The origin of the movement and its future
Injustice, social inequality, racial discrimination, and police brutality are the roots of the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The BLM movement aims to be a political and ideological intervention in a society where black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. Its main goal is to rebuild the Black liberation movement. (Siscoe,2016)[1]
[1] Siscoe, Tanika, “#BlackLivesMatter: This Generation’s Civil Rights Movement” (2016). University Honors Theses. Paper 237
George Floyds’ Death was the culminant point leading to the 2020 worldwide protest and the revival of the movement.
Few months later, although some efforts were made in society the result seems to be not quite there yet ……
What now???
Protesting to demand social justice and equality, in almost all aspects of the society day to day life is legitimate.
Even though, some celebrities and activists such as Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Reynolds expressed this year, that there is missing leadership to clarify and unify the demands and map out the steps for these changes to be a reality. (Blount,2016)[1]
We must agree that these protests led to the prosecution of the main police officer allegedly responsible of the death of George Floyd.
[1] Lina,Blount, “#has blacks lives matter had impact. www.morningcenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons” (2016)
However, is that enough to resolve the injustice and inequality that black people are still going through?
It is undeniable that the protests were crucial to make the voices of the black community heard.
Nonetheless, there is a reason to believe that when it comes to build a liberation movement several aspects should be considered.
Some of the most important aspects to be considered in this movement in our perspective are: Unity in the Leadership and Economic Freedom
Section 1: unity in the leadership as well as within the community
The errors from the past should be learnt, whereby influential and prominent leaders like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, have fought wholeheartedly for civil human rights, but after their assassination the impact of the movements were slowed down.
This has shown that, the leadership was great but the system supporting the movement did not have solid foundations.
A new strategy needs to be put in place, and the black community needs to join forces, in all aspects of this movement to truly see a change.
The change must come first from within the community in terms of structuration, organisation, education, communication before we see that change impacting the whole world.
Section 2: Economic freedom
Economic freedom is defined as the ability of one entity to control his/her own labour, property, production, consumption, capital, and investment.
Ideally a free economic system should reduce inequality for all without exception, allowing equal access to opportunities and credit.
It should also allow freedom of investment without government intervention.
However, in practice there is close to zero economies that can be qualified as a perfect free economy, because most governments intervene in the regulations trade, and economic policies.
What does free economy mean for the black community?
Economic freedom in a community means setting your own standards, creating jobs, producing, manufacturing, distributing, owning lands, farms, and natural resources.
Most importantly the idea of the free economy intends to create wealth managed by the community, that will lead to a decrease in poverty, increase in employment and better access to credit.
A decrease in poverty should have a positive impact on social lives, such as decrease in delinquency, better quality of life and a decrease in crime.
As it stands the efforts of the black elites or celebrities is very isolated, therefore could not be a base of an economic powerhouse for the black community.
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS NEEDED FOR THE BLACK COMMUNITY TO BUILD A POWERFUL ECONOMY?
