User:DraconicDark/Black Lives Matter Portal
Portal maintenance status: (February 2019)
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Introduction
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people and to promote anti-racism. Its primary concerns are police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The movement began in response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, among others. BLM and its related organizations typically advocate for various policy changes related to black liberation and criminal justice reform. While there are specific organizations that label themselves "Black Lives Matter", such as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the overall movement is a decentralized network with no formal hierarchy. , there are about 40 chapters in the United States and Canada. The slogan "Black Lives Matter" itself has not been trademarked by any group.
In 2013, activists and friends Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi originated the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two more African Americans, Michael Brown—resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri—and Eric Garner in New York City. Since the Ferguson protests, participants in the movement have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African Americans by police actions or while in police custody. In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter activists became involved in the 2016 United States presidential election.
The movement gained international attention during global protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. An estimated 15 to 26 million people participated in Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, making it one of the largest protest movements in the country's history. Despite being characterized by opponents as violent, the overwhelming majority of BLM demonstrations have been peaceful.
The popularity of Black Lives Matter has shifted over time, largely due to changing perceptions among white Americans. In 2020, 67% of adults in the United States expressed support for the movement, declining to 51% of U.S. adults in 2023. Support among people of color has, however, held strong, with 81% of African Americans, 61% of Hispanics and 63% of Asian Americans expressing support for Black Lives Matter as of 2023. (Full article...)
Selected general articles
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Image 1The San Francisco Police Department began operations on August 13, 1849 during the California Gold Rush in San Francisco, California, under the command of Captain Malachi Fallon. (Full article...)
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Image 2On April 21, 2021, Andrew Brown Jr., a 42-year-old black American, was killed by a gunshot to the back of the head by the Sheriff Department in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, United States. The shooting occurred while deputies were serving drug-related search and arrest warrants at the Brown residence. The arrest warrant, issued on April 20, was for possession with intent to sell "approximately three grams of cocaine." Seven officers were placed on leave as a result of the shooting.
The total amount of footage of the incident is around 2 hours. After being allowed to watch 20 seconds of body camera footage, a Brown family lawyer said that shots were first heard while Brown's car was sitting stationary, in his driveway, and that both of his hands were on the steering wheel. The District Attorney disagreed, saying shots were heard only after Brown put the vehicle in motion, attempted to flee, and caused the car to "make contact" with the arresting officers (none of the deputies sustained injuries). After being allowed to watch around 18 minutes of footage, a second Brown family lawyer said that the videos did not show Brown initiating contact between his car and the deputies. The full body camera videos of the shooting are currently being blocked by a judge's order from being publicly released. (Full article...) -
Image 3On 6 April 2019, Lassana Cisse Souleymane, a 42-year-old migrant worker from the Ivory Coast, was killed in a racially-motivated drive-by shooting in Ħal Far, Malta. Two other African migrants were also injured in the attack. In May 2019, the Armed Forces of Malta soldiers Francesco Fenech and Lorin Scicluna were charged with the murder of Cisse and attempted murder of the two others, along with the attempted murder of another migrant in a hit and run attack the previous February. (Full article...)
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Image 4"I Can't Breathe" is a song by H.E.R. released on June 19, 2020. It was written by H.E.R., D'Mile and Tiara Thomas and produced by D'Mile. It reached number 20 on Billboard's Hot R&B Songs. The song won Song of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, serving as H.E.R.'s first ever win in this category. (Full article...)
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Image 5On April 4, 2015, Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Michael Slager, a local police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Slager had stopped Scott for a non-functioning brake light. Slager was charged with murder after a video surfaced showing him shooting Scott from behind while Scott was fleeing, which contradicted Slager's report of the incident. The racial difference led many to believe that the shooting was racially motivated, generating a widespread controversy.
The case was independently investigated by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina, and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division conducted their own investigations. In June 2015, a South Carolina grand jury indicted Slager on a charge of murder. He was released on bond in January 2016. In late 2016, a five-week trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury. In May 2016, Slager was indicted on federal charges including violation of Scott's civil rights and obstruction of justice. In a May 2017 plea agreement, Slager pleaded guilty to federal charges of civil rights violations, and he was returned to jail pending sentencing. In return for his guilty plea, the state's murder charges were dropped. (Full article...) -
Image 6On August 5, 2016, Jamarion Rashad Robinson, a 26-year-old African American man who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was shot 59 times and killed in a police raid in East Point, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. The shooting occurred when at least 14 officers of a Southeast Regional Fugitive Taskforce from at least seven different agencies, led by U.S. Marshals, forcibly entered the apartment of Robinson's girlfriend to serve a warrant for his arrest. The officers were heavily armed, including with submachine guns. The warrant was being served on behalf of the Gwinnett County police and the Atlanta Police Department, and authorities said they had sought his arrest for attempted arson and aggravated assault of a police officer. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) stated that Robinson had been repeatedly ordered to put down a weapon and that officers who had been involved in the shooting reported Robinson fired at them three times.
The case has been highlighted as an example of excessive force by law enforcement officers, systemic racism in law enforcement, a lack of knowledge in police who interact with people who have a mental illness, a lack of transparency and accountability surrounding the actions of police officers, and a lack of use of body cameras by police and U.S. Marshals when serving arrest warrants. (Full article...) -
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The 2015 Texas pool party incident, also known as the "McKinney pool party", was a civil disturbance that occurred on June 5, 2015, at a pool party in McKinney, Texas, United States.
While responding to 911 calls that reported the trespassing of dozens of individuals on private property, a McKinney police officer, corporal Eric Casebolt, was video-recorded violently restraining Dajerria Becton, a 15-year-old black girl wearing a swimsuit. He later drew his handgun on unarmed teen witnesses during the same incident. (Full article...) -
Image 8Meagan Hockaday was a 26-year-old African American resident of Oxnard, California who was shot and killed by police officer Roger Garcia in the early hours of Saturday, March 28, 2015.
Garcia responded to a 911 call made by Hockaday's fiancé, Luis Morado, reporting a domestic dispute at The Timbers, an apartment complex in Oxnard. Within twenty seconds of officers arriving at the family's apartment, Hockaday, who was wielding a knife and apparently advanced at the officers, was fatally shot by Garcia. The couple's three children were in the apartment at the time. They were subsequently evaluated by Child Protective Services and released to family. (Full article...) -
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George Floyd Square, officially George Perry Floyd Square, is the commemorative street name for the section of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in the U.S. city of Minneapolis from East 37th Street to East 39th Street. It is named after George Floyd, a black man who was murdered there by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. The streetway and memorial site is centered at the 38th and Chicago intersection.
Public outrage over Floyd's murder resulted in the largest mass protest movement since the civil rights movement, largely over issues of systemic racism and police brutality. In the following weeks, racial justice activists and some community members erected barricades to keep 38th and Chicago street intersection closed to vehicular traffic for over a year during 2020 and 2021. Artists and demonstrators installed several exhibits, paintings, sculptures, and other works of art to memorialize Floyd and visualize racial justice themes. (Full article...) -
Image 10"Rockstar" (stylized in all caps) is a song by American rapper DaBaby, featuring fellow American rapper Roddy Ricch. The song was released on April 17, 2020, as the second single from DaBaby's third studio album Blame It on Baby (2020). It was written by the two rappers. "Rockstar" spent seven non-consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Rockstar" topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Its music video is set in a zombie apocalypse.
On June 12, 2020, DaBaby released a "BLM (Black Lives Matter) remix" of "Rockstar", which replaces the intro with an extra verse from him, before the rest of the song, regarding the George Floyd protests that started in May 2020, and his own experience with police abuse. The song received nominations for Record of the Year, Best Melodic Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. (Full article...) -
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Melina Reimann Abdullah (born 1972) is an American academic and civic leader. She is the former chair of the department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and is a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter Grassroots, for which she also serves as co-director.
As an original member of the group that convened to form Black Lives Matter, she serves as a matriarch for the current movement in Los Angeles. In addition to organizing work with BLM Los Angeles, she has hosted three local radio shows, "Move the Crowd" and "Beautiful Struggle" on KPFK and "This Is Not a Drill" on KBLA. (Full article...) -
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Black Guns Matter is an organization aimed at educating African Americans about gun culture in the United States, primarily around defending Second Amendment rights. The organization is led by Maj Toure, who founded it in 2016. Black Guns Matter has hosted workshops in multiple cities to teach the basics of firearm safety, U.S. gun laws, and conflict resolution. (Full article...) -
Image 13On November 4, 2018, Tamla Horsford was discovered dead in the backyard of the Cumming, Georgia, home where she had been attending a slumber party with other "football moms" the night before. The 40-year-old was a mother of five.
The Forsyth County Sheriff department initially ruled the death an accident, stating that the "multiple blunt force injuries" were related to Horsford likely falling from the balcony due to "acute ethanol intoxication". A second autopsy requested by her family revealed further abrasions to her body. The family's attorney also stated that lack of evidence, types of injuries discovered, and mismatched witness accounts strongly suggested homicide. On February 20, 2019, Major Joe Perkins of the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office announced that the case would be closed and that there was no evidence of foul play. (Full article...) -
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Deona Marie Knajdek (also reported as Deona Marie Erickson), a 31-year old American woman, was killed on June 13, 2021, when a man drove a car into a crowd of demonstrators who had gathered as a part of the Uptown Minneapolis unrest. That evening, demonstrators protesting the law enforcement killing of Winston Boogie Smith had blocked the intersection of West Lake Street and Girard Avenue. At approximately 11:39 p.m. CDT, a man in a late-model Jeep Cherokee drove into the crowd at a high speed, striking a parked vehicle that had been used to block off the intersection to traffic, which then collided with protesters, killing Knajdek and injuring three others.
The driver, Nicholas Kraus of Saint Paul, Minnesota, was charged with second-degree intentional murder and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon in relation to the crash, after allegedly telling investigators that he had accelerated towards the crowd in an attempt to clear cars acting as barricades. Investigators believed that Kraus might have been intoxicated during the incident. After being charged criminally, Kraus was found mentally competent to stand trial. To avoid trial in late 2022, Kraus pleaded guilty to second degree unintentional murder (the second degree intentional murder charged was dropped) and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. He admitted to the court that the night he killed Knajdek he was under the influence of illegal narcotics and that he intentionally drove his car into barricades that blocked the street. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. (Full article...) -
Image 15On April 20, 2021, Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old girl, was fatally shot by police officer Nicholas Reardon in southeast Columbus, Ohio. Released body camera and security camera footage show Bryant brandishing a knife and charging two women consecutively, leading up to the moment Officer Reardon fired four shots; Bryant was struck at least once. Bryant immediately collapsed and was unresponsive. Reardon and other officers on the scene administered first aid, and she was transported to the hospital in critical condition, where she was later pronounced dead. Reactions from the public included both support of the actions of the officer and protests against the killing. The case was investigated by state authorities and then referred to local authorities. The case went to a grand jury and on March 11, 2022, it declined to charge Reardon. Her shooting, which prevented her from stabbing another girl, was later deemed a justifiable homicide. (Full article...)
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Image 16
Eugene Puryear (born February 28, 1986) is an American journalist, writer, activist, politician, and host on BreakThrough News. In 2014, he was a candidate for the at-large seat in the DC Council with the D.C. Statehood Green Party. In the 2008 and 2016 United States presidential elections, Puryear was the vice presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). (Full article...) -
Image 17Peoples Power Assemblies (PPA) is an advocacy group in the United States that coordinates through local offices of the Workers World Party. The group advocates for jobs, healthcare, and educations and against police brutality, sexism, and anti-LGBT and ableist oppression.
The group has been involved in organising protests and demonstrations in the aftermath of the killing of Freddie Gray, Korryn Gaines, and the murder of George Floyd. (Full article...) -
Image 18
State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin was an American criminal case in the District Court of Minnesota in 2021. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was tried and convicted for the murder of George Floyd, which occurred during an arrest on May 25, 2020, and led to global protests over racial injustice and police brutality. A 12-member jury found Chauvin guilty of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. It was the first conviction of a white police officer in Minnesota for the murder of a black person.
The trial was held at the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis, and it ran from March 8 to April 20, 2021. It was the first criminal trial in Minnesota to be entirely televised and the first in state court to be broadcast live. The trial received extensive media coverage, with over 23 million people watching the verdict being announced on live television. Several protest marches and demonstrations were held up to and during the trial. Large crowds celebrated the guilty verdict announcement. (Full article...) -
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All Lives Matter is a slogan that was created as a negative response to the Black Lives Matter movement. It is a conservative rejection of the acknowledgement of police brutality and ethnic violence that is the purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement. (Full article...) -
Image 20Elijah Doughty, a 14-year-old Indigenous Australian riding a motorbike, was involved in a fatal traffic collision with a ute on 29 August 2016, near Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The 56-year-old white male driver (who could not legally be identified) of the ute was the owner of the motorbike, which had been stolen the previous day. Although he was chasing Doughty, it is unclear where Doughty got the bike and there is no evidence that Doughty had stolen it; his friends said that he was handed the bike at Gribble Creek Reserve, where he was killed.
The driver offered to plead guilty to dangerous driving causing death, but was subsequently charged with manslaughter. He was acquitted by a jury on 21 July 2017 after a trial at the Supreme Court of Western Australia. However, he was found guilty of the lesser charge of dangerous driving causing death. (Full article...) -
Image 21Jeremy "Bam Bam" McDole was a 28-year-old African American paraplegic who was shot and killed by police in Wilmington, Delaware on September 23, 2015, at 3:00 pm. McDole was in a wheelchair at the time of the shooting. Police responded to a call about a man with a gun. The 911 caller later recanted her statements and has, to date, faced no penalties for the false statements made, which resulted in McDole's death. Camera footage from a bystander showed officers ordering McDole to drop his weapon and raise his hands, with McDole being shot after shuffling his hands near his waist area, but with a gun never being seen and evidence photos of the reported weapon only appearing 6 years after his murder. The Delaware state department cleared the officers of wrongdoing, but concluded that one of the involved officers had shown "extraordinarily poor" police work. A 2020 review by the Delaware Attorney General's Office came to the same conclusion. Both decided against filing any charges. The McDole family sued the city of Wilmington, and in January 2017, a settlement of $1.5 million was reached by the city. (Full article...)
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Image 22Kalief Browder (May 25, 1993 – June 6, 2015) was an African American youth from The Bronx, New York, who was held at the Rikers Island jail complex, without trial, between 2010 and 2013 for allegedly stealing a backpack containing valuables. During his imprisonment, Browder was kept in solitary confinement for 800 days.
Two years after his release, Browder hanged himself at his parents' home. His case has been cited by activists campaigning for reform of the New York City criminal justice system and has attracted widespread attention in the years following his death. In 2017, Jay-Z produced a television documentary mini-series titled Time: The Kalief Browder Story. In January 2019, New York City settled a civil lawsuit with the Browder family for $3.3 million. (Full article...) -
Image 23On May 25, 2020, Dion Johnson, a 28-year-old Black man, was killed in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. According to the Phoenix Police, Department of Public Safety trooper George Cervantes was patrolling when he discovered Johnson's vehicle parked in the gore point near Loop 101 and Tatum Boulevard. Cervantes approached the vehicle and found Johnson asleep at the drivers seat, with cans of beer and a gun in the car, after removing the gun, Cervantes attempted to arrest Johnson.
According to Cervantes, an altercation occurred when Johnson woke up and grabbed at him, Cervantes drew his weapon and ordered Johnson to comply with instructions, Johnson complied and then as Cervantes holstered his weapon, Johnson lunged for the weapon. Another altercation ensued in the struggle, resulting in Cervantes allegedly firing his weapon twice, with one bullet fatally striking Johnson. Johnson later died at the hospital. Police stated there was neither body camera nor car camera footage, and Cervantes was not wearing a body camera. In declining to file charges, Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel said that multiple witnesses corroborated Cervantes's account; a lawyer for Johnson's family questioned the eyewitness accounts, saying that the witnesses "were driving on the highway at high rates of speed." (Full article...) -
Image 24
Tishaura Oneda Jones (/tɪʃɑːrʌ/ tish-ARE-ə; born March 10, 1972) is an American politician who has served as the mayor of St. Louis, Missouri since April 2021. A member of the Missouri Democratic Party, Jones served from 2008 to 2013 in the Missouri House of Representatives; and as Treasurer of the City of St. Louis from 2013 to 2021.
Born in St. Louis to a former city comptroller, Jones studied at Hampton University in Virginia, returning to St. Louis upon graduating in 1994. Following a failed attempt to start a restaurant that left her bankrupt, she entered nursing, graduating from the Saint Louis University College for Public Health with a Master of Health Administration in 2001 and working for Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital for two years. (Full article...) -
Image 25Save the Boards is an American nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis that collects and preserves street art that emerged during local protests of the murder of George Floyd in 2020. (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that Arkansas legislator Denise Jones Ennett took part in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of the Arkansas State Capitol?
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Selected images
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Image 1Black Lives Matter protest against St. Paul police brutality at Metro Green Line, September 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 2A demonstrator raising awareness of the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, April 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 3One-year commemoration of the killing of Michael Brown and the Ferguson unrest at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, August 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 4Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., as seen from space on June 8, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 5Protest march in response to the killing of Philando Castile, St. Paul, Minnesota, July 7, 2016 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 6Protests in May 2020 after George Floyd's death (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 7Al Sharpton led the Commitment March: Get Your Knee Off Our Necks in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 10Protest march in response to the Jamar Clark killing, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 11Vehicle with a BLM sticker, September 18, 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 12Map depicting rates of police killings by state in the United States in 2018 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 13Ferguson, Missouri, August 17, 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 14"What happened to 'All Lives Matter'?" sign at a protest against Donald Trump, January 29, 2017 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 15Black Lives Matter protester at Macy's Herald Square, November 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 16Protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London, June 7, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 17Demonstration at Christiansborg Slotsplads, Copenhagen, June 7, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 18A Black Lives Matter protest of police brutality in the rotunda of the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, in December 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 19Protest in response to the Alton Sterling killing, San Francisco, California, July 8, 2016 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 21"Black Lives Matter" on the facade of the Washington National Cathedral, June 10, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 23Black Lives Matter protest in Aotea Square, Auckland, June 14, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 25Black Lives Matter protest on September 20, 2015, against police brutality in St. Paul, Minnesota (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 26An activist holds a "Black Lives Matter" sign outside the Minneapolis Police Fourth Precinct building following the officer-involved killing of Jamar Clark on November 15, 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 27Black Lives Matter demonstration in Oakland, California, December 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 28Bernie Sanders and Black Lives Matter activists in Westlake Park, Seattle, August 8, 2015 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 29A Black Lives Matter die-in over rail tracks, protesting alleged police brutality in Saint Paul, Minnesota (September 20, 2015) (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 30George Floyd protests at Lafayette Square, Washington D.C., May 30, 2020 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 33Black Lives Matter protest at Herald Square, Manhattan, November 2014 (from Black Lives Matter)
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Image 34The empty pedestal of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol. Subject to increasing controversy since the 1990s, when his prior reputation as a philanthropist came under scrutiny due to a growing awareness of his slave trading, in June 2020 the statue was toppled, defaced and pushed into Bristol Harbour. (from Black Lives Matter)
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