Alicia Garza

Alicia Garza is an organizer, innovator, writer, and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement. Garza’s name will go down in American history as being one of the three women, alongside Patrisse Cullors and Ayọ Tometi, who conceived of and popularized the slogan #BlackLivesMatter nearly 10 years ago in response to Trayvon Martin’s 2013 killing and the subsequent acquittal of his murderer, George Zimmerman. After that acquittal Garza wrote a Facebook post she called “a love letter to Black people”. Her friend Patrisse Cullors shared the post with the hashtag BlackLivesMatter, and that hashtag has gone on to frame the 2014 Ferguson uprising, and the record-breaking racial justice uprisings of 2020.

The movement Garza co-created- Black Lives Matter, has the virtuous goals of bring justice, healing, and freedom to Black people across the globe by addressing systemic racism and violence against Black people. The Black Lives Matter movement has gained global recognition and catalyzed social change, but Garza is not interested in being the face of the movement she helped to create. Rather, she sees Black Lives Matter as movement that belongs to the people – one that supports the development of new Black leaders, and provides a network where Black people feel empowered to determine their own destinies.

Garza frames her approach to racial justice within Black futurist visions—she refers to the month of February as Black Futures Month rather than Black History Month. According to her, “Black communities have always been futurists.” What that means is, “Because of the way that the rules have been rigged against our communities, we’ve been forced to imagine a new future with possibilities for freedom.”

She earned her place in history—notable, since too many black women have been little more than a footnote in civil rights textbooks. She brought the necessary ‘street heat’ to drive change and hold elected officials accountable, the movement she helped create, is the civil and human rights struggle of our time. — Congresswoman Barbara Lee

  • The Purpose of Power

    The Purpose of Power, by Alicia Garza. An essential guide to building the type of movements that can address the challenges of our time, from one of the country’s leading organizers — one of the creators of #BlackLivesMatter.

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  • Black Lives Matter

    #BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. 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.

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  • How to achieve REAL change | BookTube

    Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Global Network, author of “The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart”, and Principal at Black Futures Lab, fields questions from YouTube Creators Team2Moms, NayaReadsAndSmiles, Bowties & Books, and FunForLois. They discuss politics, gender, and how we got to where we are in terms of race – and where we need to go from here.

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