Introduction #BlackLivesMatter started out as a hashtag on social media. It was originally created and shared by three black women—Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi—who were longtime social justice activists and organizers. Garza inspired it by posting an anguished “Love Letter to Black People” on Facebook in 2012, after learning that a Florida jury had acquitted neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Anger and frustration over Martin’s death and Zimmerman’s acquittal led to grassroots organizing and protest actions in various cities across the country. “Many of us were tired and disturbed by the lack of recog- nition towards the killings of black people by vigilantes and law enforcement,” Cullors recalled. “We were tired of it not leading the news. We were tired of it not being a part of the conversation around racial justice. We were like, ‘What are we going to do next? What’s the strategy?’ ”1 Concern about the issue of police violence against black people continued to simmer beneath the surface until 2014, when it exploded into the national consciousness following a spate of police-involved deaths of unarmed black men. Eric Garner died on July 17 after being restrained in an illegal choke hold by New York Police Department
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