Cullors, Garza, & Tometi

Black Lives Matter

Left: Patrisse Cullors, Center: Alicia Garza, Right: Opal Tometi

Read the following passage and complete the blanks.

Social movements often lose ____________________________ after their moment in the national
news, but Black Lives Matter has steadily gained _________________________. The Black Lives
Matter movement was ________________________________ a hashtag about the death of an
unarmed Black youth named Trayvon Martin. 17-year old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a
white neighborhood patrol named George Zimmerman. Trayvon was found completely unarmed,
with only some cash, juice, and a bag of skittles in his pocket. Zimmerman was deemed not
guilty by a mostly white jury in 2015 and still claims that he shot Martin in self-defense.

The Black Lives Matter movement also ______________________________ during the Ferguson
protests. The protests began after after a White police officer named Darren Wilson was found to
be not guilty for the death of Michael Brown, a 18-year old Black teen from Ferguson, Missouri.
Since then, Black Lives Matter has grown to 28 local chapters, all fighting
_________________________ like police brutality and racial profiling. In 2016, the movement pushed
presidential candidates to address the countrys systemic racial problems an issue would-be
nominees would have preferred to _____________________________.