Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Visits UAB for Black History Month
UAB hosted a discussion with one of the founders of the social justice movement Black Lives Matter Monday evening. While the event was scheduled around Black History Month, the conversation was focused in the present.
The auditorium at UAB’s new Hill Student center was packed with young and old, black and white. They came to hear Opal Tometi talk about Black Lives Matter. Tometi is one of the three women who founded Black Lives Matter back in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was accused in the shooting death in Florida of African-American teen Trayvon Martin.
For Black Lives Matter, Tometi says, race is integral to the movement for social change.
“If we’re not able to grapple with and name the actual issues and the fact that anti-blackness was leading to our death, then we are going to continue to find ourselves do this thing every 100 years, every 50 years,” Tometi argues.
Tometi’s visit was part of UAB’s Black History Month festivities. Black Lives Matter, Tometi says, is part of the broader historic movement for social and economic justice for all people of color. While the group is best known for staging protests against police brutality, Tometi says, Black Lives Matter is concerned with immigrant justice issues, women’s rights, and LGBTQ issues.
A young white student in the audience asked what he could do to support his black friends. Tometi told him he has to act.
“You don’t have every 28 hours black people dying, being gunned down and get to be neutral. You don’t get a choice,” Tometi said. “When we have the highest unemployment rates, you don’t get a choice. You don’t get a choice when 2.3 million people are locked up, and one million of them are black. You don’t get a choice. You are either with the movement, or you’re not.”
Black Lives Matter began in 2013, when one of the founders wrote a Facebook post in response to the killing of Trayvon Martin. The post ended with the line, “Our lives matter. Black Lives Matter,” which turned into a popular hashtag. The group has more than 30 chapters across the U.S.
US launches new retaliatory strike in Syria, killing leader tied to deadly Islamic State ambush
A third round of retaliatory strikes by the U.S. in Syria has resulted in the death of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated leader, said U.S. Central Command.
NASA rolls out Artemis II craft ahead of crewed lunar orbit
Mission Artemis plans to send Americans to the moon for the first time since the Nixon administration.
Trump says 8 EU countries to be charged 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland
In a post on social media, Trump said a 10% tariff will take effect on Feb. 1, and will climb to 25% on June 1 if a deal is not in place for the United States to purchase Greenland.
‘Not for sale’: massive protest in Copenhagen against Trump’s desire to acquire Greenland
Thousands of people rallied in Copenhagen to push back on President Trump's rhetoric that the U.S. should acquire Greenland.
Uganda’s longtime leader declared winner in disputed vote
Museveni claims victory in Uganda's contested election as opposition leader Bobi Wine goes into hiding amid chaos, violence and accusations of fraud.
Opinion: Remembering Ai, a remarkably intelligent chimpanzee
We remember Ai, a highly intelligent chimpanzee who lived at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University for most of her life, except the time she escaped and walked around campus.
