Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer's Enduring Message to America by Keisha N. Blain

Author:Keisha N. Blain [Blain, Keisha N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: political science, Civil Rights, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, American, African American & Black Studies, history, women
ISBN: 9780807061503
Google: lGlBEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 2021-10-05T00:12:09.459523+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

AN EXPANSIVE VISION OF FREEDOM

I tell people I don’t want no equal rights any more. I’m fightin’ for human rights.

—FANNIE LOU HAMER1

On July 12, 2016, Nigerian American activist Opal Tometi delivered a speech before the United Nations General Assembly. Only three years prior, Tometi had joined forces with queer activists Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors to launch Black Lives Matter (BLM), a global movement to end state-sanctioned violence. What began as a hashtag on social media following the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer evolved into a protest movement that shook the nation to its core. After the 2014 police shooting of teenager Mike Brown Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri, BLM rose to national prominence, demanding justice for Brown’s family and the thousands of unarmed Black people murdered by the police. From uprisings in cities across the nation to organized acts of resistance on college campuses, BLM transformed the American political landscape, shaping national discussions on race and policing. In the months leading up to the November 2016 presidential election in the United States, BLM forced several presidential candidates to confront the issue of state-sanctioned violence.

Although the movement began in the United States, it spread like wildfire across the globe. In only a matter of months, activists established BLM chapters in several major cities. In Toronto, for example, activists Janaya Khan and Yusra Ali cofounded a local BLM chapter in October 2014, following the police killing of Jermaine Carby in Brampton, Ontario.2 Carby, a thirty-three-year-old Black man from Toronto, was shot and killed on September 24, 2014, during a routine traffic stop while traveling through the predominantly white suburbs of Brampton. In December 2014, activists in Japan gathered to launch an Afro-Asian solidarity march called Tokyo for Ferguson (#Tokyo4Ferguson) in the wake of the grand jury’s acquittal of the police officer who gunned down Mike Brown Jr. in Ferguson, Missouri.3 Displaying signs in both English and Japanese, these activists marched throughout the busy streets of Tokyo in solidarity with BLM activists in the United States. In the subsequent months, BLM marches and demonstrations began to sweep cities across Europe, including London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin.4 The wave of protests across the world further amplified BLM’s concerted efforts to emphasize the global nature of state-sanctioned violence and anti-Black racism. In its early years (and in the years to follow), the founders of the movement also worked to foster transnational networks and solidarities between activists in the United States and those abroad. By 2016, the movement boasted an estimated twenty-six chapters across the world.5

Tometi’s speech before the United Nations was part of this vital transnational work. Yet the occasion proved a historic moment in BLM’s history—the first time one of its founders addressed the most powerful international body for human rights. Tometi’s presence at the UN General Assembly therefore marked an important shift.6 reflecting on the historical significance of her appearance, Tometi pointed to the “urgent need to engage the international community about the most pressing human rights crises of our day. In

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.