The 2010s were monumental for black activism, but the country still made little progress with racial equality.
Former President Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, was elected for a second term.Social media became the platform for calls for racial justice, sparking the launch of the Black Lives Matter social justice movement.
“We seem to have taken significant steps forward, but it also feels like we have taken significant steps backward," said Martin Luther King III, the son of Martin Luther King Jr. “The policy changes that we need have not yet been manifested." Story continuesA survey released earlier this year by the non-partisan Pew Research Center revealed nearly 6 in 10 Americans said race relations in the country were bad. And 56% said Trump made race relations worse. Conversely, in 2009, 41% of Americans said race relations had gotten better with Obama's presidency, while 22% said they had gotten worse, according to a Gallup Poll.
Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, said the movement exposed what was already happening to black people in black communities. It also inspired a new generation of activists – millennials and Gen Zers – to fight for equality, she said. The crowds wanted police to stop racial profiling. Ferguson police had a history of unfairly targeting black people, but the Obama administration's Department of Justice ultimately concluded that Wilson shot Brown in self-defense.
Castile's mother, Valerie Castile, said she was not surprised when the jury acquitted Yanez. Castile said she has watched police get away with shooting black men her entire life. One sign of progress was in October 2018 when Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting Laquan McDonald, 17, as he walked away from police.
One of the most discussed events came in August 2016 when Colin Kaepernick, then the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, refused to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Kaepernick said he could not show pride for a flag in a country that oppresses black people.
Black celebrities also spoke out against the Academy Awards in 2016 when, for the second year in a row, no actors of color received an acting nomination. Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith and other actors threatened to boycott the show. Obama often defended the Black Lives Matter movement and met with young civil rights activists at the White House in 2014. Under his administration, the Department of Justice invested in training and research to help reduce implicit bias in police departments. It also provided millions of dollars to agencies with community policing initiatives.
“Not only has he made race relations worse, but he has done so in ways that are both explicit and subtle," Nunn said.
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