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A look back at 10 of the biggest social movements of the 2010s, and how they shaped Seattle – Seattle Times

After 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, students all over the country walked out of their classrooms to demand political action against gun violence. A one-girlprotest in Sweden sparked a global strike among youth worried for their future and pushing for action against climate change. After the 2007-2009 recession, hundreds of thousands of people camped out on public lands all over the countrytoprotest wealth inequality.

Some of the most impactful movements of the 2010shadroots in activism that came before. But this decade with its advances in technology, the organizing power of social media and a unique political climate has endowed movements with new energy and ideas.

Just as the civil-rights movement fought back against racist segregation, disenfranchisement, and lynchings of Black people, the 2010s have seen people come together to address some of the most pressing social issues of our time.

In the 2010s, Washington found itself at the center of some of these national social shifts. Voters here approved same-sex marriage well before it became the law of the land.Amid the rising trend of anti-immigrant sentiment nationally, Seattle has adamantly remained a sanctuary city. Before Black Lives Matter drew national attention to the issue of police brutality, Washington had already been shocked into action and eventually became the first state in the U.S. to pass a police-accountability and -training measure.

With a national increase in hate crimes and hateful rhetoric that has emboldened white supremacist and white nationalist groupsthis decade, Seattle saw a 400% increase in reported hate crimes since 2012. In 2018, Washington had the fourth-highest number of reported hate crimes in the U.S.

It has been a decade of great turmoil and great change, a time of extreme divisions and of people coming together to take action.

What was Seattles role in some of the biggest changes of the past 10 years? We looked back at some of the most impactful movements of the 2010s to explore what theyve meant for a changing Seattle.

Criminal-justice reform | Occupy | LGBTQ+ rights |Marijuana legalization/decriminalization |Gun control & gun rights | Black Lives Matter |Standing Rock, Mauna Kea, MMIW & Indigenous Rights |New populism| #MeToo | Climate strike

Emergence: 2010

Significant local events: No New Youth Jail protests, Block the Bunker protests

Although the number of children under confinement in King County is at a 20-year low, the county incarcerates youth of color at 5.6 times the rate of white youth, according to county data. Organizations like No New Youth Jail (NNYJ), which grew out of opposition to a 2012 tax levy to build a new youth jail and family court buildings in King County, believe children shouldnt be detained at all, that the country should invest in preventive measures and alternatives to youth detention instead.

The $232 million Children and Family Justice Center opposed by NNYJ is almost built now, but King County has rolled out a Zero Youth Detention plan.

And in 2016, a Block the Bunker campaign successfully blocked plans to build a $149 million police station in North Seattle while the SPD was still undergoing significant reforms as part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree.

Though prison abolition has roots in the 1970s, Michelle Alexanders 2010 book The New Jim Crow brought the topic back to the national conscience by drawing a compelling parallel between todays mass-incarceration system and the Jim Crow laws that segregated and disenfranchised Black people.

In November, Florida voters approved a measure that restores voting rights to millions of ex-felons in the state. In Seattle, organizers continue to push for prevention and alternatives to jail.

Emergence: 2011, New York

Significant local events: May Day protests 2012

When 84-year-old Dorli Rainey was pepper-sprayed by a Seattle police officer at an Occupy Seattle march in November 2011, no one imagined shed become a symbol of the movement. But the image of a senior woman drenched in milk to neutralize the effects of the chemical became a symbol of the movements power to mobilize hundreds of thousands across generations and across the country to take to streets and encampments.

The Occupy movement kicked off the decade when more than a thousand protesters took over Zuccotti Park in New Yorks Financial District on Sept. 17, 2011, to express discontent over wealth inequality in the U.S. and demand accountability for the investment bankers responsible for the financial crisis that began in late 2007.

Protesters at encampments across the nation insisted, We are the 99%, a rallying cry that highlighted that the majority of wealth in the U.S. is concentrated among the top 1% of income earners. The leaderless movement demanded that the capitalist status quo be completely altered. Critics felt the movement lacked clarity in its goals. It ultimately failed after the camps were cleared, but many of its central grievances and messages have informed current candidates political platforms.

The ties forged through Occupy Seattle created networks among the citys organizers. Many actions and movements like the Food For Everyone program in Capitol Hill were born out of those connections and continue in the citys organizing efforts today.

Re-emergence: 2011, national

Significant local events: Repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, repeal of Dont Ask, Dont Tell, and Ingersoll vs. Arlenes Flowers

They married in one of the 38 states in which same-sex marriage was legal in 2012. Prior to the 2015 Supreme Court case that ended the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which had defined marriage as between a man and a woman Witts marriage was not recognized in the eyes of her employer, the U.S. government. But that wasnt the only battle Witt faced as a lesbian woman.

U.S. Air Force Major Margaret Witt, who grew up in Tacoma, had been suspended from duty in 2004 for beinglesbian. Although shed never disclosed her sexual orientation to anyone in the military, she was discharged in 2006 under the militarys Dont Ask, Dont Tell (DADT) policy that banned gay, lesbian and bisexual peoplefrom serving openly. In 2011, after five years in the federal court system, Witt won the right to be fully reinstated. DADT was repealed.

In 2012, Washington state began allowing LGBTQ+ marriage, and Witt and her partner married in Spokane. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, federally recognizing LGBTQ+ marriage nationwide.

In 2017, the Washington Supreme Court ruled against a Richland florist who refused to sell flowers for the wedding of two men. More openly LGBTQ+ celebrities are in the spotlight, and broader acceptance has been reflected in the media and popular culture.

This decade has also seen setbacks for LGBTQ+ people. President Donald Trumps stance against transgender people in the military took effect in April. In October, Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home when she came out as trans, brought the first transgender-rights case to the Supreme Court.The case will decide whether transgender people are entitled to sex-based protections under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Supreme Courts decision is expected in 2020.

Emergence: 2012

Significant local events: Washington Initiative 502 legalizes marijuana

On Nov. 6, 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first two states nationally to legalize marijuana for recreational use. As of 2019, 11 states have legalized recreational use of marijuana.

This comes after decades of fighting for the decriminalization of marijuana and after several states passed legislation allowing its medical use. In November this year, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would legalize marijuana at the federal level; however, the bill needs approval by the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-dominant Senate.

The bill would give states the right to enact their own policies and incentivize states to clear the criminal records of people with low-level marijuana offenses. As marijuana arrests disproportionately affect low-income communities and people of color, this could have a significant impact in criminal-justice reform.

Emergence: 2012

Significant local events: Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting

Lasting local impacts: Initiative 1639 passed in Washington in 2018

On Dec. 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot through the doors of Connecticuts Sandy Hook Elementary School bearing loaded semi-automatic weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. He killed 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7, six staff members, his mother and eventually himself.

Sandy Hook shook the nation at a level perhaps untouched since the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, when two shooters killed 13 students and teachers. Twenty years later, mass shootings at schools and in public places are terrifyingly common, but the mass murder of 20 first graders was a more horrifying reality than many could believe.

The movements for gun control and gun rights have long moved in lockstep, battling for ground, but Sandy Hook propelled a new burst of energy in both movements. Very little changed in response. Several states made small changes to local laws in favor of gun control, particularly on assault-style weapons, but in April 2013, a proposed federal ban failed to pass.

In the seven years since Sandy Hook, many more school shootings have occurred, including a shooting at Washingtons Marysville Pilchuck High School that killed four students. Theres also been an increase in hate-motivated mass shootings in public places.

The 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, ignited another burst of action. With 17 of their classmates and teachers dead, student survivors of the shooting protested outside the White House, and Emma Gonzlez became the face of student outrage when she gave a speech condemning the common refrain of thoughts and prayers from politicians.

The Parkland students protests launched many more gun-violence protests in 2018, including the 2 million-strong March for Our Lives and the National School Walkout on the anniversary of Columbine. Gun-rights activists counterprotested, pushing back against calls for stricter gun laws.

In November, Washington state passed Initiative 1639, which defined the term semiautomatic assault rifle to include all semi-automatic rifles, raised the minimum age for purchasing semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21, imposed a 10-day waiting period to claim a rifle from a dealer, and expanded background checks to include medical records.

But there have been no significant federal measures in favor of gun control in the last decade. As of Dec. 27, the Gun Violence Archive reported410 mass-shooting incidents in the U.S. in 2019.

Emergence: 2013, online

Significant local events: Police shootings of John T. Williams, Che Taylor and Charleena Lyles; Marissa Johnson interrupts Bernie Sanders rally, BLM protests at holiday tree-lightings, passage of Initiative 940

In 2010 First Nations woodcarver John T. Williams was walking down the street with a block of cedar wood and a pocket knife when Seattle police Officer Ian Birk shouted for Williams to put the knife down. Four seconds later, Birk fired four shots. Williams died at the scene.

The shooting shocked Seattle, launching widespread calls for reform and accountability for a police department that had often been accused of brutality and bias. Later, a DOJ investigation of the Seattle Police Department found evidence of excessive force and biased policing.

Across the nation, police killings of several unarmed Black men drew similar outrage. Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood-watch leader George Zimmerman; Eric Garner cried out I cant breathe as an officer used an illegal chokehold to subdue him; and when 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri, monthlong demonstrations and the polices militarized response galvanized the nation.

When Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013, activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometidescribed their hurt with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media. With the power of social media and advances in cellphone video technology, Black Lives Matter (BLM) was poised to become a powerful movement.

In Seattle, BLM activist Marissa Johnson famously took over the stage at a Bernie Sanders campaign rally and brought concerns about police brutality to the 2016 presidential race. Transcending politics, the movement inspired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to sit or kneel during the national anthem in personal protest of police brutality and racial inequality in the U.S. Many prominent athletes, including several Seahawks players and soccer star Megan Rapinoe, followed suit.

In Seattle, the movement against police brutality drove legislative change. Initiative 940 removed a state law that made it practically impossible to criminally charge police officers who wrongfully use deadly force.

Emergence: 2014, Sioux lands in North and South Dakota, Mauna Kea in Hawaii

Significant local events: Lummi Nation successfully blocked coal port at Cherry Point, House of Tears Carvers of Lummi Nation tour to raise awareness of indigenous land rights; Seattle Urban Indian Health Institutes report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

The red handprint painted across Rosalie Fishs mouth drew everyones attention at the Washington State 1B high-school track championships in Cheney, Spokane County, this year. The Muckleshoot Tribal School senior and member of the Cowlitz Tribe made national headlines as the handprint and the letters MMIW painted on her leg drew attention to the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) in the U.S. and Canada and the 30-year movement demanding action. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice found that indigenous women in parts of the U.S. are being murdered at rates more than 10 times the national average.

MMIW is one of several prominent indigenous-rights issues that captured national attention this decade, including opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), a 1,100-mile oil pipeline passing under the water source of the Standing Rock Sioux, and Native Hawaiians opposition to building the Thirty Meter Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, a sacred site.

Washington tribes supported the #NoDAPL movement with donations, cash and by journeying to the encampment, bringing firewood from their forests and fish from their rivers and songs from their families.

In February 2017, Seattle became the first major city to divest from Wells Fargo due to its ties to DAPL. The Lummi Nations success in blocking the coal port at Cherry Point helped inspire leaders of the DAPL opposition. To raise awareness about proposed oil and coal projects on indigenous lands, the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation drove a 22-foot totem pole 5,000 miles through the U.S. and Canada in 2017, including a stop at Standing Rock.

Although the pipeline became operational in June 2017 after President Donald Trump signed an executive order for its approval, the fight for indigenous sovereignty and protection of lands and waters continues. Protesters remain active at Mauna Kea. In Tacoma, the Puyallup Tribe is leading resistance to proposed construction of a liquefied natural-gas facility on the waterfront.

Emergence: 2015

Significant local events: Several clashes between anti-fascists and the Proud Boys

When New York businessman and reality-TV star Donald Trump announced that he was running for president in 2015, few took it seriously. However, when Trump unfurled his campaign to Make America Great Again (MAGA) he tapped into a feeling among voters whod felt neglected and mischaracterized by mainstream media and disenfranchised by rural brain drain, demographic shifts and policies enacted under the Obama administration.

The Tea Party tapped into similar frustrations in the previous decade, and Trumps slogan hearkens back to Ronald Reagans 1980 presidential campaign that declared Lets make America great again. Like Reagans campaign, Trumps promises to be a president for the people came while the memory of economic insecurity during the Great Recession was still fresh, although unemployment decreased and the economy improved during Barack Obamas second presidential term. Still, many voters connected with Trumps promises to create jobs, cut taxes and build a wall to keep out immigrants.

Meanwhile, 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders campaign more closely resembled the populism of the 1890s advocating against corporate influence and for a more equitable society, a message that resonated with the Occupy movement and with many voters in Seattle.

The 2016 presidential election showed the deep divides that have grown within the electorate. Trump won the election, yet only 8% of Seattle voters backed him. While Trumps campaign message resonated with voters worried about jobs, it also attracted white supremacists and white nationalists. Counties that hosted Trump rallies saw a 226% increase in hate crimes, The Washington Post reported. Several white supremacists who committed deadly crimes this decade specifically declared support for Trump or used talking points from Trumps speeches.

However, Josh Peacock, a Washingtonian and member of a group that attends MAGA events, says the conservative movement disavows hate groups and is no longer just about MAGA or Trump. Were self-proclaimed patriots, he said, adding that the goal of his group, which he asked not be named, is to get the U.S. back to the constitutional republic that we are.

Trump was recently impeached by the House and faces trial in the Senate, but his campaign for reelection remains strongly supported with a new slogan: Keep America Great.

Emergence: 2017, online

Significant local events: Seattle Silence Breakers speak out about sexual harassment at Seattle City Light, 11 women accuse David Meinert of sexual assault including rape

In 2006, activist Tarana Burke created a Me Too Myspace page for women to share their experiences with sexual assault. With social media and celebrity power behind it, Burkes Me Too idea took off in 2017 after Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual assault by several women.

After the allegations, actress Alyssa Milano sent out a call on Twitter for sexual-assault survivors to tweet in solidarity; the hashtag #MeToo went viral. Catalyzing a global conversation, #MeToo emboldened survivors who had been silenced by fear or shame totell their stories.

In July 2018, five women accused Seattle nightlife entrepreneur David Meinert of sexual misconduct, including rape. A month later, six more women came forward. Meinert denied accusations of rape, only admitting to being handsy with women in the past. Some of the women who accused Meinert said the #MeToo movement inspired them to come forward.

By the end of 2018, The New York Times reported that 201 powerful men accused of sexual harassment had lost their jobs or major roles after survivors came forward, including Washington state representatives David Sawyer and Matt Manweller.

In the meantime, the Seattle Silence Breakers forged after a former Seattle City Light employee spoke out about sexual harassment in February 2018 continue to inspire and push for reform around sexual assault. Their work helped push the Seattle City Council to create an Office of Employee Ombud to support employees and oversee the citys handling of workplace misconduct.

Emergence: 2019

Significant local events: Gov. Jay Inslee runs for president on a campaign of climate change, the Lummi nation successfully blocks construction of the coal port at Cherry Point.

Scientists have shown that were already seeing the harmful effects of climate change, yet many government officials continue to deny climate change is happening at all.

Earlier this month, Time magazine named a teenage girl its Person of the Year: Greta Thunberg, 16, a Swedish environmental activist who skipped school to camp outside the Swedish Parliament to protest government officials inaction around climate change. Thunbergs one-person protest inspired a global climate strike that saw over 4 million people demonstrating to catalyze government action on climate change.

Although he has dropped out of the presidential race, Washington Gov. Jay Inslees presidential campaign was singularly focused on climate change. Back at home, citing the accelerating threat of climate change, Inslee recently pulled support for two Washington natural-gas projects.

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A look back at 10 of the biggest social movements of the 2010s, and how they shaped Seattle - Seattle Times

Quote of the Day: Richard Jewell – Ricochet.com

I still think your client is as guilty as hell. FBI Agent Shaw, Richard Jewell

On the recommendation of @cliffordbrown and others, I went to see Richard Jewell. It is a profoundly disturbing movie.

The protagonist is the kind of person who steps up in a crisis to do the right thing. Hes not perfect; his love affair with law enforcement seems to get him to go into beyond his job duties, and he is trying to help even when the FBI is targeting him but we would hope that a security officer took his job seriously. Remember If you see something, say something! Richard saved lives and really tried his best to do a good job.

For this, the FBI profiled him as a terrorist. All of his idiosyncrasies were turned into signs of guilt, and he was fed into the media wood chipper. For all the complaining about the heartless journalist and portrayal of the media, the journalist actually reconsiders. The FBI agent does not. Even as the situation changes, they stretch the theory of the case. And at no time is there any direct evidence the FBI decided he was guilty, and that was that. The quote above is as the agents hands over a letter clearing Richards name.

It is a nightmare. The full weight of the government brought against a law-abiding citizen for doing the right thing. It makes me think of George Zimmerman, who stopped to try to help the police deal with a crime rather than walk on by. He was then put under the microscope for his actions, declared to be white, and prosecuted on shoddy evidence that was revealed to be fraudulent. Incentives work if you punish good behavior, expect less of it.

This movie is also one of the best portrayals of an annoying defense lawyer as a heroic figure. Hes a jerk, but thats because he is adversarial. Its a paean to the adversarial justice system. You need a lawyer because the FBI might just decide to exploit any law-abiding traits to screw you over. I think lawyers would benefit from having defendants watch it, particularly regular citizens.

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Quote of the Day: Richard Jewell - Ricochet.com

Why Lil Uzi Vert Is the Most Stylish Man of the Decade – GQ

One of my favorite photos of the last ten years comes from the Instagram of Lil Uzi Vert. In it, he and Young Thug appear to be taking a break from a shopping excursion. Thug is dripping in pearls and holding an open bag stuffed with hundred-dollar bills, but Uzi commands the frame. The eye follows his feet, clad in womens Chanel sneakers, along his tattooed calves, past a fetching cardigan short set, accented by a Chanel purse and a flute of ros, all the way up his smiling face, sandwiched between twin diamond-choked chokers and a top-knot of locs.

The decade started in darkness, with George Zimmerman killing Trayvon Martin for wearing a hoodie and further politicizing that garment. In the months and years that followed, alongside the Black Lives Matter movement, the expert display of black pain took on a bloody sheen of prestige, of importance. Affirmations of black happiness, then, emerged as a refusal of burnout, a pressure valve for the anguish of black life, and with them came an aesthetic of black boy joy: flower crowns, pastels, a visual softening of male aggression and stoicism most celebrated against a palette of cisness and straightness. Lil Uzi Vert is far from the first rapper to love fashion or wear feminine clothing, but he is a delightful bookmark for this new lens.

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Why Lil Uzi Vert Is the Most Stylish Man of the Decade - GQ

Forum will explore the difficulty of Breathing While Black – Columbus Alive

Kirwan Institute legal analyst Kyle Strickland one of four panelists tabbed for the latest monthly panel discussion from the Columbus African Council

The Columbus African Council has been running monthly discussion panels tackling big-picture questions within the black community, delving into the state of black education and the growing racial wealth gap, among other topics. But the organizations upcoming forum, Breathing While Black, takes a more personal turn, exploring the reality that those within the community are forced to learn to be hyper-vigilant about our black bodies while dancing/selling bottled water/napping in a dorm/mowing the lawn/going to the store/walking through a neighborhood, as detailed in the Facebook event page.

When I heard about the concept, there were so many things I was immediately drawn to. I thought about Trayvon Martin. I thought about Michael Brown. I thought about Tamir Rice, and all of these [instances] where you have African American men shot and killed, and a justice system that never quite delivers the justice that it claims to, said Kyle Strickland, senior legal analyst at the Kirwan Institute for Race & Ethnicity, who will join a four-person panel in discussion at the Columbus Metropolitan Library on Tuesday, Dec. 17. "And you think, That could be me. That could be anybody at any moment in time.'"

Eventually, though, as Strickland considered the topic, he started to think on a more experiential level about the ways race had routinely exhibited itself in his life, often in ways as simple as never really having the benefit of the doubt, he said.

As an example, Strickland, who grew up in a predominantly white Worthington neighborhood, pointed to a visit he made to a childhood friend a couple of years back, when he was approached by a white woman while he sat in his parked car.

And she walks up and says, What are you doing here? Strickland said. As the conversation continued, Strickland informed the woman that he was merely waiting on a friend, and that he had in fact grown up in the area. And yet the woman persisted. And she finally said, You dont really fit in so you might want to move along, which was very much code for, Im going to call the cops.

While Strickland termed the encounter trivial compared with the experiences of others, it served as yet another in a lifetime of reminders that his skin color will sometimes be the first thing some people will see. In grade school, Strickland said it wasnt unusual for teachers to discipline him more harshly than his white counterparts. Then, while he was a senior at Ohio State, someone spray painted Long Live Zimmerman on Hale Hall, the universitys black cultural center, in reference to George Zimmerman, who shot and killed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012.

Even Harvard University, where Strickland earned his law degree, wasnt immune, with Strickland recalling the debates surrounding the Harvard Law School shield, which included three sheaves of wheat taken from the coat of arms of the Royall family, which amassed its fortune in the slave trade and on a sugar plantation in Antigua (Harvard Law School was established in 1817 with a bequest from Isaac Royall Jr.; the shield has since been removed from the law school).

And one day we woke up to seeing the portraits of all of the black professors with black tape over their mouths, said Strickland, who also serves as the director of My Brothers Keeper Ohio, a statewide network aimed at providing educational and community opportunities for young men of color. It seemed like a shock at the time: 'How could this happen in a place like this?' But then you look at it, and its like, No. Theres no shock at all. This exists, especially in places of power and prestige.'"

But for Breathing While Black, Strickland said hes as eager to hear from community members far removed from positions of power as he is fellow esteemed panelists, which include organizer Tammy Fournier Alsaada, Judge Kimberly Cocroft and former Ohio State Sen. Ray Miller.

Theres a great group of panelists but you could bring anybody up there to have these conversations and it would be just as powerful and impactful, Strickland said. And I think we often lose sight of that. Its not just the success stories, or people in positions of power [who should be heard]. Really, its the stories of everyday people who are too often ignored. We need to listen to the stories people tell and the pain that they go through.

While discussions centered on race can be difficult, Strickland said theyre essential to countering the long-simmering hatreds and prejudices that once led his fellow Harvard students to place black electrical tape over photographs of black professors, and the teachers in his predominantly white grade school to punish his perceived misdeeds more harshly than his fair-skinned classmates.

If you see ugliness and sit idly by and say, Were not going to talk about it, it will still persist. So Im going to continue to fight, and to talk about these injustices, Strickland said. I think about my two nieces, who are 3 and 1 years old, and I think about the type of country I want to see for them. Ultimately, you talk about being subjected to all of the ugly parts of this country, but there are so many beautiful parts within it, as well. Im not going to let somebody hijack that narrative from me of what it means to be an American.

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Forum will explore the difficulty of Breathing While Black - Columbus Alive

Youth Activist Movements of the 2010s: A Timeline and Brief History of a Decade of Change – Teen Vogue

When Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012 and, in 2013, when George Zimmerman was acquitted, my body and spirit was moved into action, Cullors wrote in an op-ed for Teen Vogue about the movements sixth anniversary earlier this year. Alicia, Opal, and I created #BlackLivesMatter as an online community to help combat anti-Black racism across the globe.

The need for their effort has been tragically validated countless times since then. On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown was a college-bound 18-year-old with no criminal record when he was shot and killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. Several protests began taking place in Ferguson, and the issue of police brutality against black bodies was in the national spotlight. In response to what was happening in Ferguson, organizers in various cities nationwide created Black Lives Matter chapters in their communities.

Black Lives Matter created a space for activists of all ages to take a stand against anti-Black racism. After the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, teen activists held a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest that shut down Chicago streets, and in response to the murder of Eric Garner, then 18-year-old Nupol Kiazolu (now president of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York) led protests in Garners home state of New York.

Today, Black Lives Matter is a global network of more than 40 chapters, with members organizing and building local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

The #NoDAPL movement was launched by a group of young Native Americans who claimed the title of water protectors in response to the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline, an oil pipeline considered a threat to the Indigenous community at the Standing Rock reservation. It began when Anna Lee Rain Yellowhammer, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, started a Change.org petition titled, Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. From there, young activists began using the hashtags #StandWithStandingRock and #NoDAPL to spread the word, garnering the support of hundreds of thousands of people.

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Youth Activist Movements of the 2010s: A Timeline and Brief History of a Decade of Change - Teen Vogue