A panel discussion looking at racism and the Black Lives Matter movement in an Australian context.
The Black Lives Matter movement started in America back in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin in 2012. In 2014 #BLM became nationally recognised following the deaths of two African Americans at the hands of police, resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri.
Since the Ferguson protests, participants have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African Americans by police and the originators of the hashtag #BLM, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tomet have expanded the project in to a global network with active chapters all over the world.
Black Lives Matter is an especially pertinent issue here in Australia given our country's history and the continuing high rates of aboriginal deaths in custody.
The most recent wave of #BLM emerged in 2020 after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin which drew parallels to the killing here in Australia of David Dungay Jnr in police custody. The last words of both men were ‘I can’t breathe.
While indigenous activists have been protesting against injustice for decades, it took something as emotionally raw as these deaths for white and non-indigenous people to join them in vocalising their support at recent protests to end this mistreatment.
