In 2013, the “Black Lives Matter” hashtag began as a call to action in response to the acquittal of the man who killed teenager Trayvon Martin. Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi founded Black Lives Matter to “explicitly combat implicit bias and anti-Black racism and to protect and affirm the beauty and dignity of all Black lives.” It has since become a cry for justice, a movement, a foundation, and a global network with international chapters whose mission is to eradicate White supremacy.

Patrisse Cullors

“For hundreds of years, Black communities have lived under state terror. Be it police violence or vigilante violence. When Black people uprise we must call it what it is: a human reaction to a deeply unstable and dysfunctional relationship to a country that has dehumanized us for centuries. I am less concerned with corporations and the ways they are impacted by Black pain, and I am more interested in the freedom of Black people. Our demand is no longer about the accountability of law enforcement. Law enforcement is unable to be accountable. We must defund law enforcement and reimagine a world that relies on an economy of care versus an economy of punishment.” —Instagram:          @osopepatrisse

Alicia Garza

“Black people are exhausted. I’m exhausted. Angry. Devastated. Scared.

“There is not one easy thing you can do right now to make you or anyone else feel better about the fact that this country allows [B]lack people to be hunted and killed like animals. ….

“Protest for too many is a performance for someone else’s benefit — rest assured people are not facing tear gas to perform for you. They are sick and tired of being stripped of humanity and no one doing anything. … Police should be held accountable for crimes they commit. So should this country … We gotta stop looking for easy answers and instead join the hard work. This is a marathon that no one wants to run … There are SO MANY organizations working hard to change this. Support them. Please and thank you.”—Twitter: @aliciagarza

Opal Tometi

“We are living in a time with unprecedented movement. 

“People are showing up … we’re seeing a multiracial, vibrant social movement that is not only happening in the United States, but is happening all across the globe. 

“People are standing up. [They] believe Black Lives Matter. And they too want to build a multiracial democracy that works for all of us.  I’m … deeply heartened by all that I’m witnessing across the country, and around the globe. And I am hopeful that all of this momentum, all of this energy and all of this movement will lead to true transformation for our country, and for our [world]. We are long overdue, and so it’s really exciting to be in this time.”—Instagram: @opalayo