Setting the record straight on the Movement for Black Lives

Abstract

ABSTRACTSimilar to previous social movement organizations, the Movement for Black Lives (MBL) has faced a myriad of critiques. Adam Szetela is one of the recent to do so. My essay aims to set the record straight on some of the main critiques in Szetela’s article. I deal with comparisons to the Civil Rights Movement, the achievement of MBL, and Black essentialism. I argue that the movement’s reach for lofty goals that seem unattainable is noteworthy and strategic rather than a limitation. MBL understands that social problems that centre on Blackness often lead to Black organizations and Black people being left on the outside looking in at policy issues they helped to highlight. In being more intersectional and inclusive than previous movements, I assert that MBL has helped to advance understandings of Black dehumanization, change attitudes about racism in America, and thrust policing and criminal justice reform into the international spotlight.