In 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of Trayvon Martin, Oakland-based activist Alicia Garza posted on Facebook: “Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter. Black Lives Matter.” The message was picked up by Los Angeles activist Patrisse Cullors, who added a hashtag to the message and the #blacklivesmatter movement was born.
Cullors then organized the first BLM Los Angeles meeting at St. Elmo Village. Cullors enlisted the help of her friend and co-founder of BLMLA Dr. Melina Abdullah.
Abdullah joined “Inside the Issues” host Alex Cohen to talk about what the last 10 years have been like and where the movement is going in the future.
“When we gathered in that courtyard of St. Elmo Village and pledged to build a movement not a moment, you could feel that our lives were changing… We knew that something fundamental had to change in our own lives and in the world,” Abdullah said.
The BLM movement has used very visual, disruptive tactics to bring awareness to police brutality and racial inequity. While this has caused controversy with some believing the movement has been overly disruptive, Abdullah said that’s what’s needed given what they’re up against.
“When you talk about a movement, that’s meant to end state-sanctioned violence against Black people, meant to overturn and upend fundamentally-unjust murderous, vicious, brutal systems, you can’t simply use the tools that the system gives you,” Abdullah said.
Over the past 10 years, the BLM movement has claimed some major victories in the fight for equality. Everything from ousting Jackie Lacey as the Los Angeles District Attorney to stopping random searches at LA Unified School District schools.
“We want this to be a beautiful struggle. The beautiful struggle that Dr. King talked about, and so we have to uplift victories,” Abdullah said.
Support for the BLM movement has dropped by 16% since 2020, according to a Pew Research Center. Abdullah is not concerned with the reported drop, highlighting how movements often go through natural ebbs and flows.
“Our job is to say, but we have to keep struggling,” Abdullah said.
Reflecting on what the last 10 years mean to her, Abdullah emphasizes work is still needed to help honor those who have come before her and to create a more equal world for the Black community.
“[These last 10 years] means that we have not just submitted to our own oppression,” Abdullah said. “... And the struggle is beautiful because we have a vision for a free world that’s fit for the inhabitants of my children, of your child, of all of our children.”
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