Times Activists Made Their Voices Heard in 2016

Black Lives Matter Movement

The movement against violence and systemic racism toward black people began in 2013, after the police officer who shot and killed black teen Trayvon Martin was acquitted of charges. The community was outraged, and the hashtag #blacklivesmatter populated on social media alongside protests.

The movement picked up steam in the following years, as the pattern of police officers killing unarmed black people continued. It’s now a nationally-recognized movement. In 2016 alone, the hashtag #blacklivesmatter was used on twitter over 30 million times. The first BLM protest of 2016 began in January, when hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of California Bay Area cities of San Francisco and Oakland, protesting the shooting death of Mario Woods, shot by SFPD.