Whether or not you call it Black Lives Matter, whether or not you put a hashtag in front of it, whether or not you call it the Movement for Black Lives, all of that is irrelevant. Because there was resistance before Black Lives Matter, and there will be resistance after Black Lives Matter.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that the fight for racial justice predates and will continue after the Black Lives Matter movement, highlighting the ongoing nature of resistance against oppression.
Alicia Garza's quote speaks to the enduring struggle for racial justice and the fact that activism has existed long before the Black Lives Matter movement and will persist long after. The emphasis on the continuity of resistance challenges the notion that social movements are temporary or defined solely by their names or hashtags. Instead, it suggests that the fight for justice is a long-term endeavor that transcends individual movements.
In practice
During a discussion on social movements, one could express: 'As Alicia Garza said, resistance existed before and will continue after Black Lives Matter.'
What we've seen is an attempt by mainstream politics and politicians to co-opt movements that galvanize people in order for them to move closer to their own goals and objectives. We don't think that playing a corrupt game is going to bring change and make black lives matter.
I think that there are real concerns that we have around whose life is important and why. So if the official story is, for example, somebody was running from the police, does their life matter?
There has to be a readjustment of resources that is being diverted to police and policing as opposed to community health services, and there certainly has to be control over the police by the communities that they are supposed to protect and serve.
We need to make sure that we have an honest, honest conversation and that we engage honest practices around how racism operates in this country. It's not just about people being mean to each other.
Coming out of the 2016 election, there was a few things that became really clear. One, that black people deserve to have vehicles that represent the breadth of our interests. Two, that we really need to do a better job of being able to communicate what conditions and experiences our communities are facing.
As you keep pulling back the layers of how deeply rooted anti-blackness and white supremacy are in this country, it is exhausting, and it is traumatizing.
No man should think himself a zero, and think he can do nothing about the state of the world.
Weapons of war have no place on our streets.
If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time.
Between social reforms and revolution there exists for the social democracy an indissoluble tie. The struggle for reforms is its means; the social revolution, its aim.
The invisible is only another unexplored country, a brave new world.
The life you have led doesn't need to be the only life you have.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.