The Importance Of The Black Lives Matter Movement

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Black Lives Matter is a movement founded by Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors in response to the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, at the hands of a police officer. Black Lives Matter focuses on the importance of the lives of black people, particularly black men who are the constant target of police brutality in the United States. Other movements began as a response to Black Lives Matter such as the All Lives Matter movement. The focus of this movement was to combat the exclusive focus on the importance of black lives, claiming it marginalized the importance of other people’s lives. Movements such as All Lives Matter are not only unnecessary, but also harmful to the mission of movements like Black Lives Matter, highlighting the necessity for a …show more content…

The slaves were not afforded the luxury the white people enjoyed that was the universal belief that one’s life has value simply because they are human; the white oppressors did not see the enslaved Africans as humans, therefore they did not afford them the inherent value bestowed upon human life. The practices conducted aboard the slave ships coincided with the believe that the Africans were nothing but cargo or livestock. Hine describes the practice of “tight packing” writing, “most captains were “tight packers,” who would squeeze human beings together in hope that large numbers would offset increased deaths.” She continues in a subsequent passage claiming, “one third of the Africans subjected to the trade perished between their capture and their embarkation on a slave ship” (Hine, 2012). There is no clearer indication that the white slavers felt the lives of the enslaved Africans were worthless than the blatant disregard for slave mortality aboard the ships. The captors attempted to keep the enslaved alive simply in order to receive monetary recompense, however, Hine’s describes slavers as being exceptionally cruel to enslaved Africans aboard ships despite the possible monetary consequences. Finally, Hine describes how the amount of value placed on an enslaved African’s life and health was directly proportional to the amount of money that slave was worth, when describing the experience of women aboard slave ships. Hine writes, “because the women were less valuable commodities, crew members felt they had license to abuse them sexually” (Hine, 2012). This passage describes how different enslaved Africans faced different amounts of cruelty and abuse based on the assumed price this person was worth. Not only were all the enslaved black people seen as less than human, some people were

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