Each year, we try to make the world better than the year before. A recent attempt to achieve this was the Black Lives Matter movement. This movement started in July 2013, after an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed on February 26, 2012, by George Zimmerman, a police officer. Zimmerman was arrested. However, during his trial, he was not pressed for any charges. Alicia Garza, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, was devastated by this verdict. Filled with disappointment and rage, she took to Facebook to express her frustration. In her post, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” was repeated, which was later made into a hashtag and "[a]lmost instantly, . . .  went viral." (Asmelash, 2020). This hashtag brought people together to stand up and protest against this injustice.

Black Lives Matter protesters are almost always non-violent. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the police officers monitoring, who often resort to violence. The police officers' job is to de-escalate the protest, however, they often have the opposite effect. Instead of peacefully talking to protesters, police officers took a more violent approach, such as spraying tear gas, beating protesters, and shooting foam-projectile launchers. Their actions led to numerous casualties and injuries for many people, while also sparking more determination in protesters to keep fighting for what is right.

Black Lives Matter protesters hope to raise awareness about police brutality towards people of color. They have demanded that law enforcement receive better training and lower funding. Activists have also worked on voter registration to give everyone a voice for a better future.  The Black Lives Matter movement provides support to people whose voices aren't heard.

The Black Lives Matter movement is still in progress now. Despite a significant amount of progress made, there is much more to do to avoid people's families, like Trayvon Martin's family, losing their kids through the injustices in police forces. Martin's parents are still devastated to this day. Neither one of them ever thought that they would be advocating their son's death. Martin's family still thinks about him in tears, but they also admit they think about him smiling for all the change that has happened because of his death. 

For change to happen, everyone must make an effort. Some ways to support this movement are donating to organizations that need funding, protesting, supporting Black Lives Matter social media platforms, and most importantly, educating yourself and others. The more people who are aware of the issues occurring in our world, the more we can work towards achieving a world that will be better than the year before.