Black Lives Matter: A movement or a moment?

Photographed by Alexander.

BLM became something very different from its previous incarnation on the day George Floyd died. It transitioned from social organisation to symbolising a societal ideal.

It had already been a year of Australian bushfires, President Donald Trump's impeachment, Harvey Weinstein's conviction, and the destruction of Coronavirus. 2020 has been a remarkable year by any standard. Then on May 25th, George Floyd exclaimed, "I can't breathe!" Certain historical events prompt the inquiry, "Where were you when...?".

There was the moment when we all realised that, yet again, a Black man was in a life-threatening situation with law enforcement; we witnessed the confusion of a Black person unable to prevent an unfolding escalation; and, with the statement, "I'm done," there was the moment when he succumbed to his inevitable demise.

The footage of George Floyd’s last moments was such a moment the simple mention of Floyd’s name now conjures up parts of what we experienced as well as the stirring of complicated emotions.

Photographed by Alexander.

On May 25th, 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement did not begin. It was founded in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin trial in 2013. On the day George Floyd died, however, BLM morphed into something completely different from its prior iteration. It went from being a social organisation to representing a societal ideal. It now resides not just in the head, but also in the collective heart. 

Many people, regardless of their culture or belief, are aware of it. Not just in the United States, but all across the world, marches reminiscent of the Civil Rights marches of the 1960s took place. Some marches occurred in nations with small concentrations of African Americans.

We have witnessed large protests over critical social and political concerns previously, it must be emphasised. In the summer of 2020, however, Black Lives Matter became part of a broader global awareness, a worldwide societal message. It talked to many more people about how to live and human society and how not to live and it was difficult not to digest and connect to it today

We may debate and speculate all we want, but what do we want now? How can we bring about and maintain transformation?.

To begin we may individually ask ourselves the personal, difficult, and crucial questions. We must be willing to acknowledge that just because we find racism impulsive does not imply it has not touched or benefited us. We must also return to discourse which necessitates actually listening and emphasising with one another. We need a well-informed discussion, which means rethinking what we teach in schools and about British and European history, well as the systematic character of racism. To close the tangible and intangible gaps that exist between us, we must seek to understand each other.