#BLM (2) ‘Freedom Ride to Ferguson’ August 2014

BLM’s ‘Freedom Ride to Ferguson’ August 2014   

#BLM began as an electronic “love note to black people” (Garza) in response to the death of Trayvon Martin in February 2012, becoming action group BLM, rallying at the acquittal of George Zimmerman in July 2013.

The year following ‘BLM’s Freedom Ride to Ferguson’ in response to the death of Michael Brown in August 2014 and the acquittal of his killer Darren Wilson in November, a massive 780 protests were registered on the BLM Protest Database. [1] This was the explosive, momentum-building response to the “demand and call to action” Garza recognised at BLM’s inception. In ‘Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement’, Angela Davis sees Ferguson as “a worldwide symbol of resistance” and acknowledges as essential, collective international involvement in successful movements of the past. These 780 markers indexing the movement’s primary focus on black death at the hands of the police in the USA, record resistance to instances of Blue on Black violence, and map the development of BLM from consciousness hashtag to international social justice movement.

Ranked only 57^th for number of tweets connected to Ferguson, but crowd funded, 500 people from 18 states took BLM’s ‘Freedom Bus to Ferguson’. This protest, their wheels of history turning, referencing the anti Jim Crow segregation protests of the 1960’s interstate Freedom Rides, rode in New Freedom Riders to support local organisers. The Ferguson uprising created new hashtags/slogans, old/new linked causes (such as Mass Incarceration) and all actions publicised and umbrellaed by BLM. A year later #BLM had become the second most used hashtag in connection with continuing events in Ferguson and is still top three associated with Ferguson today.

An opinion piece in The Guardian on September 4^th, 2014 ‘5 ways to never forget Ferguson – and deliver real justice for Michael Brown’ Moore and Cullors list BLM’s clear objectives. ‘The Freedom Ride to Ferguson’ like the uprising itself was “a tangible example of self-determination in the face of anti-black violence” As protest, it was endorsed by a dozen social justice groups such as the National Organization for Women (Now) and Race Forward. BLM’s intention to “help develop a network…to form a national policy specifically aimed at redressing the systemic pattern of anti-black law enforcement violence in the US” mirrored the transformative call for change of Ferguson protestors.

Since then, rates of protest have lowered as BLM “makes the transition from street protest to policy.” (Washington Post) Local Chapters are focussing on supporting vulnerable groups “building bridges between movements…caught in the crosshairs of Trump.” (Garza) The identity of a movement emerges through linked chains of events and an idea of linked fate. Garza states “Our futures are tied to each other.” The many organised/spontaneous worldwide solidarity actions since highlight the need to collect and act. Mass movement momentum is assured when interest groups recognise these ties and support each other.

In September 2014, before the acquittal of Wilson, Moore and Cullors warned “We have to move out of our myopic understanding of local organizing and build a national and international movement that prioritizes all black life.”  BLM recently joined ‘The Majority’, fifty organisations/groups working for social justice, and continues to initiate action and umbrella organisation/s. Its open house platform, a digital presence of empathetic inclusivity, invites recognition and belonging, continuously building solidarity. 

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Bibliography

Rashawn Ray, Melissa Brown, Neil Fraistat & Edward Summers (2017) Ferguson and the death of Michael Brown on Twitter: #BlackLivesMatter, #TCOT, and the evolution of collective identities, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40:11, 1797-1813, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2017.1335422  https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1335422

Jelani Ince, Fabio Rojas & Clayton A. Davis ‘The social media response to Black Lives Matter: how Twitter users interact with Black Lives Matter through hashtag use.’ Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 40, 2017 - Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1335422

Moore and Cullors ‘5 ways to never forget Ferguson – and deliver real justice for Michael Brown’ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/04/never-forget-ferguson-justice-for-michael-brown

Angela Davis ‘Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement’ [Online] Available at:  https://www.docdroid.net/rfDRFWv/freedom-is-a-constant-struggle.pdf

Alicia Garza, Wahington Post https://www.telesurenglish.net//english/news/Black-Lives-Matter-Changes-Tactics-from-Street-Protests-to-Policy-in-Trump-Era-20170506-0012.html and https://www.telesurenglish.net//english/news/Black-Lives-Matter-Changes-Tactics-from-Street-Protests-to-Policy-in-Trump-Era-20170506-0012.html

John Brothers Modern-Day “Freedom Riders” Mobilize to Build Voice from Ferguson, September 9, 2014 https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2014/09/09/modern-day-freedom-riders-mobilize-to-build-voice-from-ferguson/

Wesley Lowery https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/17/black-lives-matter-birth-of-a-movement  Wesley Lowery They Can't Kill Us All: The Story of Black Lives Matter

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[1] https://elephrame.com/textbook/BLM At least 2,564 Black Lives Matter protests and other demonstrations have been held in the past 1,561 days

[2] Michelle Alexander ‘The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 2010