Black Lives Matter
noun
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 BLMExamples of Black Lives Matter in a Sentence
Paul Du Quenoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2025
The doc comes five years after Floyd was murdered by a white police officer, which was the catalyst for the Black Lives Matter protests of summer 2020.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 27 Mar. 2025
Its history is deeply connected to the city’s media landscape and its efforts to promote social change, from the Civil Rights era of the 1960s to the Black Lives Matter movement in recent years.
—J.m. Banks, Kansas City Star, 27 Mar. 2025
But the store qualified for a PPP loan and also received a $5,000 grant from the city of La Mesa when the shop’s sign was damaged after violence, fire and vandalism broke out May 30, 2020, following a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the city.
—Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Black Lives Matter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Black%20Lives%20Matter. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025.
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