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Part One: Introduction        

Although social movements and social movement theory continue to gain greater prominence within the social sciences, what precisely constitutes a social movement appears to still some lack clarity.[1] While a social movement could be generally classified as a collective, organized, sustained and non-institutional challenge to authorities or power holders of society, this definition lacks a certain nuance which is needed to more accurately capture the essence of many social movements, particular new social movements which in contrast to their predecessors are not focused on the quest for material goods, but rather on the quest for reform in terms of human/civil rights extension. For example, witnessing the emergence of the organization Black Lives Matter (BLM) which manifested in 2014 in the wake of several African American deaths at the hands of various law enforcement groups throughout the United States, one might at first glance find it difficult to classify it as a social movement, particularly given the generality of the preceding social movement definition and  could attempt to argue that members of BLM instead of being part of a social movement, could be part of a protest, mass riots, or something else.

While the field of social movements is still evolving there have been certain contributions to the field over the years that have expanded the understanding of social movements and made it easier to gauge which new social uprisings could be classified as social movements. Among these contributions three in particular have emerged which taken together can serve as a sort of defacto social movement test. From these contributions and under the proposed scheme, social movements could be said to have three distinct characteristics; 1) the presence of a collective grievance, 2) some level of resources, and 3) political opportunity. In addition, Doug McAdam’s seminal work regarding cognitive liberation has enforced the notion that at a certain point during the struggle of changing the existing political narrative, participants of social movements also reach a state where they feel that participation in a movement is both important and integral to achieving the desire end. Although a cursory comparison of these social movement elements with BLM might lead some to conclude that any ambiguity surrounding its classification as a social movement can be safely negated, without a detailed look at each element one is left to ponder if it really does? In this work it is argued that the Black Lives Matter movement can be classified as a social movement as it not only passes any generic interpretations of social movements, but embodies several key elements of social movement advanced by the contemporary scholarship in the field as well. Therefore, after examining Black Lives Matter in greater detail including how it relates to the social movements elements of collective grievance, resources, and political opportunity and how its members do indeed a achieve a state of cognitive liberation, it becomes apparent that BLM is without question a social movement.

Part Two: Collective Grievance

Classical social movement theories propose that, “people participate in protest to express their grievances stemming from relative deprivation, frustration, or perceived injustice.”[2]     Given America’s history if ever African Americans had a grievance to express it would relate to how they have been treated over time because despite its recognition as a democratic powerhouse and leader in human rights, the United States has unfortunately also had a rich history of racism and discrimination throughout its existence. Not only was slavery a given right of the white majority for a significant portion of its post-Independence history, even after slavery’s abolition in 1864 white superiority and privilege formally continued for more than a century as Jim Crow laws and other forms of segregation between whites and blacks continued to entrench America’s discriminatory narrative. When the civil rights protests of the 1960s finally laid the foundation for the elimination of institutionalized discrimination against African Americans and other visible minorities, it was thought that the road to a racism free and equity based America was finally on the horizon. Unfortunately, while the letter of the law had been slowly transformed into one of inclusivity, the road to true equality has been hampered due to the spirit of discrimination that has continued to haunt the United States.

It could be argued that of all the manifestations of discrimination that continue to plague the United States perhaps none is more prominent than those that exist within the criminal justice system. Not only are African Americans incarcerated at rates 20% harsher than whites for the same crimes,[3] but incidents of police abuse and brutality have remained one of the most prominent forms of institutional discrimination since the civil rights era, and continue to be cited by various civil rights organizations as a chief barrier to racial equality. And while one may think that racism and violent interactions with police officers transpire in rural communities or pockets or the former Jim Crow states, this is simply not true as some of the most egregious engagement between law enforcement and the black community in metropolitan urban centres across the United States. From the violent 1979 killing of Arthur McDuffie at the hands of Miami police officers which would set off the 1980 Miami riots when they were acquitted,[4] to the brutal assault of Rodney King by a number of white Los Angeles police officers which prompted the 1992 LA riots where over 50 people were killed in the 6 days of rioting,[5]  to the 1996 shooting death of unarmed 18 year old Tyron Lewis by white police officers which would serve as the basis for the 1996 race riots in St. Petersburg Florida,[6] to the fact that the City of Chicago has paid over half a billion dollars since 2004 to settle legal actions brought against for police brutality,[7] clearly indicates that there is indeed a nationwide issue with respect to minority abuse at the hands by various law enforcement agencies and officers which remains. And while civil rights activists have highlighted that this has always been a chronic institutional problem, it was not until a recent spate of highly prominent and deadly incidents between African Americans and law enforcement[8] in quick succession that the narrative of sporadic reactive protest in response to abuse would morph into an ever present, active, organization of peoples that demanded change to the existing political system regarding race relations between police and minorities. Enter Black Lives Matter.

Following the February 26, 2012 shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford Florida by a self-righteous neighbourhood watch coordinator named George Zimmerman and Zimmerman’s eventual acquittal of second degree murder racial tensions between the black community and law enforcement began to rise.[9] As news of the incident spread coupled with the fact that law enforcement initially choose not to charge Zimmerman with any crime at the time of the incident despite the facts surrounding the incident including the fact that Zimmerman was emphatically told by 911 dispatch not to further profile or engage Martin, nationwide outrage began to percolate.[10] After Zimmerman’s acquittal many had expected that this might result in concentrated racial unrest similar to the 1992 LA riots or the 1980 Miami riots before them, however the reaction this time was far less concentrated and scattered instead with fairly innocuous protests across the United States. However, in addition to occupying physical spaces, reaction to Zimmerman’s acquittal was also rampant online and via social media. In fact, it was via social media that Black Lives Matter would find its genesis.

As part of her reaction to what she believe was a miscarriage of justice following Zimmerman’s not guilty verdict, BLM founder Alisha Garza would post to her Facebook page an impassioned plea which centred on the message that the lives of black people had worth and  highlighted that, “our lives, black lives matter”.[11] This post was subsequently hashtaged #blacklivesmatter and received added support by two other individuals who would also be recognized as BLM founders, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. Subsequently the post would become the basis for a powerful online campaign centred around the collective grievances of police abuse and institutionalized racism that many would recognize as a social movement.[12] Although Black Lives Matter commenced with tremendous momentum due to the power of social media and the visceral reactions had George Zimmerman’s acquittal, one can wonder if it would have maintained its traction had it not been for a quick succession of further incidents involving African American deaths at the hands of law enforcement officials. Perhaps the most prominent of such incidents involved the August 9, 2014 shooting death of 18 year old Ferguson, Missouri native Michael Brown who was shot to death following an encounter with a white police officer Darren Wilson wherein several witnesses claimed Brown had his hands up and his back to the officer at the time he was shot.[13] According to autopsy reports following examination of the young man’s body, it was determined that Brown was shot over six times including the fatal shot to his head and officials investigating the incident determined that Wilson had fired approximately twelve rounds at the unarmed Brown. In this case public reaction and protest was almost immediate and became only further exacerbated after a Grand Jury returned a decision in November of 2014 not to prosecute Wilson for Brown’s death.[14] Although the rage surrounding Brown’s death was widespread, Black Lives Matter gained a foothold in both organizing and executing mass protest as the group planned its first in person and on the ground protest in the form of a “freedom ride” to Ferguson with a long and sustained peaceful protest envisioned. After greatly increasingly their visibility at the forefront of Ferguson, the group proceeded to further establish themselves as the preeminent forum for African American activism and would go on to stage protests in numerous locales around the United States in pursuit of advocating for their chief cause, calling for change in how law enforcement interact with minorities while simultaneously demanding authorities to examine systemic racism and equity.[15] As such it is important to recognize that while changing the current narrative with respect to police brutality might the groups most prominent point of contention, BLM also has social goals which go beyond respectability politics to broader needs of the African American community including access to shelter, food, and mobility.[16]

Although racial inequality and institutional injustice have been common elements in United States throughout its history and the fact that several communities across the country have sporadically experienced social unrest in the wake of perceived atrocities against African Americans and other minorities throughout the years, in the wake of a rash of deadly encounters with police, Black Lives Matter would become something different. More specifically, BLM appears to have morphed from an online campaign calling for compassion in one instance, to a group that emphasized a collective grievance and expanded beyond forms of reactive protest (such as those of riots past) to one of the preeminent drivers of organized, sustained, and collective action for the African American community and minorities seeking racial equality and institutional safety in the contemporary period.[17] A year after the death of Michael Brown what one participant noted was that BLM was instrumental in keeping the activism surrounding Brown’s death going while also organizing several other protests as well.[18] Since 2014 Black Lives Matter has protested the deaths of several  black people who died following interactions with law enforcement including Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland and Tamir Rice, to name a few.[19]

Part Three: Resources

The second element thought to be integral for social movement classification is that of resources. In their seminal piece entitled Resource Mobilization and Social Movements: A Partial Theory John D. McCarthy and Mayer N. Zald highlight that the availability of resources explained much of the variation in the level of mobilization across various movements.[20] More profoundly they state that resource issues are more indicative than collective grievance as the authors highlight that empirical evidence renders doubt surrounding the assumption of a close link between pre-existing discontent and generalized beliefs in the rise of social movement phenomena.[21] These insights by McCarthy and Zald underscore the essence of resource mobilization theory wherein it is theorized that the growth and success of the (social) movement requires obtaining control over resources in order to achieve collection action and the ultimate goals of the group sought. With respect to the resources themselves it is important to note that they can constitute a variety of things ranging from money, capital, and materials to people, services, skills, and knowledge. It is also important to note that these resources can be accumulated in a number of ways be they derived from activists, constituents, or other organizations such as churches, interests groups, charitable foundations, or unions.

In gauging resource mobilization theory and the holding that resources are a key component of social movements in relation to Black Lives Matter, it would indeed appear that the concepts align. More specifically, not only does BLM have an impressive number of participants across the United States including at least 12 national chapters (and has even gone international with membership extending across the globe), it has been stated that the organization is financially solid as many members and chapters are either successfully self-funded or have received financial contributions from various left-leaning donors[22]  as the group continues to grow and cement its position as social activism powerhouse (it has been rumoured that billionaire George Storas has alone given 33 million to the group).[23] However, given the nature of the activism which consists of rallies, discussions with government officials, online blogs, freedom rides, and interrupting various political events, the group does not require a tremendous amount of monetary capital to execute the type of activism it employs.[24] As such, while resource opportunity theory might suggest that social movements need money, this minimal reliance on monetary means by BLM bodes well for the group’s long-term prospects as the threat from financial insolvency or disruption in funding would appear to have little impact on the its ability to function in the manner it does. In addition, because many members and chapters of BLM appear to prefer self-funding, this minimizes the chances and danger that leaders or whole chapters would could be financially co-opted or brought under the sphere of influence of outside forces that might seek to compromise BLM goals.[25]

Part Four: Political Opportunity

            According to political opportunity theory it is argued that the success or failure of social movements are primarily affected by political opportunities. More specifically, political opportunity structure/theory is built on the premise that “exogenous factors enhance or inhibit prospects for mobilization, for particular sorts of claims to be advanced rather than others, for particular strategies of influence to be exercised, and for movements to affect mainstream institutional politics and policy.”[26] What are these political opportunities? It is postulated that they arise when an existing political system is vulnerable to a challenge or change and in this vulnerable state it allows opportunities for the socially dissatisfied to exploit the weakness in the status quo in order to realize a desired social change or demand. Often this vulnerability can arise from such things as a decline in government repression, a rise in the public consciousness, division amongst elites, or various domestic or international economic factors. However, while activists according to political opportunity theory are dependent on political opportunities within the larger existing political system in order to effect change, also important is the limiting effect of political opportunity structures (POS) that can limit collective group action regardless of vulnerabilities in the existing system. In this vein POS can refer to constraints, possibilities, and threats that can originate outside or inside the mobilizing group and limits chances of mobilizing and effecting the change it seeks. More specifically, structural characteristics of political systems, the behaviour of certain individuals (allies, adversaries, public), societal tendencies, economic structures and developments are all examples of potential limiting factors for political mobilization or sources that can reinforce it. After assessing the criteria of political opportunity against BLM it would appear that BLM is also consistent with this social movement element. More specifically not only has BLM emerged following the outrage following the numerous deadly incidents involving African Americans and law enforcement, but have utilized the opportunity afforded them in the higher public consciousness surrounding police brutality to advocate for change through a variety of different (and largely non-conventional) means that include social media posts, freedom rides, sustained nationwide protest events, crashing/heckling politicians they deem reinforcing the existing political system, and group meetings with various government officials including President Obama.[27][28]

Part Five: Cognitive Liberation

In his seminal 1982 book entitled, Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, social movement scholar Doug McAdam analyzed the rise and decline of the US Civil Rights Movement and attributed its course as the result of three factors: political opportunities, indigenous opportunity strength, and cognitive liberation.[29] Although political opportunities (greater opportunity or receptivity to change demands) and indigenous opportunity strength (the ability of challengers to mobilize and take advantage of political opportunity in an attempt to facilitate change) are related concepts that other scholars in the field have also broached, it is McAdam’s cognitive liberation concept that is perhaps most intriguing. It has been argued that once the other elements of social movements have been met-collective grievance, resources, and political opportunity- that members of movements soon realize a sense of cognitive liberation, or a feeling that their participation is an important factor in destabilizing a current political system that lacks legitimacy and/or that is discriminatory.[30] Put another way cognitive liberation can, “denote a challengers’ subjective experiences of shifting political conditions given them a new sense of efficacy”, or even more simply, it is the ability of participants to recognize the strength they hold and allows them to exploit political opportunities to (attempt to) effect change. As such, cognitive liberation allows members the feeling that they can affect change which in turn allows them to mobilize and recruit new members. Relating the concept of cognitive liberation to BLM it would appear that in this respect as well there is much consistency. Not only have BLM members recognized a flaw in the existing political system with respect to law enforcement-African American minority relations and their primary goal is to alter the unjust and discriminatory aspect of this dynamic, but group members also recognize the importance that their efforts and collective activism has in achieving this end. For example, in discussing the important role BLM participants had in attempting to facilitate change via their opportunity to discuss their grievances with President Obama, member Brittany Packnett states, “”We were responsible in that moment to speak truths about our community to the leader of the free world, and that was a real opportunity, but it was also a real responsibility.”[31] Arguably if ever there was a statement that captured the essence of McAdam’s cognitive liberation, Packnett’s was it.

Part Six: Conclusion

            After examining Black Lives Matter in greater detail including how it relates to the social movements elements of collective grievance, resources, and political opportunity it becomes apparent that BLM is without question a social movement. In addition to aligning with generic definitions of social movements, BLM also is consistent with the added dimensions and nuance of social movements forwarded by several contemporary scholars. In addition, BLM members and the groups as a whole appear to have also attained cognitive liberation, in that the group participants feel they can effect change and do so by taking advantage of the political opportunities that have arisen due to the outrage and changing political narrative regarding a recent succession of African American deaths at the hands of law enforcement. It is almost as if the public conscious has said enough, the existing political system is vulnerable to change, and BLM has become a powerful force through which political opportunities are engaged and attempts at change are affected. Not only has Black Lives Matter become recognized as one of the preeminent forces in racial equality activism in 21^st century America, but this achievement is remarkable given the relative infancy of the group and that it can be traced back to a single online campaign and social media post. However, despite its impressive results thus far, as any student of social movements is aware there are several forces, both structural and not, that will become greater obstacles as the movement moves past infancy. If Jonathan Christiansen and his four stages of social movements are correct (emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization, and decline), no matter the positive results or prominence it currently enjoys, BLM is destined to enter a final downward trajectory phase.[32] While its progression through Christiansen’s four stages may be inevitable, that does not necessarily mean failure as the group’s decline could be the result of success, or more specifically, successfully having achieved its end by positively reforming the manner in which law enforcement (and the criminal justice system as a whole) interact with minorities and also having forced institutions to effectively examine systemic racism and equity issues.

Ultimately only time will tell whether Black Lives Matter succeeds in attaining its goals, remains in a diminished capacity, or fails outright, but given the stakes one can only  hope that BLM leaders are conscious of the forces working against them and can devise an ambitious and diversified action plan that will allow them to continue their work in a manner that both counteracts the exterminating elements of these forces and allows them to successfully change the existing political system long before the group begins its downward spiral.

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