News
Black Lives Matter founder Alicia Garza draws huge crowd
By Jasmine Murray ’18
September 25, 2015
On Friday, Sept. 18, founder of the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM)Alicia Garza visited Hamilton College to discuss the influential international movement, and to answer questions submitted by the campus community. BLM, which resulted from Garza’s social media response from the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case and consequential Twitter hashtag, has ignited great momentum and discussion across the country. After posting her original Tweet, Garza did not anticipate the large impact she would have on the lives of many black individuals across the globe.
Upon her arrival at Hamilton, Garza engaged in an intimate lunch with students. It has been reported that the interaction was both inviting and insightful. Students swarmed Bradford Auditorium, where they anxiously waited for the arrival of Garza. When Garza entered, great excitement filled the room. Associate Director of the Days-Massolo Center Kimberly Williams later announced that two overflow rooms were being used to watch the highly anticipated event.
The event was organized as a panel. Accompanying Garza was notable Professor of Classics and Africana Studies Shelley Haley and Garza’s partner, Malachi Larrabee-Garza. Haley began the conversation by asking Garza and her partner discussion questions developed by the Student Diversity Council. The inquiries encompassed a wide range of interests ranging from Garza’s ideas about the purpose of the movement to personal concerns of self-care for BLM participants.
Garza explained that movements were opportunities for individuals to exemplify what they believed. When Garza was asked if she was too identity-focused she argued that her sensitivity was necessary in order to justify and shed light on her existence. Garza then explained that lack of recognition continues the marginalization of underrepresented groups and aspects of identity like sexuality and gender identity in addition to race.
“When your very existence is targeted for demise, erasure and extinction, it’s time to reshape how we talk about race in this country,” she said. “[By including all aspects of identity] we complexify how we are perceived.”
When asked to respond to assertions that the BLM movement is ‘aggressive,’ Garza called it a “racially charged way of describing what we do” and pointed out that protests like the Boston Tea Party were never described that way. She asserted that BLM as a movement and organization has at no time advocated for violence against anyone. “The Zimmerman trial sent the message ‘your life is not valuable. If someone takes your life, they will not be held accountable,’” Garza said.
Garza also stressed the importance of seeing the raw reality of life. She explained that without this awareness, there would be a hiatus in progress. Larrabee-Garza also stressed the validity of “connecting the dots” in history, where one’s accumulation of knowledge can help to create a united struggle.
When asked whether BLM was in danger of becoming a youth-only movement, Garza said she did not believe so. “Different generations take different approaches to social change. The courage that youth are demonstrating right now is moving the spirits of elders in our community. We shouldn’t underestimate the impact of what happened to a once vibrant movement on our seasoned warriors. A lot of us are broken. A lot of us are grappling with sadness and anger.”
Larrabee-Garza pointed out that when movements are disjointed, opposing forces can exploit that. “Bring in the old guard and learn from them. When you lack relationships, you lack trust,” Larrabee-Garza said.
Garza and Larrabee-Garza were then asked about what Professor Haley called the “elephant in the room,” #All LivesMatter, which points to the importance of all people. Bluntly, Garza expressed that the rival hashtag does not represent the current world, pointing to statistics on incarceration and poverty. Though in theory, arguably, all lives do matter, the fact is this motto is not practiced.
“I couldn’t do my work every day without believing that a world in which all lives matter is possible,” Garza said. “Those who scream ‘all lives matter’ loudest should be working the hardest to make that a reality.”
Larrabee-Garza later explained that the rival hashtag was a modern-day format for white supremacy in which the recognition of the lives of black people could be quickly diminished. Light was also shone on America’s current incarceration system, where there is an overwhelmingly large amount of adolescents of color incarcerated. Larrabee-Garza talked about working with the juvenile justice group the Burns Institute. At this point, Larrabee-Garza directed attention to her occupation where workers help various judicial programs to find situtations in which child incarceration can be avoided.
Later in the evening, Professor Haley read a submitted question about self-care and activism. Garza advocated for the idea of “collective care” to avoid organizations in which activists work themselves into the ground. “No one’s an individual who doesn’t have an impact on the collective, but we can create a culture and practice that makes balance possible,” she said.
Throughout the evening, there were many occasions where Garza engaged personally with the crowd, establishing a sense of safety, trust and comfort. Even after the event, Garza stood behind to answer questions from students, where she also took pictures, shared more personal anecdotes and exchanged deeper and more emphatic sentiments. Many students left the event feeling deeply moved and fueled with the power to make a statement on closer communities.
The interview with Garza and Larrabee-Garza was co-sponsored by the Days-Massolo Center, Women’s Studies Department, Africana studies department, the Student Diversity Leadership Council and Law and Society.