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Black Lives Matter.

A phrase made popular after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Shortly after the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City, the movement gained momentum and became a national voice protesting incidents of police brutality and racially motivated crimes against Black people.

Unfortunately, countless names have been associated with this movement. There have been multiple debates on its meaning, and it has often been countered (in attempt to discredit the purpose) with All Lives Matter. It was not until recently in the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky and the highly publicize death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota did we see a mainstream embrace of this movement. These tragic stories have caused heartbreak and much tension in our nation. To many in the Black community these stories are all too common and have historically permeated through our communities.

Sadly, Birmingham knows this impact all too well. Birmingham, a city synonymous with the civil rights movement, felt the horrific impact of racially motivated terrorism for many decades. The city still stands haunted most notably by the deaths of four little girls on a Sunday morning at 16th Street Baptist Church, two young boys on the same day and 16 years later the tragic death of Bonita Carter.

Uche Bean with former mayor Richard Arrington Jr. at the dedication of a memorial marker for Bonita Carter.

These incidents were not isolated; Birmingham had suffered with a long history of police brutality against black folks and events seeped in racial injustice. The history of police violence in Birmingham was made notorious by Eugene Bull Conner, who sent his officers out with high powered water hoses to spray young children in the streets of Birmingham. The presence of the Klan members unscathed by police officers who often moonlighted wearing white hoods riding through black neighborhoods was a constant occurrence. By 1979, things should have been different. There had already been many documented incidents of police brutality that heightened tensions in the rapidly growing Magic City.

On that day in June 1979 something was different. I imagine that people were tired, they wanted a different story to be told and they wanted something to change. Birmingham a symbol of a colossal movement that changed an entire nation had to take another look at itself and make change occur yet again. When Bonitas life was taken it shook the entire city and people took to the streets. Historically, we know the power of protest.

We know when people gather for one cause against injustice it can impact a nation and it can change laws that protect those marginalized and those who may not be able to fight for themselves. The people in Birmingham gathered as they had before and as many in the nation continue to fight for justice.

Uche Bean, daughter of Dynamite Hill, serves in the City of Birminghams Office of Social Justice and Racial Equity.

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40 years after Bonita Carter, the fight continues - AL.com

In many respects, tennis player Naomi Osaka has grown up right before our eyes. Known for being understated and shy when she first emerged as a top contender in 2018 with her surprise upset over her idol, Serena Williams, at the U.S. Open, Osaka has come into her own as one of her sports brightest stars. Between June 2019 and June 2020, her combined prize money and endorsements made her the highest-paid female athlete of all time, according to Forbes.

With that glow-up has come a much bigger platform, and Osaka has wielded her voice with intention and care, as evidenced in her latest debut as a cover girl, this time for none other than American Vogue.

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Osaka is stunning on the cover of the January 2021 issue, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Wearing an asymmetrical striped Louis Vuitton dress, Osaka looks like a young woman in complete possession of her talents, her natural curls lifted by a gentle breeze (or, in all likelihood, a fan), her makeup minimal and natural.

But what has made Osaka special this year is her emergence as tennis foremost voice on racial justice issues.

The 23-year-old spoke at length about her interest in racial justice, which began when she was just a teenager living in Florida.

I feel like this is something that was building up in me for a while, Osaka told the magazine. I watched the Trayvon stuff go down. For me that was super-scary.

As the story notes, she was 14 and living in Boca Raton, just three hours north of where Trayvon was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, an aggressive neighborhood vigilante.

I travel so much during the year that I dont always know the news thats centered in the U.S. But then when the pandemic hit, there were no distractions. I was forced to look, she continued.

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Osaka participated in the Black Lives Matter protests alongside her boyfriend, rapper Cordae, in Minneapolis in the days following Floyds death at the hands of local police. She told Vogue it was the first rally of any kind she had ever attended.

I dont think it matters if youre shy or not, or if youre introverted or extroverted. Youre just there in the moment, she explained. When you see it in real lifeso many cameras filming everyone, police with guns outside the city hall, the parents of other victims telling their storiesit kind of hits you differently. Youre able to process it on your own terms.

Since then, Osaka has been vocal about the need to protect Black lives on social media and on the court. Following the Milwaukee Bucks impromptu wildcat strike during the NBA playoffs, she postponed her appearance at a tournament in support of the athletes. When she won this years U.S. Open tournament, she did so while acknowledging victims of racial violence. Each time she stepped out for a match, Osaka honored a different person by wearing their names printed on a black facemask.

Osakas focus on racial justice is particularly significant given her multiracial heritage. She was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Haitian American father, and took on her mothers last name for practical purposes. But though she represents Japan when she plays tennis, she has spent much of her life in the United States.

This grants her a unique perspectiveand an opportunity to talk about racism directly to audiences who normally dont spend much time considering it. But while she has been attacked for her stances, Osaka is at ease with her roleeven if who she is and what she stands for confuses people.

Some people label me, and they expect me to stick to that label, she told Vogue. Since I represent Japan, some people just expect me to be quiet and maybe only speak about Japanese topics. I consider myself Japanese-Haitian-American. I always grew up with a little bit more Japanese heritage and culture, but Im Black, and I live in America, and I personally didnt think it was too far-fetched when I started talking about things that were happening here. There are things going on here that really scare me.

More:
Naomi Osaka Stuns in Vogue Cover Debut, Centers Racial Justice: 'There Are Things Going on...That Really Scare Me' - Yahoo Lifestyle

Zach GilbertNEWS EDITOR

I cant breathe.

Three simple words shook America to its core this summer and ignited a fiery fury that continues to blaze to this day.

While the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement didnt start in 2020 having been formed seven years prior, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin it certainly earned more attention this year than ever before, as the nation became embroiled in protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Not only were governments forced to investigate institutional racism on both a local and federal scale (with studies soon even revealing racial disparities in Nebraskas own criminal justice system, as African Americans made up 20% of arrests in Nebraska from 2014-2019, despite representing just 5% of the population, according to the Center for Public Affairs Research at UNO), but individual Americans were also compelled to confront their own biases and prejudices.

This newfound awareness and acknowledgement of ongoing societal and political racism caused a cultural reckoning unlike this country has ever seen, but the path to progress is far from over. With a new presidential administration on the horizon, many are hopeful that change can come sooner rather than later.

Corbin Smith, a Black student journalist from Northwest Missouri State University, shared his thoughts about the continuing pain over Floyds passing, his personal efforts to enlighten others about racism and his faith for Americas future.

I remember watching [the video of George Floyd] and just being heartbroken, Smith said. I felt myself tensing up as if I was the one trying to fight for air. It was really sad, but it wasnt surprising. Unfortunately, I said to myself, Well, here we go again.

As a writer, Smith is wholly passionate about the power of words, and he has used his position as a journalist to elicit empathy and understanding from others.

I wrote my first article discussing BLM back in July, Smith said. Ever since, Ive been constantly writing about my experiences as a Black male in America in hopes of sharing it with those who arent as [familiar] with people of color.

Similarly, he has not been shy about his expectations for the upcoming Biden Administration and what President Biden must do to move the movement forward.

I [recently] wrote an article about what I expect the Biden Administration to do for the Black community, Smith said. In it, I [gave] a shortlist of important things that the Black community needs. However, one thing I left out is that I simply expect the president to make us feel welcome. When Trump was in office, [certain] groups found comfort in outwardly opposing people of color. I want Biden to make people feel like people of color matter, and we dont deserve to be treated as less than.

Aside from political progress, Smith wants to see a societal change most of all.

I hope that more people start to realize and accept that racism is still prevalent in America, Smith said. I pray that Black people can exist without the fear of being targeted by police officers. I pray that we can walk in public without getting dirty looks. I pray that we can soon scream that were frustrated, sad and upset, without being told that were overreacting.

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The summer that shocked the world and where Black Lives Matter goes from here - The Gateway

Journalist Megyn Kelly said in an interview set to be published Friday that the summers Black Lives Matter demonstrations in response to George Floyds death morphed into a movement co-opted by activists.

Kelly told Carlos Watson of "The Carlos Watson Show" that she initially was more sympathetic to the racial justice protests after viral bystanderfootage showed former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyds neck for several minutes.

When George Floyd was killed I think a lot of Black people and white people were deeply affected by that tape, she told Watson, the co-founder and CEO of OZY.

And when I saw the riots unfold, my first instinct was how can we ask people to respect law and order and sort of the balance of decency when we dont live that," she saidin a clip of the interviewreleased exclusively to The Hill Thursday ahead of thefull interview.

But Kelly said she began to feel very differently as the summer went on and demonstrations evolved and some activists promoted the slogan defund the police.

I began to feel very differently, as it morphed into more of a political movement, where to me it seemed co-opted by activists, as opposed to just people who wanted change, Kelly said. And some reform in law enforcement turned into defund the police.

The Black Lives Matter movement was started in 2013 by three Black, female organizers Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the manwho fatally shotBlack teen Trayvon Martin in Florida, according to its website.

The defund the police movement refers to plans to reallocate some funding for police departments to social services, such as funding for mental health professionals to respond to certain crises instead of officers.

This is not the way to get buy-in on, you know, what started as I think an earnest effort to improve Black lives, Kelly said.

The former Fox News anchor and NBC News correspondent compared the development of Black Lives Matter over the summer to the #MeToo movement.

It morphed into something that wasnt gonna be all that helpful, she said of the #MeToo movement. It wound up alienating the very group we most need to have buy-in on our progress: men."

And I think the reality of our racial struggle right now, in part, is for Black people to ascend in a meaningful way, the truth is you need white buy-in too, she said.

The deaths of Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., sparked protests across the country and internationally with people calling for reform to law enforcement and an end to police brutality.

The rest is here:
Megyn Kelly: Black Lives Matter 'morphed' into a movement 'co-opted by activists' over summer | TheHill - The Hill

BLACK Lives Matter was called a terrorist group that was said to be plotting a violent overthrow of the government in a police training guide two months ago.

International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) sent thousands of its members a link to the 176-page guide in October as part of a news email update.

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Critics of the document, reported by The Associated Press on Wednesday, said it contained misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric.

The doc titled Understanding Antifa and Urban Guerrilla Warfare is said to contain information that might incite police officers against protesters and people of color.

The training guide claims that Black Lives Matter and Antifa are revolutionary movements whose aims are to overthrow the U.S. government.

The guide also reportedly alleges BLM and the leftist protest group are planning extreme violence.

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It has many unsupported claims including that both movements have trained, dedicated snipers stationed in certain cities, are fronts for Russia and China, and planned attacks before and after last months presidential election.

The doc also claims that those who protested in Portland and Seattle this year were useful idiots designed to give cover to the hard-core, terrorist trained troops that would follow.

Extreme acts of violence are expected and called for, the document warns.

The paper claims that military officials who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are concerned about the movements because they have witnessed these types of terrorist groups organizing, creating insurgencies and the horrible consequences of it.

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The police training guide also claims the FBI is clueless about the nature of their supposed threat and, like the news media, has wrongly focused attention on violence carried out by white supremacists.

Harvey Hedden, who serves as the groups executive director, said the document was a members opinion, and said it was open for debate and criticism.

There will always be differences of opinion on training issues but so long as the disagreements remain professional and not personal we do not censor these ideas, he told the AP.

I am willing to allow the trainer to evaluate the information themselves.

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Just like law enforcement, I am afraid BLM has earned some of these criticisms and others might be overgeneralizations, Hedden said.

The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 after black teenager Trayvon Martin was shot to death in Florida by one-time community watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was later acquitted.

The movement has grown as fatal shootings of black people by police officers are increasingly recorded and shared on social media, sometimes as confrontations are still unfolding.

Black Lives Matter regularly campaigns against institutional racism and violence towards black people, and speaks out against police brutality, and racial inequality.

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ILEETAs mission statement says the police group is committed to the reduction of law enforcement risk and saving lives through high-quality training.

Phillip Atiba Goff, a Yale University professor who is an expert on racial bias in policing, said the document is dangerous.

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Its stunning. Its distressing in many ways. Its untethered to reality, Goff, CEO of the Center for Policing Equity, said.

I worry that it leads to people dying unnecessarily.

Goff added that police execs hes spoken to about the training document said they're "disturbed by it."

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He and others said it was irresponsible for the group to promote the paper.

Goff, whose group works with departments to make policing less racist and deadly, said the document showed why its important for critics to engage directly with local law enforcement to make changes.

Otherwise, he said, you are abandoning that profession to the worst impulses of this country.

Continue reading here:
Black Lives Matter called TERRORIST group plotting a violent revolution to overthrow government in cop tra - The Sun