The black lives matter movement is a social justice group that was created in 2013 after the Trayvon Martin shooting. The black lives matter clothing movement began soon after, with various people using it as an act of protest. There are 3 main points to this article: what black lives matter means, why black lives matters started trending, and the history behind black flags.

What black lives matter clothing means: this clothing is a way of saying black people’s lives should be valued and respected. It has since been used as an act of protest around the world to show black culture and heritage, and it can even be seen at protests across America. Some of these protests include: The Toronto Coalition March in Toronto (2015), New York City BLM Rally outside Grand Central Station(2015), BLM Protest Washington DC Protest (2016)

Why black live matters started trending: more than 400 black people have died due to police brutality before 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman on February 26th, 2012. Since then there has been a rise in awareness about this issue with many popular figures tweeting #blacklivesmatter including John Legend, Kim Kardashian, and even Hillary Clinton.

What BLM is: it began in 2013 after the death of Trayvon Martin to protest against racial profiling by police departments across America. BLM mainly protests police brutality towards black people but they are not anti-police or hate anyone. They have said “The call for black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL lives striving for liberation” on their website. A common chant heard at BLM rallies goes along with this idea saying “I’m black; I’m strong; my state was stolen.”

This implies that regardless of what happens no one can take away your identity as an African American citizen living in America which has been historically difficult especially during slavery when black people were considered property, not citizens.

BLM was founded in 2012 by Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors to affirm BLM after black teenager Trayvon Martin’s death at the hands of George Zimmerman who did not serve jail time even though he admitted that it was an act of self-defense and killed him because he assumed his race made him a criminal.

They created the hashtag #blacklivesmatter which soon went viral all over social media with many black activists expressing their support for the BLM clothing movement such as Jesse Williams when giving his acceptance speech for winning best actor in “Grey’s Anatomy.”

We hope this information was helpful.