🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 16 (from laksa030)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa016.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53273381\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53273381\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-53273381","crawl_time":1773062472,"first_indexed_time":1594352808,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,bbc!www,\/news\/world-us-canada-53273381 s443","src_root_hash":"1643509356818581016","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Black Lives Matter: From social media post to global movement","meta_descriptions":["Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, grass-roots organisations, and a collective of activists."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"9 July 2020\nAleem Maqbool\nBBC News\n'I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend'\nA slogan chanted by tens of thousands around the world, Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, a network of grass-roots organisations, and a moral collective of activists.\nBut how did it go from a social media post to a global phenomenon, and where does it go now?\nThe names most associated with Black Lives Matter are not its leaders but the victims who have drawn attention to the massive issues of racism this country grapples with: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, to name a few.\nThe movement can be traced back to 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida.\nThe 17-year-old had been returning from a shop after buying sweets and iced tea.  Mr Zimmerman claimed the unarmed black teenager had looked suspicious.\nThere was outrage when he was found not guilty of murder, and a Facebook post entitled \"Black Lives Matter\" captured a mood and sparked action.\nBLM LA chapter\nAn early Black Lives Matter demonstration in Beverly Hills following the acquittal of Goerge Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin\n\"Seven years ago, we were called together. There were about 30 of us standing in the courtyard of this black artist community in Los Angeles, summoned by Patrisse Cullors, one of our co-founders and one of my dearest friends,\" says Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies in Los Angeles and co-founder of one of Black Lives Matters first \"chapters\".\n\"It was students … artists, organisers and mommas. We knew that it was part of our sacred duty to step up. And there was an audaciousness that we could transform the world, but we didn't have a plan for it,\" she laughs.\nIf calls for justice for Trayvon Martin lit the spark for Black Lives Matter, it was the death of Michael Brown a year later that really brought the movement to national attention.\nThe unarmed teenager had been shot dead by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri and Black Lives Matter took to the streets, often in angry confrontation with the police.\nBut the killing of George Floyd took the movement to areas it had not reached before.\nThis moment of national reckoning gives Ambassador Andrew Young, a legendary civil rights leader, a \"tremendous sense of pride\".\n\"Especially that they have remained overwhelmingly nonviolent,\" the 88-year-old says.\nFor years he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Rev Martin Luther King Jr, but very much as a civil rights leader in his own right.\nHe was later awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and served as US Ambassador to the United Nations.\n\"Of course it was very different back then. We had to go door-to-door, church-to-church,\" he says.\n\"When Dr King went to jail, only 55 people showed up,\" Ambassador Young remembers.\nGetty Images\nAmbassador Andrew Young, seated to the right of Martin Luther King Jr with other civil rights leaders\nIn the 1960s, many of the key American civil rights figures were known the world over, but even someone as connected to the struggle for equality as Ambassador Young finds it hard to name contemporaries in the modern movement.\n\"Honestly, I don't know who Black Lives Matter is,\" he acknowledges.\n\"I don't know who the leaders are. In fact, I don't know that they even have any leaders.  I think perhaps it's a spiritual, emotional movement created by implicit evils in our society that we have not been willing to face.\"\nThose who have been involved with Black Lives Matter since its embryonic stages say this decentralized approach is intentional.\n\"Group-centred leadership is in our guiding principles,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\"Leadership is not just about oratory, it's also about facilitation, planning, bringing arts to the movement, things that don't get as much recognition,\" she says.\nThe leadership in many Black Lives Matter chapters is also often female.\n\"Black women have always been at the heart of the black freedom struggle. Often times they have been painted over, and this time we are refusing to allow ourselves to be painted over,\" says Prof Abdullah.\nThe guiding light for this doctrine, and for Black Lives Matter as a whole, she says, has been Ella Baker - the feminist civil rights leader who championed collective grassroots activism over activism focused on a single leader.\n\"We all study Ella Baker as one of the most brilliant organisers to have ever walked the face of this earth. She was clear that movements should be bigger than individuals.\"\nWhat black radio makes of this moment\nHow far have African Americans come since the 1960s?\nThough Black Lives Matter has evolved into this loose national and international umbrella network, the Black Lives Matter Global Network is registered in the US as a non-profit organisation, one that is now getting grants and pledges from foundations and corporations falling over themselves to ally themselves with the movement.\nChapters of Black Lives Matter have spread across the US and around the globe, with massive protests in the UK, Europe, and Canada.\nThe movement now includes many of diverse backgrounds, who had previously not felt connected to the cause.\n\"I think a lot of people in our town suddenly felt as white people we need to be really critical of ourselves and understand our role in this,\" says AJ Crocker, one of the organisers of a Black Lives Matter vigil in in Norwood, Colorado, a mostly white town of about 500 people located about six hours drive from the nearest international airport.\nGeorge Lewis\nAround 50 people attend the Black Lives Matter vigil in the predominantly white town of Norwood, Colorado\nMs Crocker says the group is learning how they can combat racism in their own small community, such as campaigning for an official Spanish translator for the county.\nThey will also bring up Black Lives Matter as a discussion topic in the town council and are reading Ibram X Kendi's book \"How to be an Antiracist\" in the local book club.\n\"I actually really do appreciate that people are starting to educate themselves. There's a lot of literature out there that's pushing to educate our white counterparts on the issues that affect us and that's good,\" says Charles White, a keyboard player with Day Dream Sessions.\nThe band has been playing some of the songs that have become the soundtrack to the street demonstrations in Washington DC, including old protest anthems from Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke.\nBut Mr White and his bandmates are also sceptical about what they sees as the mainstreaming of the movement.\n\"I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend,\" says drummer and bandleader David Mooney.\n\"At first it was about changing the situation at hand, but now you have all these corporations saying they support black people but they're just hoping to gain more customers and more money.\"\n(From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC\nAnd though some Black Lives Matter leaders deny it, over the years there has sometimes been a disconnect between the organisation itself and young black men, a constituency they are fighting for, the band says.\n\"I think the initial inception of Black Lives Matter is what we believed in and what we were marching behind,\" says trumpeter Eric Jackson.\n\"It was really about police brutality and the effects of that on black people. But I think now it's a multilayered thing with feminism and LGBTQ and all these different things kind of coupled into it. I think there needs to be a little bit of refocusing.\"\n\"But Black Lives Matter as a message is one I still stand behind,\" he insists.\nWhy US protests are so powerful this time\nBlack Lives Matter in rural England\nYoung skater goes viral performing at Black Lives Matter Plaza\nProf Abdullah though is proud of how the organisation has also been deliberately intersectional, with many women and LGBT activists at its heart.\n\"Black Lives Matter has been very clear that we are a womanist movement. And that doesn't mean that we exclude men, in fact there are lots of strong male leaders,\" she says.\nShe says the organisation is also just as concerned about tangible change, and that results are already being seen, albeit limited.\n\"Over the past six years, overall the number of killings at the hands of police has remained relatively stable, and that is not a good thing,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\"However, what we are seeing is that in cities with strong Black Lives Matter chapters, the numbers have dropped dramatically, though this has been offset by increases elsewhere.\"\nShe says the gains have been achieved not by negotiating with police forces, which the organisation refuses to do, but by taking to the streets and making sure the police know they are being scrutinised.\nProf Abdullah says that Black Lives Matter is looking for much more, including the defunding and dismantling of the current police system in the US and its replacement with a new form of law enforcement, something for which it has received considerable criticism.\nReuters\nBlack Lives Matter protesters in London's Hyde Park\nBut while she says the organisation advocates one way of putting pressure on those in power, she is also supportive of chapters going their own way.\n\"One of the things that's really great is that we see new Black Lives Matter chapters, popping up all over the globe. They may not be official chapters, but people are stepping into their own calling.\"\nAdditional reporting by Eva Artesona and Rakarrah Finley","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-53273381#main-content)\n\n[Register](https:\/\/session.bbc.com\/session?action=register&userOrigin=BBCS_BBC&ptrt=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-53273381)\n\n[Sign In](https:\/\/session.bbc.com\/session?userOrigin=BBCS_BBC&ptrt=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-53273381)\n\n- [Home](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/)\n- [News](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news)\n- [Sport](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport)\n- [Business](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/business)\n- [Technology](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/technology)\n- [Health](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/health)\n- [Culture](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/culture)\n- [Arts](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/arts)\n- [Travel](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/travel)\n- [Earth](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future-planet)\n- [Audio](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/audio)\n- [Video](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/video)\n- [Live](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/live)\n\n- [Home](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/home)\n- [News](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news)\n  - [US & Canada](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/us-canada)\n  - [UK](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk)\n    - [UK Politics](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/politics)\n    - [England](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/england)\n    - [N. 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[Live Sport](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/live\/sport)\n\n[Home](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/)\n\nNews\n\n[Sport](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport)\n\nBusiness\n\nTechnology\n\n[Health](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/health)\n\nCulture\n\nArts\n\nTravel\n\nEarth\n\nAudio\n\nVideo\n\nLive\n\n[Weather](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/weather)\n\n[Newsletters](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/newsletters)\n\n# Black Lives Matter: From social media post to global movement\n9 July 2020\n\nShare\n\nSave\n\nAleem MaqboolBBC News\n\nShare\n\nSave\n\n'I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend'\n\n**A slogan chanted by tens of thousands around the world, Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, a network of grass-roots organisations, and a moral collective of activists.**\n\nBut how did it go from a social media post to a global phenomenon, and where does it go now?\n\nThe names most associated with Black Lives Matter are not its leaders but the victims who have drawn attention to the massive issues of racism this country grapples with: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, to name a few.\n\nThe movement can be traced back to 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida.\n\nThe 17-year-old had been returning from a shop after buying sweets and iced tea. Mr Zimmerman claimed the unarmed black teenager had looked suspicious.\n\nThere was outrage when he was found not guilty of murder, and a Facebook post entitled \"Black Lives Matter\" captured a mood and sparked action.\n\n![BLM LA chapter LA BLM protest](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/EF11\/production\/_113310216_acb5d4c3-5c90-4d45-b63c-96de916718b4.jpg.webp)BLM LA chapter\n\nAn early Black Lives Matter demonstration in Beverly Hills following the acquittal of Goerge Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin\n\n\"Seven years ago, we were called together. There were about 30 of us standing in the courtyard of this black artist community in Los Angeles, summoned by Patrisse Cullors, one of our co-founders and one of my dearest friends,\" says Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies in Los Angeles and co-founder of one of Black Lives Matters first \"chapters\".\n\n\"It was students … artists, organisers and mommas. We knew that it was part of our sacred duty to step up. And there was an audaciousness that we could transform the world, but we didn't have a plan for it,\" she laughs.\n\nIf calls for justice for Trayvon Martin lit the spark for Black Lives Matter, it was the death of Michael Brown a year later that really brought the movement to national attention.\n\nThe unarmed teenager had been shot dead by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri and Black Lives Matter took to the streets, often in angry confrontation with the police.\n\nBut the killing of George Floyd took the movement to areas it had not reached before.\n\nThis moment of national reckoning gives Ambassador Andrew Young, a legendary civil rights leader, a \"tremendous sense of pride\".\n\n\"Especially that they have remained overwhelmingly nonviolent,\" the 88-year-old says.\n\nFor years he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Rev Martin Luther King Jr, but very much as a civil rights leader in his own right.\n\nHe was later awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and served as US Ambassador to the United Nations.\n\n\"Of course it was very different back then. We had to go door-to-door, church-to-church,\" he says.\n\n\"When Dr King went to jail, only 55 people showed up,\" Ambassador Young remembers.\n\n![Getty Images Ambassador Andrew Young](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Getty Images\n\nAmbassador Andrew Young, seated to the right of Martin Luther King Jr with other civil rights leaders\n\nIn the 1960s, many of the key American civil rights figures were known the world over, but even someone as connected to the struggle for equality as Ambassador Young finds it hard to name contemporaries in the modern movement.\n\n\"Honestly, I don't know who Black Lives Matter is,\" he acknowledges.\n\n\"I don't know who the leaders are. In fact, I don't know that they even have any leaders. I think perhaps it's a spiritual, emotional movement created by implicit evils in our society that we have not been willing to face.\"\n\nThose who have been involved with Black Lives Matter since its embryonic stages say this decentralized approach is intentional.\n\n\"Group-centred leadership is in our guiding principles,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\n\"Leadership is not just about oratory, it's also about facilitation, planning, bringing arts to the movement, things that don't get as much recognition,\" she says.\n\nThe leadership in many Black Lives Matter chapters is also often female.\n\n\"Black women have always been at the heart of the black freedom struggle. Often times they have been painted over, and this time we are refusing to allow ourselves to be painted over,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\nThe guiding light for this doctrine, and for Black Lives Matter as a whole, she says, has been Ella Baker - the feminist civil rights leader who championed collective grassroots activism over activism focused on a single leader.\n\n\"We all study Ella Baker as one of the most brilliant organisers to have ever walked the face of this earth. She was clear that movements should be bigger than individuals.\"\n\n- [What black radio makes of this moment](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-53315102)\n- [How far have African Americans come since the 1960s?](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52992795)\n\nThough Black Lives Matter has evolved into this loose national and international umbrella network, the Black Lives Matter Global Network is registered in the US as a non-profit organisation, one that is now getting grants and pledges from foundations and corporations falling over themselves to ally themselves with the movement.\n\nChapters of Black Lives Matter have spread across the US and around the globe, with massive protests in the UK, Europe, and Canada.\n\nThe movement now includes many of diverse backgrounds, who had previously not felt connected to the cause.\n\n\"I think a lot of people in our town suddenly felt as white people we need to be really critical of ourselves and understand our role in this,\" says AJ Crocker, one of the organisers of a Black Lives Matter vigil in in Norwood, Colorado, a mostly white town of about 500 people located about six hours drive from the nearest international airport.\n\n![George Lewis Norwood, Colorado BLM vigil](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)George Lewis\n\nAround 50 people attend the Black Lives Matter vigil in the predominantly white town of Norwood, Colorado\n\nMs Crocker says the group is learning how they can combat racism in their own small community, such as campaigning for an official Spanish translator for the county.\n\nThey will also bring up Black Lives Matter as a discussion topic in the town council and are reading Ibram X Kendi's book \"How to be an Antiracist\" in the local book club.\n\n\"I actually really do appreciate that people are starting to educate themselves. There's a lot of literature out there that's pushing to educate our white counterparts on the issues that affect us and that's good,\" says Charles White, a keyboard player with Day Dream Sessions.\n\nThe band has been playing some of the songs that have become the soundtrack to the street demonstrations in Washington DC, including old protest anthems from Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke.\n\nBut Mr White and his bandmates are also sceptical about what they sees as the mainstreaming of the movement.\n\n\"I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend,\" says drummer and bandleader David Mooney.\n\n\"At first it was about changing the situation at hand, but now you have all these corporations saying they support black people but they're just hoping to gain more customers and more money.\"\n\n![(From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)\n\n(From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC\n\nAnd though some Black Lives Matter leaders deny it, over the years there has sometimes been a disconnect between the organisation itself and young black men, a constituency they are fighting for, the band says.\n\n\"I think the initial inception of Black Lives Matter is what we believed in and what we were marching behind,\" says trumpeter Eric Jackson.\n\n\"It was really about police brutality and the effects of that on black people. But I think now it's a multilayered thing with feminism and LGBTQ and all these different things kind of coupled into it. I think there needs to be a little bit of refocusing.\"\n\n\"But Black Lives Matter as a message is one I still stand behind,\" he insists.\n\n- [Why US protests are so powerful this time](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52969905)\n- [Black Lives Matter in rural England](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/av\/newsbeat-53283565\/black-lives-matter-in-rural-england)\n- [Young skater goes viral performing at Black Lives Matter Plaza](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/av\/world-us-canada-53199845\/young-skater-goes-viral-performing-at-black-lives-matter-plaza)\n\nProf Abdullah though is proud of how the organisation has also been deliberately intersectional, with many women and LGBT activists at its heart.\n\n\"Black Lives Matter has been very clear that we are a womanist movement. And that doesn't mean that we exclude men, in fact there are lots of strong male leaders,\" she says.\n\nShe says the organisation is also just as concerned about tangible change, and that results are already being seen, albeit limited.\n\n\"Over the past six years, overall the number of killings at the hands of police has remained relatively stable, and that is not a good thing,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\n\"However, what we are seeing is that in cities with strong Black Lives Matter chapters, the numbers have dropped dramatically, though this has been offset by increases elsewhere.\"\n\nShe says the gains have been achieved not by negotiating with police forces, which the organisation refuses to do, but by taking to the streets and making sure the police know they are being scrutinised.\n\nProf Abdullah says that Black Lives Matter is looking for much more, including the defunding and dismantling of the current police system in the US and its replacement with a new form of law enforcement, something for which it has received considerable criticism.\n\n![Reuters Black Lives Matter protesters in Hyde Park](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Reuters\n\nBlack Lives Matter protesters in London's Hyde Park\n\nBut while she says the organisation advocates one way of putting pressure on those in power, she is also supportive of chapters going their own way.\n\n\"One of the things that's really great is that we see new Black Lives Matter chapters, popping up all over the globe. They may not be official chapters, but people are stepping into their own calling.\"\n\n*Additional reporting by Eva Artesona and Rakarrah Finley*\n\n[Black Lives Matter protests held across England](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-england-53120735)\n\n[Black Lives Matter painted outside Trump Tower](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-53356431)\n\n[How do you replace a fallen statue?](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-52995404)\n\n[Defiant DC mayor names plaza 'Black Lives Matter'](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52941254)\n***\n- [Home](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/)\n- [News](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news)\n- [Sport](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport)\n- [Business](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/business)\n- [Technology](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/technology)\n- [Health](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/health)\n- [Culture](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/culture)\n- [Arts](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/arts)\n- [Travel](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/travel)\n- [Earth](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future-planet)\n- [Audio](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/audio)\n- [Video](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/video)\n- [Live](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/live)\n- [Weather](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/weather)\n- [BBC Shop](https:\/\/shop.bbc.com\/)\n- [BritBox](https:\/\/www.britbox.com\/?utm_source=bbc.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=footer)\n\nBBC in other languages\n\n### The BBC is in multiple languages\n#### Read the BBC In your own language\n[Oduu Afaan Oromootiin](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/afaanoromoo)\n\n[Amharic ዜና በአማርኛ](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/amharic)\n\n[Arabic عربي](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/arabic)\n\n[Azeri AZƏRBAYCAN](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/azeri)\n\n[Bangla বাংলা](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bengali)\n\n[Burmese မြန်မာ](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/burmese)\n\n[Chinese 中文网](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/zhongwen\/simp)\n\n[Dari دری](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/dari)\n\n[French AFRIQUE](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/afrique)\n\n[Hausa HAUSA](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/hausa)\n\n[Hindi हिन्दी](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/hindi)\n\n[Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/naidheachdan)\n\n[Gujarati ગુજરાતીમાં સમાચાર](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/gujarati)\n\n[Igbo AKỤKỌ N’IGBO](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/igbo)\n\n[Indonesian INDONESIA](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/indonesia)\n\n[Japanese 日本語](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/japanese)\n\n[Kinyarwanda GAHUZA](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/gahuza)\n\n[Kirundi KIRUNDI](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/gahuza)\n\n[Korean 한국어](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/korean)\n\n[Kyrgyz Кыргыз](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/kyrgyz)\n\n[Marathi मराठी](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/marathi)\n\n[Nepali नेपाली](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/nepali)\n\n[Noticias para hispanoparlantes](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/mundo)\n\n[Pashto پښتو](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/pashto)\n\n[Persian فارسی](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/persian)\n\n[Pidgin](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/pidgin)\n\n[Polish PO POLSKU](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/polska)\n\n[Portuguese BRASIL](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/portuguese)\n\n[Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/punjabi)\n\n[Russian НА РУССКОМ](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/russian)\n\n[Serbian NA SRPSKOM](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/serbian\/lat)\n\n[Sinhala සිංහල](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sinhala)\n\n[Somali SOMALI](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/somali)\n\n[Swahili HABARI KWA KISWAHILI](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/swahili)\n\n[Tamil தமிழில் செய்திகள்](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/tamil)\n\n[Telugu తెలుగు వార్తలు](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/telugu)\n\n[Thai ข่าวภาษาไทย](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/thai)\n\n[Tigrinya ዜና ብትግርኛ](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/tigrinya)\n\n[Turkish TÜRKÇE](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/turkce)\n\n[Ukrainian УКРАЇНСЬКA](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/ukrainian)\n\n[Urdu اردو](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/urdu)\n\n[Uzbek O'ZBEK](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/uzbek)\n\n[Vietnamese TIẾNG VIỆT](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/vietnamese)\n\n[Welsh NEWYDDION](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/cymrufyw)\n\n[Yoruba ÌRÒYÌN NÍ YORÙBÁ](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/yoruba)\n\nFollow BBC on:\n\n- [Terms of Use](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/pages\/terms-of-use)\n- [Subscription Terms](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/pages\/subscription-terms)\n- [About the BBC](https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/aboutthebbc)\n- [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/pages\/privacy-policy)\n- [Cookies](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/usingthebbc\/cookies\/)\n- [Accessibility Help](https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/accessibility\/)\n- [Contact the BBC](https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/contact)\n- [Advertise with us](https:\/\/advertising.bbcstudios.com\/)\n- [Do not share or sell my info](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/usingthebbc\/cookies\/how-can-i-change-my-bbc-cookie-settings\/)\n- [BBC.com Help & FAQs](https:\/\/help.bbc.com\/hc\/)\n- [Content Index](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/pages\/content-index)\n- [Set Preferred Source](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/future\/article\/20260128-how-to-make-google-put-trusted-sources-up-top-when-you-search)\n\nCopyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [**Read about our approach to external linking.**](https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/editorialguidelines\/guidance\/feeds-and-links)","attrs_readable_markdown":"9 July 2020\n\nAleem MaqboolBBC News\n\n'I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend'\n\n**A slogan chanted by tens of thousands around the world, Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, a network of grass-roots organisations, and a moral collective of activists.**\n\nBut how did it go from a social media post to a global phenomenon, and where does it go now?\n\nThe names most associated with Black Lives Matter are not its leaders but the victims who have drawn attention to the massive issues of racism this country grapples with: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, to name a few.\n\nThe movement can be traced back to 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida.\n\nThe 17-year-old had been returning from a shop after buying sweets and iced tea. Mr Zimmerman claimed the unarmed black teenager had looked suspicious.\n\nThere was outrage when he was found not guilty of murder, and a Facebook post entitled \"Black Lives Matter\" captured a mood and sparked action.\n\n![BLM LA chapter LA BLM protest](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/EF11\/production\/_113310216_acb5d4c3-5c90-4d45-b63c-96de916718b4.jpg.webp)BLM LA chapter\n\nAn early Black Lives Matter demonstration in Beverly Hills following the acquittal of Goerge Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin\n\n\"Seven years ago, we were called together. There were about 30 of us standing in the courtyard of this black artist community in Los Angeles, summoned by Patrisse Cullors, one of our co-founders and one of my dearest friends,\" says Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies in Los Angeles and co-founder of one of Black Lives Matters first \"chapters\".\n\n\"It was students … artists, organisers and mommas. We knew that it was part of our sacred duty to step up. And there was an audaciousness that we could transform the world, but we didn't have a plan for it,\" she laughs.\n\nIf calls for justice for Trayvon Martin lit the spark for Black Lives Matter, it was the death of Michael Brown a year later that really brought the movement to national attention.\n\nThe unarmed teenager had been shot dead by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri and Black Lives Matter took to the streets, often in angry confrontation with the police.\n\nBut the killing of George Floyd took the movement to areas it had not reached before.\n\nThis moment of national reckoning gives Ambassador Andrew Young, a legendary civil rights leader, a \"tremendous sense of pride\".\n\n\"Especially that they have remained overwhelmingly nonviolent,\" the 88-year-old says.\n\nFor years he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Rev Martin Luther King Jr, but very much as a civil rights leader in his own right.\n\nHe was later awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and served as US Ambassador to the United Nations.\n\n\"Of course it was very different back then. We had to go door-to-door, church-to-church,\" he says.\n\n\"When Dr King went to jail, only 55 people showed up,\" Ambassador Young remembers.\n\n![Getty Images Ambassador Andrew Young](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Getty Images\n\nAmbassador Andrew Young, seated to the right of Martin Luther King Jr with other civil rights leaders\n\nIn the 1960s, many of the key American civil rights figures were known the world over, but even someone as connected to the struggle for equality as Ambassador Young finds it hard to name contemporaries in the modern movement.\n\n\"Honestly, I don't know who Black Lives Matter is,\" he acknowledges.\n\n\"I don't know who the leaders are. In fact, I don't know that they even have any leaders. I think perhaps it's a spiritual, emotional movement created by implicit evils in our society that we have not been willing to face.\"\n\nThose who have been involved with Black Lives Matter since its embryonic stages say this decentralized approach is intentional.\n\n\"Group-centred leadership is in our guiding principles,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\n\"Leadership is not just about oratory, it's also about facilitation, planning, bringing arts to the movement, things that don't get as much recognition,\" she says.\n\nThe leadership in many Black Lives Matter chapters is also often female.\n\n\"Black women have always been at the heart of the black freedom struggle. Often times they have been painted over, and this time we are refusing to allow ourselves to be painted over,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\nThe guiding light for this doctrine, and for Black Lives Matter as a whole, she says, has been Ella Baker - the feminist civil rights leader who championed collective grassroots activism over activism focused on a single leader.\n\n\"We all study Ella Baker as one of the most brilliant organisers to have ever walked the face of this earth. She was clear that movements should be bigger than individuals.\"\n\n- [What black radio makes of this moment](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-53315102)\n- [How far have African Americans come since the 1960s?](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52992795)\n\nThough Black Lives Matter has evolved into this loose national and international umbrella network, the Black Lives Matter Global Network is registered in the US as a non-profit organisation, one that is now getting grants and pledges from foundations and corporations falling over themselves to ally themselves with the movement.\n\nChapters of Black Lives Matter have spread across the US and around the globe, with massive protests in the UK, Europe, and Canada.\n\nThe movement now includes many of diverse backgrounds, who had previously not felt connected to the cause.\n\n\"I think a lot of people in our town suddenly felt as white people we need to be really critical of ourselves and understand our role in this,\" says AJ Crocker, one of the organisers of a Black Lives Matter vigil in in Norwood, Colorado, a mostly white town of about 500 people located about six hours drive from the nearest international airport.\n\n![George Lewis Norwood, Colorado BLM vigil](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)George Lewis\n\nAround 50 people attend the Black Lives Matter vigil in the predominantly white town of Norwood, Colorado\n\nMs Crocker says the group is learning how they can combat racism in their own small community, such as campaigning for an official Spanish translator for the county.\n\nThey will also bring up Black Lives Matter as a discussion topic in the town council and are reading Ibram X Kendi's book \"How to be an Antiracist\" in the local book club.\n\n\"I actually really do appreciate that people are starting to educate themselves. There's a lot of literature out there that's pushing to educate our white counterparts on the issues that affect us and that's good,\" says Charles White, a keyboard player with Day Dream Sessions.\n\nThe band has been playing some of the songs that have become the soundtrack to the street demonstrations in Washington DC, including old protest anthems from Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke.\n\nBut Mr White and his bandmates are also sceptical about what they sees as the mainstreaming of the movement.\n\n\"I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend,\" says drummer and bandleader David Mooney.\n\n\"At first it was about changing the situation at hand, but now you have all these corporations saying they support black people but they're just hoping to gain more customers and more money.\"\n\n![(From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)\n\n(From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC\n\nAnd though some Black Lives Matter leaders deny it, over the years there has sometimes been a disconnect between the organisation itself and young black men, a constituency they are fighting for, the band says.\n\n\"I think the initial inception of Black Lives Matter is what we believed in and what we were marching behind,\" says trumpeter Eric Jackson.\n\n\"It was really about police brutality and the effects of that on black people. But I think now it's a multilayered thing with feminism and LGBTQ and all these different things kind of coupled into it. I think there needs to be a little bit of refocusing.\"\n\n\"But Black Lives Matter as a message is one I still stand behind,\" he insists.\n\n- [Why US protests are so powerful this time](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52969905)\n- [Black Lives Matter in rural England](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/av\/newsbeat-53283565\/black-lives-matter-in-rural-england)\n- [Young skater goes viral performing at Black Lives Matter Plaza](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/av\/world-us-canada-53199845\/young-skater-goes-viral-performing-at-black-lives-matter-plaza)\n\nProf Abdullah though is proud of how the organisation has also been deliberately intersectional, with many women and LGBT activists at its heart.\n\n\"Black Lives Matter has been very clear that we are a womanist movement. And that doesn't mean that we exclude men, in fact there are lots of strong male leaders,\" she says.\n\nShe says the organisation is also just as concerned about tangible change, and that results are already being seen, albeit limited.\n\n\"Over the past six years, overall the number of killings at the hands of police has remained relatively stable, and that is not a good thing,\" says Prof Abdullah.\n\n\"However, what we are seeing is that in cities with strong Black Lives Matter chapters, the numbers have dropped dramatically, though this has been offset by increases elsewhere.\"\n\nShe says the gains have been achieved not by negotiating with police forces, which the organisation refuses to do, but by taking to the streets and making sure the police know they are being scrutinised.\n\nProf Abdullah says that Black Lives Matter is looking for much more, including the defunding and dismantling of the current police system in the US and its replacement with a new form of law enforcement, something for which it has received considerable criticism.\n\n![Reuters Black Lives Matter protesters in Hyde Park](https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/images\/ic\/1024x1024\/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Reuters\n\nBlack Lives Matter protesters in London's Hyde Park\n\nBut while she says the organisation advocates one way of putting pressure on those in power, she is also supportive of chapters going their own way.\n\n\"One of the things that's really great is that we see new Black Lives Matter chapters, popping up all over the globe. They may not be official chapters, but people are stepping into their own calling.\"\n\n*Additional reporting by Eva Artesona and Rakarrah Finley*","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	Black Lives Matter: From social media post to global movement
Meta Description	Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, grass-roots organisations, and a collective of activists.
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Boilerpipe Text	9 July 2020 Aleem Maqbool BBC News 'I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend' A slogan chanted by tens of thousands around the world, Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, a network of grass-roots organisations, and a moral collective of activists. But how did it go from a social media post to a global phenomenon, and where does it go now? The names most associated with Black Lives Matter are not its leaders but the victims who have drawn attention to the massive issues of racism this country grapples with: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, to name a few. The movement can be traced back to 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida. The 17-year-old had been returning from a shop after buying sweets and iced tea. Mr Zimmerman claimed the unarmed black teenager had looked suspicious. There was outrage when he was found not guilty of murder, and a Facebook post entitled "Black Lives Matter" captured a mood and sparked action. BLM LA chapter An early Black Lives Matter demonstration in Beverly Hills following the acquittal of Goerge Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin "Seven years ago, we were called together. There were about 30 of us standing in the courtyard of this black artist community in Los Angeles, summoned by Patrisse Cullors, one of our co-founders and one of my dearest friends," says Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies in Los Angeles and co-founder of one of Black Lives Matters first "chapters". "It was students … artists, organisers and mommas. We knew that it was part of our sacred duty to step up. And there was an audaciousness that we could transform the world, but we didn't have a plan for it," she laughs. If calls for justice for Trayvon Martin lit the spark for Black Lives Matter, it was the death of Michael Brown a year later that really brought the movement to national attention. The unarmed teenager had been shot dead by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri and Black Lives Matter took to the streets, often in angry confrontation with the police. But the killing of George Floyd took the movement to areas it had not reached before. This moment of national reckoning gives Ambassador Andrew Young, a legendary civil rights leader, a "tremendous sense of pride". "Especially that they have remained overwhelmingly nonviolent," the 88-year-old says. For years he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Rev Martin Luther King Jr, but very much as a civil rights leader in his own right. He was later awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and served as US Ambassador to the United Nations. "Of course it was very different back then. We had to go door-to-door, church-to-church," he says. "When Dr King went to jail, only 55 people showed up," Ambassador Young remembers. Getty Images Ambassador Andrew Young, seated to the right of Martin Luther King Jr with other civil rights leaders In the 1960s, many of the key American civil rights figures were known the world over, but even someone as connected to the struggle for equality as Ambassador Young finds it hard to name contemporaries in the modern movement. "Honestly, I don't know who Black Lives Matter is," he acknowledges. "I don't know who the leaders are. In fact, I don't know that they even have any leaders. I think perhaps it's a spiritual, emotional movement created by implicit evils in our society that we have not been willing to face." Those who have been involved with Black Lives Matter since its embryonic stages say this decentralized approach is intentional. "Group-centred leadership is in our guiding principles," says Prof Abdullah. "Leadership is not just about oratory, it's also about facilitation, planning, bringing arts to the movement, things that don't get as much recognition," she says. The leadership in many Black Lives Matter chapters is also often female. "Black women have always been at the heart of the black freedom struggle. Often times they have been painted over, and this time we are refusing to allow ourselves to be painted over," says Prof Abdullah. The guiding light for this doctrine, and for Black Lives Matter as a whole, she says, has been Ella Baker - the feminist civil rights leader who championed collective grassroots activism over activism focused on a single leader. "We all study Ella Baker as one of the most brilliant organisers to have ever walked the face of this earth. She was clear that movements should be bigger than individuals." What black radio makes of this moment How far have African Americans come since the 1960s? Though Black Lives Matter has evolved into this loose national and international umbrella network, the Black Lives Matter Global Network is registered in the US as a non-profit organisation, one that is now getting grants and pledges from foundations and corporations falling over themselves to ally themselves with the movement. Chapters of Black Lives Matter have spread across the US and around the globe, with massive protests in the UK, Europe, and Canada. The movement now includes many of diverse backgrounds, who had previously not felt connected to the cause. "I think a lot of people in our town suddenly felt as white people we need to be really critical of ourselves and understand our role in this," says AJ Crocker, one of the organisers of a Black Lives Matter vigil in in Norwood, Colorado, a mostly white town of about 500 people located about six hours drive from the nearest international airport. George Lewis Around 50 people attend the Black Lives Matter vigil in the predominantly white town of Norwood, Colorado Ms Crocker says the group is learning how they can combat racism in their own small community, such as campaigning for an official Spanish translator for the county. They will also bring up Black Lives Matter as a discussion topic in the town council and are reading Ibram X Kendi's book "How to be an Antiracist" in the local book club. "I actually really do appreciate that people are starting to educate themselves. There's a lot of literature out there that's pushing to educate our white counterparts on the issues that affect us and that's good," says Charles White, a keyboard player with Day Dream Sessions. The band has been playing some of the songs that have become the soundtrack to the street demonstrations in Washington DC, including old protest anthems from Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. But Mr White and his bandmates are also sceptical about what they sees as the mainstreaming of the movement. "I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend," says drummer and bandleader David Mooney. "At first it was about changing the situation at hand, but now you have all these corporations saying they support black people but they're just hoping to gain more customers and more money." (From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC And though some Black Lives Matter leaders deny it, over the years there has sometimes been a disconnect between the organisation itself and young black men, a constituency they are fighting for, the band says. "I think the initial inception of Black Lives Matter is what we believed in and what we were marching behind," says trumpeter Eric Jackson. "It was really about police brutality and the effects of that on black people. But I think now it's a multilayered thing with feminism and LGBTQ and all these different things kind of coupled into it. I think there needs to be a little bit of refocusing." "But Black Lives Matter as a message is one I still stand behind," he insists. Why US protests are so powerful this time Black Lives Matter in rural England Young skater goes viral performing at Black Lives Matter Plaza Prof Abdullah though is proud of how the organisation has also been deliberately intersectional, with many women and LGBT activists at its heart. "Black Lives Matter has been very clear that we are a womanist movement. And that doesn't mean that we exclude men, in fact there are lots of strong male leaders," she says. She says the organisation is also just as concerned about tangible change, and that results are already being seen, albeit limited. "Over the past six years, overall the number of killings at the hands of police has remained relatively stable, and that is not a good thing," says Prof Abdullah. "However, what we are seeing is that in cities with strong Black Lives Matter chapters, the numbers have dropped dramatically, though this has been offset by increases elsewhere." She says the gains have been achieved not by negotiating with police forces, which the organisation refuses to do, but by taking to the streets and making sure the police know they are being scrutinised. Prof Abdullah says that Black Lives Matter is looking for much more, including the defunding and dismantling of the current police system in the US and its replacement with a new form of law enforcement, something for which it has received considerable criticism. Reuters Black Lives Matter protesters in London's Hyde Park But while she says the organisation advocates one way of putting pressure on those in power, she is also supportive of chapters going their own way. "One of the things that's really great is that we see new Black Lives Matter chapters, popping up all over the globe. They may not be official chapters, but people are stepping into their own calling." Additional reporting by Eva Artesona and Rakarrah Finley
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But how did it go from a social media post to a global phenomenon, and where does it go now? The names most associated with Black Lives Matter are not its leaders but the victims who have drawn attention to the massive issues of racism this country grapples with: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, to name a few. The movement can be traced back to 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida. The 17-year-old had been returning from a shop after buying sweets and iced tea. Mr Zimmerman claimed the unarmed black teenager had looked suspicious. There was outrage when he was found not guilty of murder, and a Facebook post entitled "Black Lives Matter" captured a mood and sparked action. ![BLM LA chapter LA BLM protest](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/EF11/production/_113310216_acb5d4c3-5c90-4d45-b63c-96de916718b4.jpg.webp)BLM LA chapter An early Black Lives Matter demonstration in Beverly Hills following the acquittal of Goerge Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin "Seven years ago, we were called together. There were about 30 of us standing in the courtyard of this black artist community in Los Angeles, summoned by Patrisse Cullors, one of our co-founders and one of my dearest friends," says Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies in Los Angeles and co-founder of one of Black Lives Matters first "chapters". "It was students … artists, organisers and mommas. We knew that it was part of our sacred duty to step up. And there was an audaciousness that we could transform the world, but we didn't have a plan for it," she laughs. If calls for justice for Trayvon Martin lit the spark for Black Lives Matter, it was the death of Michael Brown a year later that really brought the movement to national attention. The unarmed teenager had been shot dead by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri and Black Lives Matter took to the streets, often in angry confrontation with the police. But the killing of George Floyd took the movement to areas it had not reached before. This moment of national reckoning gives Ambassador Andrew Young, a legendary civil rights leader, a "tremendous sense of pride". "Especially that they have remained overwhelmingly nonviolent," the 88-year-old says. For years he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Rev Martin Luther King Jr, but very much as a civil rights leader in his own right. He was later awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and served as US Ambassador to the United Nations. "Of course it was very different back then. We had to go door-to-door, church-to-church," he says. "When Dr King went to jail, only 55 people showed up," Ambassador Young remembers. ![Getty Images Ambassador Andrew Young](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Getty Images Ambassador Andrew Young, seated to the right of Martin Luther King Jr with other civil rights leaders In the 1960s, many of the key American civil rights figures were known the world over, but even someone as connected to the struggle for equality as Ambassador Young finds it hard to name contemporaries in the modern movement. "Honestly, I don't know who Black Lives Matter is," he acknowledges. "I don't know who the leaders are. In fact, I don't know that they even have any leaders. I think perhaps it's a spiritual, emotional movement created by implicit evils in our society that we have not been willing to face." Those who have been involved with Black Lives Matter since its embryonic stages say this decentralized approach is intentional. "Group-centred leadership is in our guiding principles," says Prof Abdullah. "Leadership is not just about oratory, it's also about facilitation, planning, bringing arts to the movement, things that don't get as much recognition," she says. The leadership in many Black Lives Matter chapters is also often female. "Black women have always been at the heart of the black freedom struggle. Often times they have been painted over, and this time we are refusing to allow ourselves to be painted over," says Prof Abdullah. The guiding light for this doctrine, and for Black Lives Matter as a whole, she says, has been Ella Baker - the feminist civil rights leader who championed collective grassroots activism over activism focused on a single leader. "We all study Ella Baker as one of the most brilliant organisers to have ever walked the face of this earth. She was clear that movements should be bigger than individuals." - [What black radio makes of this moment](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53315102) - [How far have African Americans come since the 1960s?](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52992795) Though Black Lives Matter has evolved into this loose national and international umbrella network, the Black Lives Matter Global Network is registered in the US as a non-profit organisation, one that is now getting grants and pledges from foundations and corporations falling over themselves to ally themselves with the movement. Chapters of Black Lives Matter have spread across the US and around the globe, with massive protests in the UK, Europe, and Canada. The movement now includes many of diverse backgrounds, who had previously not felt connected to the cause. "I think a lot of people in our town suddenly felt as white people we need to be really critical of ourselves and understand our role in this," says AJ Crocker, one of the organisers of a Black Lives Matter vigil in in Norwood, Colorado, a mostly white town of about 500 people located about six hours drive from the nearest international airport. ![George Lewis Norwood, Colorado BLM vigil](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp)George Lewis Around 50 people attend the Black Lives Matter vigil in the predominantly white town of Norwood, Colorado Ms Crocker says the group is learning how they can combat racism in their own small community, such as campaigning for an official Spanish translator for the county. They will also bring up Black Lives Matter as a discussion topic in the town council and are reading Ibram X Kendi's book "How to be an Antiracist" in the local book club. "I actually really do appreciate that people are starting to educate themselves. There's a lot of literature out there that's pushing to educate our white counterparts on the issues that affect us and that's good," says Charles White, a keyboard player with Day Dream Sessions. The band has been playing some of the songs that have become the soundtrack to the street demonstrations in Washington DC, including old protest anthems from Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. But Mr White and his bandmates are also sceptical about what they sees as the mainstreaming of the movement. "I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend," says drummer and bandleader David Mooney. "At first it was about changing the situation at hand, but now you have all these corporations saying they support black people but they're just hoping to gain more customers and more money." ![(From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp) (From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC And though some Black Lives Matter leaders deny it, over the years there has sometimes been a disconnect between the organisation itself and young black men, a constituency they are fighting for, the band says. "I think the initial inception of Black Lives Matter is what we believed in and what we were marching behind," says trumpeter Eric Jackson. "It was really about police brutality and the effects of that on black people. But I think now it's a multilayered thing with feminism and LGBTQ and all these different things kind of coupled into it. I think there needs to be a little bit of refocusing." "But Black Lives Matter as a message is one I still stand behind," he insists. - [Why US protests are so powerful this time](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52969905) - [Black Lives Matter in rural England](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/newsbeat-53283565/black-lives-matter-in-rural-england) - [Young skater goes viral performing at Black Lives Matter Plaza](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-53199845/young-skater-goes-viral-performing-at-black-lives-matter-plaza) Prof Abdullah though is proud of how the organisation has also been deliberately intersectional, with many women and LGBT activists at its heart. "Black Lives Matter has been very clear that we are a womanist movement. And that doesn't mean that we exclude men, in fact there are lots of strong male leaders," she says. She says the organisation is also just as concerned about tangible change, and that results are already being seen, albeit limited. "Over the past six years, overall the number of killings at the hands of police has remained relatively stable, and that is not a good thing," says Prof Abdullah. "However, what we are seeing is that in cities with strong Black Lives Matter chapters, the numbers have dropped dramatically, though this has been offset by increases elsewhere." She says the gains have been achieved not by negotiating with police forces, which the organisation refuses to do, but by taking to the streets and making sure the police know they are being scrutinised. Prof Abdullah says that Black Lives Matter is looking for much more, including the defunding and dismantling of the current police system in the US and its replacement with a new form of law enforcement, something for which it has received considerable criticism. ![Reuters Black Lives Matter protesters in Hyde Park](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Reuters Black Lives Matter protesters in London's Hyde Park But while she says the organisation advocates one way of putting pressure on those in power, she is also supportive of chapters going their own way. "One of the things that's really great is that we see new Black Lives Matter chapters, popping up all over the globe. They may not be official chapters, but people are stepping into their own calling." Additional reporting by Eva Artesona and Rakarrah Finley [Black Lives Matter protests held across England](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-53120735) [Black Lives Matter painted outside Trump Tower](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53356431) [How do you replace a fallen statue?](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52995404) [Defiant DC mayor names plaza 'Black Lives Matter'](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52941254) * - [Home](https://www.bbc.com/) - [News](https://www.bbc.com/news) - [Sport](https://www.bbc.com/sport) - [Business](https://www.bbc.com/business) - [Technology](https://www.bbc.com/technology) - [Health](https://www.bbc.com/health) - [Culture](https://www.bbc.com/culture) - [Arts](https://www.bbc.com/arts) - [Travel](https://www.bbc.com/travel) - [Earth](https://www.bbc.com/future-planet) - [Audio](https://www.bbc.com/audio) - [Video](https://www.bbc.com/video) - [Live](https://www.bbc.com/live) - [Weather](https://www.bbc.com/weather) - [BBC Shop](https://shop.bbc.com/) - [BritBox](https://www.britbox.com/?utm_source=bbc.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=footer) BBC in other languages ### The BBC is in multiple languages #### Read the BBC In your own language [Oduu Afaan Oromootiin](https://www.bbc.com/afaanoromoo) [Amharic ዜና በአማርኛ](https://www.bbc.com/amharic) [Arabic عربي](https://www.bbc.com/arabic) [Azeri AZƏRBAYCAN](https://www.bbc.com/azeri) [Bangla বাংলা](https://www.bbc.com/bengali) [Burmese မြန်မာ](https://www.bbc.com/burmese) [Chinese 中文网](https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp) [Dari دری](https://www.bbc.com/dari) [French AFRIQUE](https://www.bbc.com/afrique) [Hausa HAUSA](https://www.bbc.com/hausa) [Hindi हिन्दी](https://www.bbc.com/hindi) [Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN](https://www.bbc.com/naidheachdan) [Gujarati ગુજરાતીમાં સમાચાર](https://www.bbc.com/gujarati) [Igbo AKỤKỌ N’IGBO](https://www.bbc.com/igbo) [Indonesian INDONESIA](https://www.bbc.com/indonesia) [Japanese 日本語](https://www.bbc.com/japanese) [Kinyarwanda GAHUZA](https://www.bbc.com/gahuza) [Kirundi KIRUNDI](https://www.bbc.com/gahuza) [Korean 한국어](https://www.bbc.com/korean) [Kyrgyz Кыргыз](https://www.bbc.com/kyrgyz) [Marathi मराठी](https://www.bbc.com/marathi) [Nepali नेपाली](https://www.bbc.com/nepali) [Noticias para hispanoparlantes](https://www.bbc.com/mundo) [Pashto پښتو](https://www.bbc.com/pashto) [Persian فارسی](https://www.bbc.com/persian) [Pidgin](https://www.bbc.com/pidgin) [Polish PO POLSKU](https://www.bbc.com/polska) [Portuguese BRASIL](https://www.bbc.com/portuguese) [Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ](https://www.bbc.com/punjabi) [Russian НА РУССКОМ](https://www.bbc.com/russian) [Serbian NA SRPSKOM](https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat) [Sinhala සිංහල](https://www.bbc.com/sinhala) [Somali SOMALI](https://www.bbc.com/somali) [Swahili HABARI KWA KISWAHILI](https://www.bbc.com/swahili) [Tamil தமிழில் செய்திகள்](https://www.bbc.com/tamil) [Telugu తెలుగు వార్తలు](https://www.bbc.com/telugu) [Thai ข่าวภาษาไทย](https://www.bbc.com/thai) [Tigrinya ዜና ብትግርኛ](https://www.bbc.com/tigrinya) [Turkish TÜRKÇE](https://www.bbc.com/turkce) [Ukrainian УКРАЇНСЬКA](https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian) [Urdu اردو](https://www.bbc.com/urdu) [Uzbek O'ZBEK](https://www.bbc.com/uzbek) [Vietnamese TIẾNG VIỆT](https://www.bbc.com/vietnamese) [Welsh NEWYDDION](https://www.bbc.com/cymrufyw) [Yoruba ÌRÒYÌN NÍ YORÙBÁ](https://www.bbc.com/yoruba) Follow BBC on: - [Terms of Use](https://www.bbc.com/pages/terms-of-use) - [Subscription Terms](https://www.bbc.com/pages/subscription-terms) - [About the BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.bbc.com/pages/privacy-policy) - [Cookies](https://www.bbc.com/usingthebbc/cookies/) - [Accessibility Help](https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/) - [Contact the BBC](https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact) - [Advertise with us](https://advertising.bbcstudios.com/) - [Do not share or sell my info](https://www.bbc.com/usingthebbc/cookies/how-can-i-change-my-bbc-cookie-settings/) - [BBC.com Help & FAQs](https://help.bbc.com/hc/) - [Content Index](https://www.bbc.com/pages/content-index) - [Set Preferred Source](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260128-how-to-make-google-put-trusted-sources-up-top-when-you-search) Copyright 2026 BBC. 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Readable Markdown	9 July 2020 Aleem MaqboolBBC News 'I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend' A slogan chanted by tens of thousands around the world, Black Lives Matter has sparked a hashtag, a network of grass-roots organisations, and a moral collective of activists. But how did it go from a social media post to a global phenomenon, and where does it go now? The names most associated with Black Lives Matter are not its leaders but the victims who have drawn attention to the massive issues of racism this country grapples with: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, to name a few. The movement can be traced back to 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Florida. The 17-year-old had been returning from a shop after buying sweets and iced tea. Mr Zimmerman claimed the unarmed black teenager had looked suspicious. There was outrage when he was found not guilty of murder, and a Facebook post entitled "Black Lives Matter" captured a mood and sparked action. ![BLM LA chapter LA BLM protest](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/EF11/production/_113310216_acb5d4c3-5c90-4d45-b63c-96de916718b4.jpg.webp)BLM LA chapter An early Black Lives Matter demonstration in Beverly Hills following the acquittal of Goerge Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin "Seven years ago, we were called together. There were about 30 of us standing in the courtyard of this black artist community in Los Angeles, summoned by Patrisse Cullors, one of our co-founders and one of my dearest friends," says Melina Abdullah, a professor of Pan African Studies in Los Angeles and co-founder of one of Black Lives Matters first "chapters". "It was students … artists, organisers and mommas. We knew that it was part of our sacred duty to step up. And there was an audaciousness that we could transform the world, but we didn't have a plan for it," she laughs. If calls for justice for Trayvon Martin lit the spark for Black Lives Matter, it was the death of Michael Brown a year later that really brought the movement to national attention. The unarmed teenager had been shot dead by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri and Black Lives Matter took to the streets, often in angry confrontation with the police. But the killing of George Floyd took the movement to areas it had not reached before. This moment of national reckoning gives Ambassador Andrew Young, a legendary civil rights leader, a "tremendous sense of pride". "Especially that they have remained overwhelmingly nonviolent," the 88-year-old says. For years he marched shoulder-to-shoulder with Rev Martin Luther King Jr, but very much as a civil rights leader in his own right. He was later awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and served as US Ambassador to the United Nations. "Of course it was very different back then. We had to go door-to-door, church-to-church," he says. "When Dr King went to jail, only 55 people showed up," Ambassador Young remembers. ![Getty Images Ambassador Andrew Young](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Getty Images Ambassador Andrew Young, seated to the right of Martin Luther King Jr with other civil rights leaders In the 1960s, many of the key American civil rights figures were known the world over, but even someone as connected to the struggle for equality as Ambassador Young finds it hard to name contemporaries in the modern movement. "Honestly, I don't know who Black Lives Matter is," he acknowledges. "I don't know who the leaders are. In fact, I don't know that they even have any leaders. I think perhaps it's a spiritual, emotional movement created by implicit evils in our society that we have not been willing to face." Those who have been involved with Black Lives Matter since its embryonic stages say this decentralized approach is intentional. "Group-centred leadership is in our guiding principles," says Prof Abdullah. "Leadership is not just about oratory, it's also about facilitation, planning, bringing arts to the movement, things that don't get as much recognition," she says. The leadership in many Black Lives Matter chapters is also often female. "Black women have always been at the heart of the black freedom struggle. Often times they have been painted over, and this time we are refusing to allow ourselves to be painted over," says Prof Abdullah. The guiding light for this doctrine, and for Black Lives Matter as a whole, she says, has been Ella Baker - the feminist civil rights leader who championed collective grassroots activism over activism focused on a single leader. "We all study Ella Baker as one of the most brilliant organisers to have ever walked the face of this earth. She was clear that movements should be bigger than individuals." - [What black radio makes of this moment](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53315102) - [How far have African Americans come since the 1960s?](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52992795) Though Black Lives Matter has evolved into this loose national and international umbrella network, the Black Lives Matter Global Network is registered in the US as a non-profit organisation, one that is now getting grants and pledges from foundations and corporations falling over themselves to ally themselves with the movement. Chapters of Black Lives Matter have spread across the US and around the globe, with massive protests in the UK, Europe, and Canada. The movement now includes many of diverse backgrounds, who had previously not felt connected to the cause. "I think a lot of people in our town suddenly felt as white people we need to be really critical of ourselves and understand our role in this," says AJ Crocker, one of the organisers of a Black Lives Matter vigil in in Norwood, Colorado, a mostly white town of about 500 people located about six hours drive from the nearest international airport. ![George Lewis Norwood, Colorado BLM vigil](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp)George Lewis Around 50 people attend the Black Lives Matter vigil in the predominantly white town of Norwood, Colorado Ms Crocker says the group is learning how they can combat racism in their own small community, such as campaigning for an official Spanish translator for the county. They will also bring up Black Lives Matter as a discussion topic in the town council and are reading Ibram X Kendi's book "How to be an Antiracist" in the local book club. "I actually really do appreciate that people are starting to educate themselves. There's a lot of literature out there that's pushing to educate our white counterparts on the issues that affect us and that's good," says Charles White, a keyboard player with Day Dream Sessions. The band has been playing some of the songs that have become the soundtrack to the street demonstrations in Washington DC, including old protest anthems from Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. But Mr White and his bandmates are also sceptical about what they sees as the mainstreaming of the movement. "I feel like Black Lives Matter has become a trend," says drummer and bandleader David Mooney. "At first it was about changing the situation at hand, but now you have all these corporations saying they support black people but they're just hoping to gain more customers and more money." ![(From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp) (From left to right) Eric Jackson, David Mooney, Charles White perform as Day Dream Sessions during Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC And though some Black Lives Matter leaders deny it, over the years there has sometimes been a disconnect between the organisation itself and young black men, a constituency they are fighting for, the band says. "I think the initial inception of Black Lives Matter is what we believed in and what we were marching behind," says trumpeter Eric Jackson. "It was really about police brutality and the effects of that on black people. But I think now it's a multilayered thing with feminism and LGBTQ and all these different things kind of coupled into it. I think there needs to be a little bit of refocusing." "But Black Lives Matter as a message is one I still stand behind," he insists. - [Why US protests are so powerful this time](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52969905) - [Black Lives Matter in rural England](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/newsbeat-53283565/black-lives-matter-in-rural-england) - [Young skater goes viral performing at Black Lives Matter Plaza](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-53199845/young-skater-goes-viral-performing-at-black-lives-matter-plaza) Prof Abdullah though is proud of how the organisation has also been deliberately intersectional, with many women and LGBT activists at its heart. "Black Lives Matter has been very clear that we are a womanist movement. And that doesn't mean that we exclude men, in fact there are lots of strong male leaders," she says. She says the organisation is also just as concerned about tangible change, and that results are already being seen, albeit limited. "Over the past six years, overall the number of killings at the hands of police has remained relatively stable, and that is not a good thing," says Prof Abdullah. "However, what we are seeing is that in cities with strong Black Lives Matter chapters, the numbers have dropped dramatically, though this has been offset by increases elsewhere." She says the gains have been achieved not by negotiating with police forces, which the organisation refuses to do, but by taking to the streets and making sure the police know they are being scrutinised. Prof Abdullah says that Black Lives Matter is looking for much more, including the defunding and dismantling of the current police system in the US and its replacement with a new form of law enforcement, something for which it has received considerable criticism. ![Reuters Black Lives Matter protesters in Hyde Park](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/1024x1024/p0hq72jn.png.webp)Reuters Black Lives Matter protesters in London's Hyde Park But while she says the organisation advocates one way of putting pressure on those in power, she is also supportive of chapters going their own way. "One of the things that's really great is that we see new Black Lives Matter chapters, popping up all over the globe. They may not be official chapters, but people are stepping into their own calling." Additional reporting by Eva Artesona and Rakarrah Finley
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