About Us
OUR MISSION
Black Lives Matter Grassroots is dedicated to ending state-sanctioned violence in all its forms and fostering the peace that can only arise from justice. We advocate for an abolitionist agenda that seeks to dismantle systems of harm and create systems of care. Our mission is to support, sustain, empower, and uplift the essential work of Black Lives Matter chapters, Justice Families, partner organizations, and movement organizers. Through agitations, mobilizations, organizing, education, advocacy, cultural production, and community investment, we are fulfilling our sacred duty to dream and build a world rooted in the Black freedom movement and community power.
OUR HISTORY
On July 13, 2013, the white supremacist terrorist who took the life of our beloved 17-year-old son, #TrayvonMartin, was acquitted. The verdict ignited an eruption of grief and fury across the Black world. The deep, collective pain felt by Black people, who live every day in a world rooted in white supremacist violence, drove us into the streets. But it was our unwavering love for each other that gave birth to the Black freedom movement, not just as a moment, but as a movement rooted in an abolitionist agenda. Under the banner of BLM Grassroots (BLMGr), 52 active chapters have been at the forefront, organizing on the ground to transform local communities and empower the world at large. As the movement surged in 2020, propelled by the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, millions more were drawn into our shared fight for community power. We were ready. Years of relationship-building, grassroots organizing, movement infrastructure, abolitionist ideals, and a radical vision for free Black futures laid the foundation for this moment. As the intense outpouring of activism in 2020 began to settle, BLMGr continued its crucial work. Through chapter-based efforts, global initiatives, and ongoing campaigns, we remain committed to the long-term transformation of this world. Under the BLMGr banner, our more than two dozen recognized and active chapters have served as the boots on the ground, doing the powerful organizing work to transform local communities and the world. As activism in 2020 in the names of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd surged the movement forward, millions more were brought into our beloved community, and we were ready. Our collective organization brought seven years of relationships, grassroots organizing, movement infrastructure, abolitionist ideas, and a radical vision for free Black futures to welcome folks into the work. As the 2020 movement-moment settled, BLMGr has continued to do the work necessary to transform this world through chapter-based and global efforts, initiatives, and campaigns.
HERSTORY
Black Lives Matter emerged from the hearts and minds of our three co-founders—Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi—and came to life right here in Los Angeles, where the first chapter was birthed. This herstory is a crucial narrative of the emergence of Black Lives Matter as a reclamation of and recommitment to Black radical organizing and the Black freedom movement, grounded in an abolitionist agenda.
The leaders’ journey into this work began with profound loss. In 2015, gun violence took the life of her friend, Jascent-Jamal Lee Warren, affectionately known as "Shakespeare," who was tragically shot and killed on the Venice Beach Boardwalk at just 26 years old. His death transformed her; it made the work of protecting Black lives not just a cause, but a calling.
For years, that grief propelled her into community, into organizing, and into the fight for a world where no one else has to endure the loss she experienced. In 2023, that commitment took root in a new way when she founded Black Lives Matter Santa Clarita Valley, bringing the movement's legacy of grassroots organizing and radical love directly into the Santa Clarita community, empowering residents to embrace community power.
BLM SCV exists because Shakespeare deserved better. And so does every Black life in this valley.