Antiracism Movements and the US Civil Sphere

doi:10.1017/9781108571050.005

3 - Antiracism Movements and the US Civil Sphere

The Case of Black Lives Matter

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 November 2019

Stephen F. Ostertag

Edited by

Jeffrey C. Alexander ,

Trevor Stack and

Farhad Khosrokhavar

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Jeffrey C. Alexander: Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Trevor Stack: Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Farhad Khosrokhavar: Affiliation:
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris

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Summary

In the wake of Trayvon Martin (February 26, 2012), Eric Garner (July 17, 2014), Michael Brown (August 09, 2014), and the many other black men and women killed by law enforcement,1 the United States saw arise a wave of contentious, radical protests around racism and police/state violence. Beginning with George Zimmerman’s killing of Trayvon Martin and his subsequent acquittal, it was largely in the wake of Ferguson, Missouri, where police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an eighteen-year-old, unarmed black teenager, that growing discontent turned into street protests. Discontent and anger about racism and police brutality were exacerbated by subsequent acts of police violence (e.g., Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina; Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland; Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) and further compounded by the acquittals of Michael Brown’s killer Darren Wilson and Eric Garner’s killer Daniel Pantaleo. The nonindictment of Pantaleo on December 03, 2014, was particularly jarring given the video footage. It was one of the only times conservatives on social media found some agreement with the growing black solidarity movement.

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Type: Chapter
Information: Breaching the Civil Order
Radicalism and the Civil Sphere
, pp. 70 - 91

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108571050.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2019

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