10 years later: How Black Lives Matter has evolved
- Movement began after shooting death of Trayvon Martin
- Pew Research Center: 44 million #BlackLivesMatter tweets from 2013-23
- The hashtag reached its peak after George Floyd's murder
Protesters march on Sunset Boulevard during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd in Hollywood, California on June 2, 2020. – Anti-racism protests have put several US cities under curfew to suppress rioting, following the death of George Floyd in police custody. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — It’s been 10 years since the Black Lives Matter movement was formed.
The movement began following outrage over George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
The verdict inspired a Facebook post written by Alicia Garza, a hashtag created by Patrisse Cullors and a social media strategy spearheaded by Ayo Tometi — and the result was Black Lives Matter, a movement to combat racism and racial violence against Black communities.
Many of the same demonstrators incensed by Martin’s killing took to the streets to protest the death of Michael Brown, 18 and unarmed, killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, just weeks after Eric Garner, also unarmed, was killed by police in New York City.
Activists used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter to discuss racism, violence and the criminal justice system
Pew Research Center analysis of publicly available tweets from July 2013 through March 2023 found that more than 44 million #BlackLivesMatter tweets from nearly 10 million distinct users currently exist on Twitter today.
Pew found that the use of the hashtag has fluctuated over the years. The hashtag reached its peak after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
