MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Wednesday, July 13th, marked the anniversary of #BlackLivesMatter.
In 2013, three Black Women, — Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi — created a Black-centered political will and a movement-building project called Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter began with the social media hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting and death of Trayvon Martin.
Outraged and saddened that Zimmerman was acquitted, Garza posted a message on Facebook on July 13, 2013. Her post contained the phrase "Black lives matter," which soon became a rallying cry and a movement throughout the United States and around the world.
Garza said she felt "a deep sense of grief" after Zimmerman was acquitted. She was further saddened to note that many people appeared to blame the victim, Trayvon Martin, and not the "disease" of racism.
Patrice Cullors, a Los Angeles community organizer and friend of Garza, read her post and replied with the first instance of #BlackLivesMatter.
The movement grew nationally in 2014 after the deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York.
Since then, it has become a worldwide movement, particularly after the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, MN.
Nine years later—Black Lives Matter is a global organization with local chapters. The Memphis chapter originated in 2015.
The Official Black Lives Matter Memphis Chapter Co-Founder, Briana Perry, said Black Lives Matter is more than just rallying and protesting.
"BLM has such a profound effect on how people thought about organizing and what demands we can make and how we can be very proud and unapologetic," she said.
In Memphis, the group is continuously changing lives. Perry said the local chapter is actually best known for its bail work.
"We were the first group in Tennessee to take on that charge of bailing out black mommas on Mother's Day and providing support and services to them," Perry said.
So while we may not see BLM chanting in the streets every day, Perry said the Memphis chapter, which is made up of more than 40 members is fighting every day to create a better Memphis.
"We are doing this work for black folks, for black folks in Memphis," she said.
Since 2013, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has been used millions of times in support of the movement. The hashtag had been used roughly 47.8 million times on Twitter as of 2022, Pew Research reported.