movements and collective behavior.
“Activists do really good work locally,” she said. “But if you want to affect politics and politicians, then you really do have to move up your organization to a more structured format that can engage politicians and lobbyists on their turf.”
Activists claiming to represent the group interrupted a speech about to be delivered by Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, and met with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush.
And a Texas sheriff criticized the movement after one of his white deputies was shot and killed Friday at a Houston gas station; a black man has been charged with murder. Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman questioned whether it was spurred by anger over the killings of black men by police.
But Garza called any attempt to link the Black Lives Matter movement with the killing “racist and ridiculous.”