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
Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker, 26 Jan. 2025
Corporate America adopted many DEI goals in response to the Black Lives Matter protests that followed Floyd's death.
—Gordon G. Chang, Newsweek, 24 Jan. 2025
The vote was seen as an early test of investor views about the value of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, which many companies added or beefed up starting in 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
—Reuters, CNN, 24 Jan. 2025
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds previously apologized for having their wedding at Boone Hall, a former plantation, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, on September 9, 2012 amid the Black Lives Matter protests.
—Caroline Bell, StyleCaster, 23 Jan. 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 31 Jan. 2025.
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