The Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM)

While taking a deeper look into the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) and what led up to it, it became apparent that the United States social justice system is built to humiliate and oppress African Americans. The conflict theory suggests that “tensions and conflicts arise when resources, status, and power are unevenly distributed between groups in society and that these conflicts become the engine for social change.” In America, power is often used as a way to maintain social, political, and economic inequality. Conflict theorists do not believe equality exists, but rather the justice system is in favor of powerful groups. The BLM movement has proven many of these conflict theories to be true. But as time goes by and the advancement of technology …show more content…
Trayvon Martin was unarmed and Zimmerman was acquitted of the charges. Trayvon's murder was the gas on the fire that would spark great national outrage. The co-founders were 3 radical black organizers named, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. The movement is a member-led global network, which contains more than 40 chapters. The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation. Looking at the movement from a structural functionalist point of view, we would say that these brutalities are both functional and dysfunctional. Socially, we would consider this movement to be functional, supporting social stability, and bringing people of color together. We would say that police brutality has led to this movement and this is dysfunctional as it disrupts …show more content…
Through music, artists use their voice to be heard on the subject matter. For example, Beyoncé has a song on her latest album called “Freedom” and it features Kendrick Lamar, another artist who raps about everyday issues and life oppressed and racism. The lyrics in the chorus talk about being bound by chains and still not being free, but continuing to fight despite the circumstances. The video itself stars the mothers of the black men who died at the hands of the police, through cameos and shots of them holding a picture of their sons throughout the song. The song Freedom is very much a part of the BLM movement, being that it is one of their protest songs. A second example, is a song/ music video recently released by Childish Gambino about the contrast of black living. The song is called “This is America” and he geniusly creates a video to go along with the lyrics of the song. The song beat and words depict the contrast in which people get really angry about the police brutality, but then the next minute they get distracted by pop culture, music and dance moves.The video shows the ongoing cycle of forgetting about police brutality or shootings and yet it is still occurring, no matter how much time has