Black lives matter first became a campaign after the unfortunate death of Trayvon Martin. In 2013, Trayvon was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, he was only 17 years old. The black lives matter hashtag was beginning to be used, as we watched more and more black lives being taken away. BLM became the phrase of a human rights campaign group. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives (Black lives matter 2021). Following Trayvon’s unfortunate death, thousands of people took part in protests and spoke out on social media, to raise awarness of the situation.
The image above is of a man named George Floyd. George sadly lost his life after being arrested, then pinned down to the floor with a police officers knee, where he could not breathe. George repeatedly told the officers he could not breathe; footage evidently shows over 20 times George had told them this. Derek Chauvin along with 3 other officers was at the scene, not one single officer helped him. The footage shows bystanders shouting at the officers, telling them to stop. The footage is extremely heartbreaking to watch and George loses his life due to the suffocation of the officer’s knee on his head. This devastating event is what caused the huge attention to the black lives matter phrase.
One of the top online fashion retailers, Pretty little thing, was one of the many brands to speak out about Black lives matter, alongside other large brands such as Boohoo and missguided. PLT showed their feelings of care and love towards the campaign by sharing this image of 2 people holding hands. However, shortly after sharing the illustration, the company’s social media followers pointed out the issue with the “jet black hand colour” and accused the retailer of “misrepresentation”.“I know y’all had a shade of brown for that hand,” one person tweeted (Ritschel 2020). A lot of people found the image inappropriate and demanded it to be removed, or for them to change the colour of the black hand and reupload it to social media. It was clear a lot of people were offended by the image. In honour of the BLM campaign, PLT has released a collection with the celebrity Saweetie, where the proceeds will go to the BLM campaign. PLT on their website wrote, “PrettyLittleThing understand how important it is to speak up, step up and take action. We are committed to implementing positive change and giving a voice to our community. Therefore, we will be donating all proceeds from this collection to Black Lives Matter. Because we know, we’re always stronger, together”. This has set a great example to other fashion brands, to show that all businesses can find a way of doing their part to help.
Unfortunately, as amazing as the black lives matter campaign is, there will be people who disagree and backlash no matter what you promote. In response to the BLM phrase, some people have been using the phrase “all lives matter”, in retaliation to the movement. Although there is nothing immediately wrong with that phrase, below the surface it is seen as a very problematic statement. “Nobody involved in the Black Lives Matter movement is saying that only black lives matter, or that all lives don’t matter, or that white lives don’t matter. The issue is that is white lives have always seemed to matter more,” Shaka Hislop explained. “What Black Lives Matter as a movement is saying is that all those lives matter equally. Black lives have to matter just as much as everybody else’s”, (BBC 2020). It is a huge shame that the world can not just agree with one thing and that is equality and being against discrimination.
- References
- BBC Newsround, 2020. Anti-racism: What does the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ mean?. [image] Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/53149076> [Accessed 6 May 2021].
- BBC, 2020. George Floyd: What happened in the final moments of his life. [image] Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52861726> [Accessed 6 May 2021].
- Independent, 2017. Black Lives Matter movement awarded Sydney Peace Prize. [image] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/black-lives-matter-awarded-sydney-peace-prize-a7759031.html> [Accessed 6 May 2021].
- Independent, 2020. PRETTY LITTLE THING SPARKS BACKLASH WITH ‘INAPPROPRIATE’ ILLUSTRATION OF ‘JET BLACK HAND’. [image] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/pretty-little-thing-hand-twitter-racism-skin-colour-minneapolis-protests-a9539456.html> [Accessed 6 May 2021].