At LightBox Collaborative, our team is devoted to providing strategic and structural support to the various causes we care about. As a result, we generally use this space to highlight insights gleaned in partnering with our clients, or other reflections on our bread and butter: communications and campaign strategy.
But sometimes, we need to take a step back – or rather a step in – and acknowledge that we don’t do our cause-driven work in a vacuum. We do it to address injustice. And the amount of injustice our nation is experiencing demands more than our usual behind-the-scenes support. It requires us to actively listen to the people most affected, and to amplify their voices. So for this week we want echo the call of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
The Black Lives Matter Network advocates for dignity, justice, and respect.
In the last few days, this country witnessed the recorded murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police, the latest victims in this country’s failed policing system. As we have done for decades, we marched and protested to highlight the urgent need to transform policing in America, to call for justice, transparency and accountability, and to demand that Black Lives Matter.
In Dallas, many gathered to do the same, joining in a day of action with friends, family, and co-workers. Their efforts were cut short when a lone gunman targeted and attacked 11 police officers, killing five. This is a tragedy–both for those who have been impacted by yesterday’s attack and for our democracy. There are some who would use these events to stifle a movement for change and quicken the demise of a vibrant discourse on the human rights of Black Americans. We should reject all of this.
Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it. Yesterday’s attack was the result of the actions of a lone gunman. To assign the actions of one person to an entire movement is dangerous and irresponsible. We continue our efforts to bring about a better world for all of us.
If you want to actively support this vision, you can take the pledge to Stand with the Movement for Black Lives.
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#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society.