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

Social-justice movements such as the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter owe some of the success of their early organizing efforts to the platform. —Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 5 Nov. 2024

From Cultural Wins to Moderation The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the implicit support for it among Democratic institutions was among the defining features of America's culture wars in the Trump era. —Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2024

The game show also called out everyone who has put away their Black Lives Matter signs. —Bethy Squires, Vulture, 4 Nov. 2024

After George Floyd was killed in 2020, one of those door-knockers, Desiree Weber, helped lead a Black Lives Matter protest at the intersection of Liberty and Market Streets. —David Litt, TIME, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

2014, in the meaning defined above