Making All Black Lives Matter

In Barbara Ransby’s Making All Black Lives Matter, the emerging Black Lives Matter movement is discussed in depth and analyzed from the roots of the movement. The murder of Trayvon Martin is what started this movement when three black activists started the hashtag on social media “#BlackLivesMatter” following the shooting. Trayvon’s murder is discussed in chapter two of the book, “An overly zealous community patrol volunteer, Zimmerman saw a young Black man wearing a hoodie sweatshirt and assumed the worst.” (29) Zimmerman shooting Martin, and claiming self defense during the trial was able to get off with no charges pressed against him. When the chapter states that Zimmerman assumed the worst, this points out the fact that race is the only thing that was focused on when the two came into contact. Following the shooting, multiple protests broke out including the “Million Hoodies Movement” where people came together to focus on the obvious flaws of our world. These activists wanted justice and wanted all black lives to matter. What struck me the most in this chapter was when they were discussing Hillary Clinton. She is reported to make comments with a racist undertone and is said to have “expressed regret” later on, but in that moment she still said it and to an audience of people not even realizing the impact that this would have. Following this passage, the narrative about Black men and Black women is described.


“While there is a particular aspect of this narrative that stereotypes young Black men and boys as potentially violent criminals deserving of cages and condemnation, there is a parallel set of stereotypes that has been applied to young black women and girls, portraying them as irresponsible and sexually promiscuous.” (33)  
This stereotype is what murdered Trayvon Martin and many other innocent Black lives around the world without any justice being served. The term violence and sexually promiscuous haunts Black women and men and surround them in every aspect of life when being analyzed in the judicial system, in the education system, and in their communities.

Comments

  1. TaylorMay 6, 2019 at 2:41 PM

    I agree with your statement that the terms violence sexual promiscuity are often associated with Black women and men. As we have discussed in earlier works, the topic of Black bodies and their precarity is at the forefront of the Black freedom struggle. Your post led me to think back to a segment we did earlier this semester on Kendrick Lamar's song "Good Kid" with the following lyrics:
    I know you heard this and probably in fear
    But what am I 'posed to do when the blinking' of red and blue
    Flash from the top of your roof and your dog has to say woof
    And you ask: "Lift up your shirt," because you wonder if a tattoo
    Of affiliation can make it a pleasure to put me through
    Gang files, but that don't matter because the matter is racial profile
    I heard 'em chatter: "He's prob'ly young, but I know that he's down
    Step on his neck as hard as your bullet-proof vest". This idea of a long held history of fear of Black bodies being at risk due to interactions with law enforcement. As we discussed earlier this semester, being Black in America is to always be at risk of having your body taken. In connecting it to the current readings of the Black Lives Matter Movement, I believe that the continued breeding of injustice and vulnerability of Black bodies can be linked to what you have discussed concerning Ransby’s reading, as well as what we have learned from the Combahee River Collective with Black feminism.

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