Introduction
Black Lives Matter started operating as a platform advocating for the protection of black lives from police brutality. As a hashtag, the BLM has created allyship across all races standing for anti-black racism. The article, "How Public Opinion has Moved on Black Lives Matter," by Nate Cohn and Kevin Quealy talks about how BLM has managed to gain support more than it had in the past two years. According to the authors, the movement has attracted the majority of American voters in a 17-point margin. The article, "Police Officers of Color Feel Conflicted amid Anti-Police Brutality Protest Movement," is written by Lisa Mullins and Khari Thompson and explains the black law enforcement officers' discomfort of the anger directed to the police. The BLM that began through advocating for protection of black lives has gained popularity among the Americans through anti-police brutality protests and social media.
Use on Social Media
Although the BLM had earlier been used on social media, the movement became stronger during the recent protests on police killing black people. According to Cohn & Quealy, "Public opinion on race and criminal justice issues has been steadily moving left since the first protests ignited over the fatal shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown" (2020). This entails that the support towards BLM started gaining popularity because of the police involvement in shooting innocent black people. This support highly increased with people singing "No justice, no peace" across the streets. Therefore, although the BLM existed before, its origins and support have been enhanced by the protests witnessed in the recent killings of black people by the police. The majority of the people have been involved in the conversation on race and criminal justice in the country.
The Killing of George Floyd
The killing of George Floyd became a significant factor in the BLM, gaining support from all races. Cohn & Quealy notes that the protests that were witnessed after the death of George Floyd resulted in the increase in support of the BLM movement from the American voters by a 28-point margin from the previous 17-point margin (2020). This means that the death of Floyd was a turning point for the BLM movement. Most of the American now agrees with the primary arguments of the BLM movement. This is supported by the poll conducted by Monmouth University after the killing of Floyd, which established that 76 percent of people in America agree that racism is a problem in the country. Therefore, Floyd's death that resulted in the increased anti-police brutality has been significant in the gaining popularity of the BLM movement.
The media is also a major contributor to the BLM gaining support from people. Cohn & Quealy explains that "News events can sometimes cause a shift in public opinion that quickly dissipates" (2020). This means that the media has a huge role in influencing the public towards supporting or opposing the BLM movement. The news coverage of Floyd's death was highly covered in the media, with the coverage of the police kneeling on the neck of the victim circulating across social media. This was an influential factor for the people across the races to support protests on anti-police brutality. If the social media had aborted circulating such information, people's reaction would have been different. Without information or video coverage on what happened, most people would not be aware of the intensity of the matter.
While the anti-police brutality protests were influential in the BLM, gaining support from most people, most reforms like defunding police advocating in the protests are not popular among other people. According to Mullins & Thompson, police officers of color, including Boston Police Sergeant Eddy Chrispin, feel that "defunding the police is not going to fix all these problems" (2020). This means that many other things have to be fixed in the policing system; for the brutality to come to an end. Therefore, the demand for police defunding articulated by the BLM is unpopular, especially to those who believe in the police's service. This is because defunding the police will mostly affect how the operations in the security matters will be run, which can lead to the suffering of people because of insecurity. However, the demand for defunding of police is an indication that the public has lost its trust in the police service. Therefore, it is a challenge for the law enforcement sector to develop solutions, including ending racially enhanced police brutality.
Conclusion
In conclusion, BLM began as a platform for the Americans to advocate for an end to police brutality, mostly affecting black people. The movement's popularity has been enhanced by the anti-police brutality protests and social media, which has attracted people into joining the movement's demands. Articulating for the police's reformation, the BLM would not have been popular without the people who showed up in support for the movement after the death of George Floyd. Although some of its demands, like defunding the police, might be unpopular; their existence is an indication of citizens’ loss of popularity and trust among the police. This means that the law enforcement sector has a role in ensuring that public and the police can work together.
