Movement for Black Lives

The movement's platform, published in August 2016, entitled A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom and Justice, has six demands:[12][13]

1. End the war on black people.
2. Reparations for past and continuing harms.
3. Divestment from the institutions that criminalize, cage and harm black people; and investment in the education, health and safety of black people.
4. Economic justice for all and a reconstruction of the economy to ensure our communities have collective ownership, not merely access.
5. Community control of the laws, institutions and policies that most impact us.
6. Independent black political power and black self-determination in all areas of society.

M4BL believes that reparations are a possible and credible goal, precedented by reparations paid to African-American farmers in 2012.[14]

Shortly after the movement published its platform in 2016, 50 organizations had registered their support. One major endeavor was the establishment by philanthropic organization Borealis Philanthropy of the Black-Led Movement Fund (BLMF). Designed to support the work of M4BL, the BLMF is both a pooled donor fund aiming to bring $100 million to the movement, and an initiative aimed at helping the movement build organizational capacity.[15]

On July 24, 2015, individuals from across the country gathered at Cleveland State University in response to incidents of police brutality against the African-American community. Specifically, the deaths of individuals such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice sparked a need for the conference among the African-American community. During the three day conference (July 24–26), activists participated in discussions, viewed short films, and engaged in workshops designed to mobilize individuals seeking to find solutions to the problems that black communities face. The Cleveland State University convention is considered the first major gathering of the Movement for Black Lives, with more than 1,500 individuals attended the conference. Subsequently, activists from the convention embarked on a mission to establish the official Movement for Black Lives organization, as well as establish a policy platform that could guide activists from around the country in their fight to end police brutality and discrimination against blacks within the United States.[6][7][16]

The conference gained even more national media attention when, on the last day of the convention, a Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) officer maced a crowd of primarily African-American activists just blocks away from Cleveland State University. The crowd had gathered in response to an RTA officer's detention of an African-American teen for intoxication. According to authorities, the teenager was unable to "care for himself" due to his level of intoxication, and thus the authorities thought it was necessary to take him into custody. During the teenager's detention a crowd gathered around the police cruiser to protest the detention of the teen; in order to clear the crowd from the path of the police cruiser, "a Transit Police officer used a general burst of pepper spray" directed toward the activists. The incident drew criticism as interest groups, such as the ACLU of Ohio, believed "the use of pepper spray by law enforcement as a means of crowd control is questionable."[17][18][19]

Athletes across American professional sports have demonstrated their support for the movement through various demonstrations and protests. In 2016, professional football player Colin Kaepernick elected to kneel during the playing of the national anthem at an NFL football game. During post-game interviews, Kaepernick explained, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color."[20] Kaepernick and other NFL player activists received intense criticism for their pre-game protests throughout the 2016 season, including criticism from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who said, "Would I arrest them for doing it? No... I think it's dumb and disrespectful."[21] Although Kaepernick's protest received mixed criticism, it unequivocally brought increased salience to the discussion around of black lives within the United States.[22]

Players from other American professional sports, such as the National Basketball Association, have also participated in demonstrations to support the Movement for Black Lives. In 2016, professional basketball players LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony took center-stage at the ESPY's to deliver a "call to action" in response to the shootings of both Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, as well as the deaths of five police officers that were slain earlier that month. The four NBA stars saw it as an opportunity to bring individuals on both sides of the Movement for Black Lives together. Former Miami Heat shooting guard, Dwyane Wade, stated, "Racial profiling has to stop... but also the retaliation has to stop. Enough is enough." The group further encouraged Americans to "renounce all violence," and instead, focus their efforts on rebuilding the divided communities within America.[23][24][25]

On July 20, 2020, the Movement for Black Lives was one of 60 organizations, including several dozen trade unions, that organized the Strike for Black Lives. As part of the ongoing George Floyd protests and the larger Black Lives Matter movement, the strike consisted of a nationwide walkout involving thousands of workers protesting for racial and economic justice.[26]