My research investigates how ideological differences within the Black activist community have created a lack of intersectional advocacy in the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM). The dominant narrative, as publicized by both the media and BLM followers, centers cisgendered heterosexual able-bodied Black men targeted through police brutality, though the movement was created to advocate for justice for all Black identities affected by all forms of state sanctioned violence.
Fundamentally, there are two activist cultures at conflict in this movement: the radically queer, leftist, feminist culture held by the creators of BLM, and many of the movement’s followers who subscribe to the traditional Black liberal political activism as seen in the Civil Rights Movement. Through conducting field work, online research and archival findings, I investigate how these ideological differences have manifested into movement actions, and how this caused followers, and subsequently the media, to fail to incorporate intersectionality into the spotlight of the movement. BLM founders Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullers, and Opal Tometi were very intentional with this inclusion, coming from queer, feminist, leftist and labor justice backgrounds themselves. My research will show that the dominant leaders and spokespeople of the movement, as well as the values elevated reflect a contradictory ideology that inhibited the movement’s intersectional potential.
