Exactly 10 years ago, Black Lives Matter was born from “a love letter” to Black people that Alicia Garza penned on Facebook.
Responding to the the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin a year earlier, on July 13, 2013, Garza wrote: “We don’t deserve to be killed with impunity. We need to love ourselves and fight for a world where black lives matter. Black people, I love you. I love us. We matter. Our lives matter.”
Patrisse Cullors responded to Garza’s post with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
