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Any large social movement is shaped by the technology available to it and tailors its goals, tactics, and rhetoric to the media of its time. On the afternoon of Sunday, March 7, 1965, when voting-rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, were run down by policemen at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the WATS lines were in heavy use. (Here come the white hoodlums, an activist said from a corner pay phone at 3:25 pm.) But the technology that was most important to the movements larger aims was not in activists hands at all: It was in a set of film canisters being ferried past police blockades on Highway 80 by an ABC News TV crew, racing for the Montgomery airport and heading to New York for an evening broadcast. That night, 48 million Americans would watch the scene in their living rooms, and a few days later Martin Luther King Jr. would lay bare the movements core media strategy. We will no longer let them use their clubs on us in the dark corners, he said. Were going to make them do it in the glaring light of television.

The tools that we have to organize and to resist are fundamentally different than anything thats existed before in black struggle.

It was a rare admission, writes media historian Aniko Bodroghkozy. King and other civil rights organizers seldom acknowledged their own self-conscious use of the mass media. Todays African-American civil rights organizers, by contrast, talk about the tools of mass communication all the timebecause their media strategy sessions are largely open to everyone on the Internet.

If youre a civil rights activist in 2015 and you need to get some news out, your first move is to choose a platform. If you want to post a video of a protest or a violent arrest, you put it up on Vine, Instagram, or Periscope. If you want to avoid trolls or snooping authorities and you need to coordinate some kind of action, you might chat privately with other activists on GroupMe. If you want to rapidly mobilize a bunch of people you know and you dont want the whole world clued in, you use SMS or WhatsApp. If you want to mobilize a ton of people you might not know and you do want the whole world to talk about it: Twitter.

And if, God forbid, you find yourself standing in front of the next Michael Brown or Walter Scott, and you know the nations attention needs to swerve hard to your town, your best bet might be to send a direct message to someone like DeRay Mckesson, one of a handful of activists who sit at the apex of social networks that now run hundreds of thousands strong. The thing about King or Ella Baker is that they could not just wake up and sit at the breakfast table and talk to a million people, says Mckesson, a former school district administrator who has become one of the most visible faces of the movement. The tools that we have to organize and to resist are fundamentally different than anything thats existed before in black struggle.

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How Black Lives Matter Uses Social Media to Fight the ...

A Black Lives Matter chapter founder in Minnesota has resigned, claiming that the organization isnt concerned about helping black communities or helping improve the education quality in Minneapolis, according to a video published last week.

Rashard Turner, the founder of a Black Lives Matter chapter in neighboring St. Paul, said he started the branch in 2015 but became disillusioned roughly a year after becoming an insider within the left-wing organization, according to a video released by TakeChargea group that rejects various provisions promoted by Black Lives Matter, including critical race theory-linked claims that the United States is inherently racist.

After a year on the inside, I learned they had little concern for rebuilding black families, and they cared even less about improving the quality of education for students in Minneapolis, Turner saidin the video.

That was made clear when they publicly denounced charter schools alongside the teachers union. I was an insider in Black Lives Matter. And I learned the ugly truth. The moratorium on charter schools does not support rebuilding the black family. But it does create barriers to a better education for black children. I resigned from Black Lives Matter after a year and a half. But I didnt quit working to improve black lives and access to a great education.

Representatives for Black Lives Matter didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.

Approximately a year after George Floyds death in Minneapolis, support for the group has plummeted in the United States, according to a recent poll from Morning Consult. Only 48 percent hold favorable views about the organization, down from 61 percent last May.

A USA Today survey found that 36 percent of Americans now would describe Floyds death as a murder, down from 60 percent last summer.

A poll in May conducted by the newspaper revealed that the Black Lives Matter call to defund the police has even less support, with only 18 percent of respondents supporting it.

It comes amid recent controversies surrounding Patrisse Cullors, a co-founder of the organization who resigned after a series of reports about her real estate portfolio and finances. Following the reports publication last month, Cullors asserted that she didnt misuse any donations to Black Lives Matter.

In a statement last week, Cullorsa self-described trained Marxistsaid, With smart, experienced, and committed people supporting the organization during this transition, I know that BLMGNF is in good hands The foundations agenda remains the sameeradicate white supremacy and build life-affirming institutions.

Cullors told The Associated Press that her departure was planned more than a year in advance and wasnt related to the reports about her finances and her multiple homes, claiming they were right-wing attacks meant to defame her character.

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Black Lives Matter St. Paul Founder Says He Resigned ...

Black Lives Matter protests during the Democratic National Convention

Asa Khalif, an organizer for Black Lives Matter and a member of the Philly Coalition for Real Justice,

Video by Jasper Colt, USA TODAY

The Black Lives Matter movement is in the national spotlight again this month, following the high-profile killings of two black men by police and the killings of police officers by black men in Dallas and Baton Rouge.

With the movements attention comes a familiar refrain: Why doesnt Black Lives Matter focus onblack-on-black crime?

Its a question asked, in various forms, from Facebook to cable networks to comments on this site. The answer, one writer says, is Black Lives Matter isnt solely focused on the loss of black lives but also on a lack of justice.

When a civilian has committed a violent crime, theyre generally arrested, tried and then convicted, Franchesca Ramsey, a writer and activist who discusses race, explainsin the MTV series Decoded (which you canwatch here in full).

Conversely, theres a lot of evidence that its very rare to secure an indictment against a police officer for excessive force. And an indictment is just a trial; it isnt even a conviction.

Black Lives Matter isnt just about the loss of life, which is always terrible. Its about the lack of consequences when black lives are taken at the hands of police.

Police officers shot and killed nearly 1,000 people last year, according toaWashington Postdatabase.Eighteen officers faced chargesfor such shootings that year.

While nearly twice as many white Americanswere killed by on-duty officersthan blacks,thePosts updateddatashowed,black Americans remained 2.5 times as likely to die at the hands of police when adjusting for population.

And when unarmed, the data showedthat black Americans were five times as likely to be fatally shot as white ones.

Black Americans do find violence within the black community troubling: A YouGov poll from April shows a plurality of black Americans think its a bigger problem than racial injustice, as Voxs Victoria M. Massie notes.

"(The) survey underscores what the people in these communities have long argued that police brutality and crime are not mutually exclusive concerns for African Americans," she wrote.

Black Americans have launched anti-violence effortsin their communities (Ramsey mentions aPBS documentary about them,The Interruptors). Butmany in theBlack Lives Matter movementhave described"black-on-black" criticismsa diversionthat ignores underlying issues like poverty.

What we know is that gun violence absolutely presents tragedy every single day, said Brittany Packnett, a prominent voice in the movement,on PBS NewsHourin December. But if black life really matters to people who insist that black-on-black crime is the real issue, then pay attention to poverty."

Poor white Americansexperience violent crimes at rates virtually equalthat of poor black Americans,asMassie points outina2014 Department of Justice study.Black and white Americans kill members of their own races atsimilarrates, too.

According to2014 FBI data, 90% of African-American homicides were committed by African Americans. Similarly, 82% of white American homicides were committed by white Americanswhat we might, but dont, call white-on-white crime.

The difference:Morethan one in four black Americans livein areas of extreme poverty,according toa 2015 Century Foundation study. Only one in 13 whites live in such areas.

(h/ts Decoded, Vox)

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Why Black Lives Matter doesn't focus on black-on-black crime

Sasha Johnson, one of Britains best-known Black Lives Matter activists, has been shot in the head and is in critical condition, according to a statement released by her political party on Sunday.

Ms Johnson, 27, the self-styled Black Panther of Oxford and a mother of three, according to her party, or a mother of two, according to the BBC, reportedly sustained a gunshot wound to the head in the early hours of Sunday morning in the Southwark area of London.

A statement from the Taking The Initiative Party (TTIP) said: It is with great sadness that we inform you that our own Sasha Johnson has sustained a gunshot wound to her head. She is currently hospitalised and in a critical condition. The incident happened in the early hours of this morning, following numerous death threats.

Sasha has always been actively fighting for black people and the injustices that surround the black community, as well as being both a member of BLM and a member of Taking the Initiative Partys Executive Leadership Committee. Sasha is also a mother of 3 and a strong, powerful voice for our people and our community.

Lets all come together and pray for Sasha, pray for her recovery and show our support to her family and loved ones.

In a statement believed to be referring to Ms Johnson,Londons Metropolitan Police said that the shooting is thought to have occurred near a house party in Southwark.

While the investigation is at an early stage, there is nothing to suggest that the woman who was shot was the subject of a targeted attack or that she had received any credible threats against her prior to this incident, the Met said.

Detective Chief Inspector Jimi Tele added:I recognise that this incident will have shocked those in the local community and further afield. I would ask people to avoid speculating as to the motive or the circumstances behind it.

If anyone does have information, the most responsible and helpful action is to share it with the police or, to remain anonymous, with Crimestoppers.

The Met has not officially confirmed the shooting victims identity as of the time of publication, however.

It is with great sadness that we inform you that our own Sasha Johnson has sustained a gunshot wound to her head. She is

Posted by Taking The Initiative onSunday, May 23, 2021

Sasha Johnson gained national attention following the publication of aviral videowhich showed her declaring that British police are no different than the KKK and that the formation of a Black Militia was necessary to combat racism in Britain. She has also called for the creation of arace offenders register which could impact the jobs people can hold and the areas where they can live, and called for the hanging of what she called house negroes after a British government report led by a black academic found that the United Kingdom is not an institutionally racist country.

While not affiliated with the Twitter-verified Black Lives Matter UK organisation, Johnson has frequently appeared at BLM rallies in London and helped establish an autonomousBlack Lives Matter group in Oxford.

Responding to the reports of her shooting, BLM UK wrote on social media: We are saddened to hear that Sasha Johnson is fighting for her life after a critical wound and following numerous death threats. While Sasha wasnt part of our organisation, she impressively founded a new Black-led political party and was dedicated to resist anti-Black racism.

Any attempt to intimidate or silence her, is an attack on all of us. Touch one, touch all. We pray that she will pull through this and those who threatened her life are held accountable, the organisation added.

At a so-called Million People March in London in August of last year, Johnson announced the formation of theTaking The Initiative Party (TTIP), which she claimed at the time was the the first black-led political party in the UK although she would later clarify that the party was merely black founded.

In March of this year, Sasha Johnson promoted the creation of theNew Black Panther Party UKon her social media, but she remains involved with TTIP as well, and is stilllistedas a member of its executive leadership committee.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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British Black Lives Matter Activist Sasha Johnson Shot in ...

Eight years ago this month, a hashtag on social media led to a global movement against systemic racism and police brutality.

In 2013, #BlackLivesMatter was created by three Black women Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Last year proved to be a watershed moment for the BLM movement when protests erupted across the country and the world after the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota by former police officer Derek Chauvin. The moment sparked a racial reckoning in the United States.

Melina Abdullah, a Black scholar, activist and co-founder of Los Angeles' Black Lives Matter chapter, says theres been steady progress in growing BLM worldwide.

When we first convened to form Black Lives Matter, she says, our pledge was to build a movement, not a moment.

TheLAnd magazine labeled Abdullah the scourge of the LAPD, one of her most coveted titles, she says. Abdullah doesnt view herself as a BLM spokesperson but rather as an organizer who collaborates with thousands of other people in Los Angeles and beyond to transform public safety.

In the U.S. alone, 15 to 20 million people participated in Black Lives Matter protests last year. More than 4,400 cities and towns around the globe have held BLM demonstrations since May 2020. The massive swaths of people who showed up to demand change is encouraging, Abdullah says, but protests are just the start of the work.

We have to not just say Black lives matter, but do work to make Black lives matter, she says.

For nearly a decade, BLM has been working to end systems of state-sanctioned violence, including reducing police departments budgets and rerouting the funds to build mental health, education and housing systems that actually make communities safe, she says.

The murder of Floyd also came at a pivotal time, she says. His tragic death represents more than a thousand murders that are on record that happen at the hands of police every single year in this country, she says.

Abdullah remembers the tenacity of 17-year-old Darnell Frazier, who filmed the viral video of Chauvin on Floyds neck and made sure the world saw what happens at the hands of this kind of violent form of policing that plagues our community.

In another eight years from now, Abdullah hopes BLM has fundamentally transformed policing systems such as qualified immunity and powerful police associations. She believes reinvesting the funds will make communities safe.

Jeannette Muhammadproduced and edited this interview for broadcast withTodd Mundt.Serena McMahonadapted it for the web.

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'A Movement, Not A Moment': Black Lives Matter Marks 8 Years - Here And Now