Black Lives Matter

noun

: a movement founded in 2013 to end white supremacy and support Black communities

Note: Black Lives Matter was founded by Black community organizers Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi after George Zimmerman was acquitted of charges relating to his fatal shooting of Black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012; the movement expanded as people reacted to police killings of unarmed Black people in years following. The name Black Lives Matter functions as a declaration that Black people's lives have as much value as white people's lives, and as a call to end systems and practices that challenge this fact.

—abbreviation BLM

Examples of Black Lives Matter in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The deadly shooting of 23-year-old Christopher DeAndre Mitchell sparked months of Black Lives Matter protests at the Torrance City Council meetings, calling for accountability against law enforcement officials. —Chelsea Hylton, CBS News, 21 Nov. 2025

Result: Three days of protests that put us at the center of the Black Lives Matter movement. —Theoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 20 Nov. 2025

Trump has frequently accused opponents of treason or sedition, previously deeming the Black Lives Matter movement, former President Barack Obama, former FBI Director James Comey, other FBI officials, and the news media as guilty of the crimes. —Bloomberg, Mercury News, 20 Nov. 2025

Walmart has removed a T-shirt from its online marketplace and cut ties with the third-party seller responsible, after a social media post ignited widespread backlash over its imagery, which some critics interpreted as a racist reference to the Black Lives Matter movement. —Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2014, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Black Lives Matter

• antimatter
• atter
• batter
• blatter
• catarrh
• chatter
• clatter
• fatter
• flatter
• hatter
• latter
• natter