What is Black Lives Matter 2.0?
From June 26, to July 22, 2020, the largest protest movement in U.S. history took control of America’s streets. From Honolulu to Miami, more than 15 million demonstrators delivered a stunning condemnation of George Floyd’s execution by Minneapolis police and the criminal justice system writ large.
The scale of protests shattered America’s unwritten social compact with the nation’s white majority, sanctioning the technology of state violence and terror deployed against Black bodies as a national security measure. It also disrupted the equilibrium of the Black Lives Matter movement conceived in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors. Black Lives Matter’s fiery resurrection gave rise to BLM 2.0.—The Next Iteration.
The spontaneous revolt turned global tidal wave was led by a new cohort of Black millennials--the self-ascribed vision holders of a new society in which centuries of the carceral state’s war on Black flesh would finally be dismantled.
Having concluded that a decisive shift within the Black Liberation Movement had occurred in the condensed space of three weeks, New Black Nationalists initiated the George Floyd Memorial Project, to provide ongoing mapping, analysis, and support of BLM 2.0. Sustaining and expanding this historic eruption of Black activism is a pivotal strategic political consideration to strengthen and reposition the Darker Nation and its allies for the turbulent days that lie ahead.
The BLM 2.0 rising also unleashed a wave of international protests that swept across all six continents. In countless European capitals, the streets of Uganda, the favelas of Brazil, the public squares of the Caribbean, the jungles and savannahs of West Papua and Australia, Black people rallied to the standard to Black Lives Matter.
The BLM 2.0 contagion reenergized the Black diaspora in ways unforeseen. To test the proposition that this diasporic moment can be transformed into a new current of global Black consciousness, New Black Nationalism.com developed a second initiative to explore the creation of a New Black Diaspora Movement as part of the George Floyd Memorial Project. A separate paper will be release in September to launch this initiative.
Returning then to the essence of the qualitative leap marking the emergence of the BLM 2.0 movement in America’s settler state, we have identified the following constitutive elements of its development.
The capstone of BLM 2.0 begins by acknowledging Black activists and BLM have decisively won the argument. After more than a century and a half since Black Reconstruction, it is now the majority consensus view that law enforcement and the U.S. criminal justice system is driven by anti-Black institutionalized racism.
This new consensus resulted from George Floyd’s bone chilling assassination which lanced the consciousness of a substantial number of white’s who could no longer be countenance such a racially motivated murderous enterprise. In hundreds of counties across America that were 75 percent white, millions of protesters took to the streets, braving the threats of COVID-19 and teargas alike to register their indictment.
Second, the social indictment of U.S. law enforcement and its carceral system unbolted the floodgates of a racial reckoning with the legacy of white supremacy. Racist, white supremists and pro-Confederate Civil War symbols from streets, buildings and sports teams being renamed to statues being removed from public spaces, history is being corrected in real time.
Third, local, state and federal legislation to reforms concerning a plethora of criminal justice reforms are being debated and enacted across the country. Dozens of cities and states have already adopted reform measures advocated by Black Lives Matter activists, including 13 municipalities that have made substantial cuts to police department funding.
Fourth, at the same time that unprecedented reforms are being enacted, the character of the Black Lives Matter 2.0 is growing increasingly militant and confrontational in its opposition to the ruling class and the state’s oppressive apparatus.
The cumulative impact of the murders of Trayford Pellerin, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the shooting of Jacob Blake have led to the rapid growth of armed Black militias and predominantly young white anarchists joining Black Lives Matter in the streets. Increasingly, demonstrations directly targeting and wreaking havoc on police precincts, city halls, and courthouses, not to mention the pitched battles in streets with police and National Guard units. This is a most significant development and departure from the BLM 1.0 experience.
Finally, the explosive growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, has moved beyond any modicum of organizational control by the leadership of the original formation led by Garza, Tometi, and Cullors. The same can be said of the Movement for Black Lives. From its inception, BLM was always conceived as a radically decentralized enterprise. And while the “organization” had its maverick local chapters and dissenting independents, the leadership triad exercised a great deal of influence and resources.
For the moment, in BLM 2.0 scores dozens of BLM chapters are springing up across the country, although the Cullors-led Black Lives Matter group only list 13 chapters, and three of those are in Canada. In the three most contentious cities of BLM activity, (Portland, Louisville, and Kenosha) none of the local affiliates are “official” BLM chapters.
People can debate whether that’s a good or bad thing. New Black Nationalists have expressed our views on BLM’s history of decentralized leadership in other documents. The point being made here is that BLM’s political orientation depends on where you live and what forces are leading your local effort. In the 2.0 era, the emerging leadership of BLM’s newer or reconstituted “chapters” are growing increasingly radical and autonomous, while the legacy center is becoming more mainstream and closely tied to the Democratic Party.
As it should be, matters of revolt versus reform are being hotly debated within BLM 2.0’s ranks. It should be. Reform versus revolt debates are not precursors to a split in the movement. Movement’s should be diverse and accommodate wide ranging debate and disagreement on the path forward, while the efforts keeps moving in the same general direction.
As New Black Nationalist, we support the Black Lives Matter Movement 2.0 in all its diverse manifestations, here and globally. That’s why we have formed the George Floyd Memorial Project to map and support its growth by generating analytical products that explore its development and challenges. We welcome you to join us in this effort.
August 29, 2020
Statement From the Frontlines of BLM It is Time for Accountability
November 30, 2020
It was recently declared that Patrisse Cullors was appointed the Executive Director to the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLMGN) Foundation. Since then, two new Black Lives Matter formations have been announced to the public: a Black Lives Matter Political Action Committee, and BLM Grassroots. BLM Grassroots was allegedly created to support the organizational needs of chapters, separate from the financial functions of BLMGN.
We, the undersigned chapters, believe that all of these events occurred without democracy, and assert that it was without the knowledge of the majority of Black Lives Matters chapters across the country and world.
BLM Global Network Foundation, BLM Grassroots, and BLM PAC Response to Frontline Statement
December 10, 2020
We will be releasing our annual report outlining the financial activities of the foundation, and we are in compliance with all legal requirements.
In 2013, #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) began as a hashtag and online community. We expanded into the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a fiscally sponsored organization, in 2015. Our organization has supported the largest social movement in the world. Due to the significant growth experienced over the last 7 years, BLM affiliated chapters are now under the BLM Grassroots umbrella, a separate entity that provides official chapters with the flexibility needed to engage in rapid response work, grassroots power building, and transformative justice grounded in abolitionist principals, which are at the core of our movement. This group houses our movements’ organizing work so that BLMGNF can remain a fundraising body, amplifier, and action-oriented think tank for Black-led organizations.
Black Lives Matter Nov. 7, 2020 Letter
To President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris
Congratulations on your election to the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States. Like so many, we are relieved that the Trump era in government is coming to a close. As we celebrate his electoral demise, we also know that his political exit does not ensure an end to the intolerable conditions faced by
Black people in America.