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
Nick McMillan, NPR, 3 Mar. 2025
This comes as police killings have also long raised concerns from the public, most notably leading to massive Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in 2020 following the death of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of his murder.
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 2 Mar. 2025
This became particularly apparent as early as the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.
—Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 1 Mar. 2025
The coffee company grew quickly thanks to its national distribution in major retailers like Target, which Cezar says worked to diversify its store suppliers long before 2020 and the Black Lives Matter movement.
—Linh Ta, Axios, 28 Feb. 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 9 Mar. 2025.
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