![]() One of the defining aspects of 2020’s protest movement was its sheer diversity. Using her expert coding skills as a so-called “hacktivist,” she’s created web apps and automatic email templates to help people more seamlessly lobby for change, helping mobilize thousands of her followers in calling for racial justice. She began opening up about the racism she’d experienced as a Black teenager in Fargo, North Dakota – urging her audience of 2.6 million to understand the devastating realities of inequality.Īcross the country in Santa Clarita, California, Sofia Ongele, 20, was also employing TikTok to help her peers understand the Black Lives Matter movement. But watching the video of George Floyd’s death changed everything. ![]() Prior to the summer of 2020, TikTok influencer Jackie James, 17, said she had never felt the need to post about politics or social justice. With its growing influence over young people across the globe, the TikTok app became a particularly unlikely yet massive tool for activism and education. One fundamental difference between 2020’s protest movement and others that have come before has been the increasingly sophisticated presence of social media. Nearly a decade later, she’s become one of the most well-known activists in the Black Lives Matter movement and a member of the so-called Louisville 87.Īfter being arrested at a sit-in on the lawn of the Kentucky attorney general and fearing for her life in jail, she said she felt further emboldened to continue loudly and unapologetically spreading her message for justice. Armed with a bag of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea – which Trayvon was carrying when he was killed nearly nine years ago – and wearing a hoodie with the message “Do I Look Suspicious?” written on the back, Kiazolu said she understood at an early age the mere act of existing while Black could be deadly. Nupol Kiazolu, 20, is one of these women, a self-described member of the “Trayvon Martin Generation.”Īs a sixth grader, she led a silent protest at her middle school. Over generations in America, the movement for civil rights and racial progress has been carried and organized by legions of dedicated Black women.Īfter the killing of Breonna Taylor by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in March 2020, it was largely the work of Black women that brought the case nationwide attention, as they took to the streets imploring as many people as possible to “say her name.” In a matter of days, Minneapolis became the epicenter of a reinvigorated Black Lives Matter movement.Ĭity Council member Jeremiah Ellison, 31, an artist turned politician, said he saw the crisis as an opportunity to reimagine public safety while actively listening to the concerns of constituents who felt victimized by an increasingly militarized system of policing.įor many residents, anger toward the status quo boiled over into what Kandace Montgomery, 30, founder of the Black Visions collective in Minneapolis, calls “righteous rage.” As calls for equitable change are being rooted in reinvestment toward housing, education and health care, Ellison said he hopes Minneapolis can serve as an example for cities around the country. ![]() This single incident on May 25, 2020, would soon reverberate around the world. The world watched in horror as former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against the neck of George Floyd for 9 minutes, 29 seconds – killing him while knowingly being filmed in front of horrified bystanders. These proud voices are inspiring hope, building community and breaking barriers. In the midst of a deadly pandemic and historic levels of unemployment, people from all walks of life took to the streets to protest the deaths of Black citizens by police.įrom George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, to Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and many others before them – countless names in recent memory have been transformed into hashtags, human representations of a public safety system that time and time again has shown brutality and indifference toward Black lives.īut in the process of turning that devastating pain of untimely death into a purposeful rallying cry to “say their names,” millions of peaceful and passionate voices have banded together in solidarity to demand a better society. Summer 2020 saw a paradigm shift in America’s ongoing struggle for racial justice. They are young, fearless and ready to rebuild the system. George Floyd’s death reignited the BLM movement and inspired a new generation of activists.
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