Donald Trump Presidential Campaign, 2016#Black Lives Matter Movement

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Black Lives Matter is a social movement that developed in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in July 2013. Conceived by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, the phrase "black lives matter" emerged as a popular hashtag that online activists used to protest racial inequality and police brutality.^[2][3]

Black Lives Matter activists protest in New York City in November 2014.

The death of Michael Brown, a black teenager shot and killed following a confrontation with a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, expanded the Black Lives Matter message from tweets to demonstrations in major cities in 2014.^[6] Although there was no central organization directing local activism, Black Lives Matter became a national network with 26 chapters.^[7] Speaking about the movement's leadership, Cullors said, "What we do is we support the chapters. We support their local demands and goals. They tell us what they need us to build support around."^[8]

Beginning in July 2015, activists from the Black Lives Matter movement began to engage with both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates by demonstrating at campaign events. Cullors told Politico in August 2015 that these disruptions were not done solely to engender policy change; activists also wanted to bring their message to communities unfamiliar with the movement's grievances. "This is a public display of the agony and anguish black people feel on a daily basis, and many of you don’t have to see it or deal with it or go home to it, so we’re going to bring it to you,” Cullors said.^[9]

See below what Donald Trump and the 2016 Republican Party Platform said about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Trump on the Black Lives Matter movement[edit]

• Donald Trump commented on the police shooting deaths of two black men, Terence Crutcher in Oklahoma and Keith Lamont Scott in North Carolina, in mid-September 2016.

• At a campaign event in Ohio on September 21, 2016, Trump commented on Crutcher’s death, saying, “I must tell you, I watched the shooting in particular in Tulsa and that man was hands up, that man went to the car -- hands up -- put his hand on the car. To me, it looked like he did everything you're supposed to do. And he looked like a really good man -- and maybe I'm a little clouded because I saw his family talking about him after the fact ... but he looked like somebody who was doing what they were asking him to do. This young officer, I don't know what she was thinking. I don't know what she was thinking, but I'm very, very troubled by that and we have to be very careful. Did she get scared? Was she choking? What happened? But people that choke, maybe they can't be doing what they're doing.”^[10]

• Trump also expressed his support for law enforcement. He said, “As you know, I'm a tremendous supporter of the police and law enforcement because we need that for ourselves. We need that. And I've really gotten the endorsement from so many different groups. And they're great people. They're great people. Great people, you always have problems. You have somebody in there that either makes a mistake, that's bad or that chokes.”^[11]

• Regarding rioting in the city of Charlotte that followed the death of Scott, Trump said in an interview on "Fox and Friends" on September 22, 2016, “There's a lack of spirit between the white and the black. It's a terrible thing that we're witnessing. There's a lack of something. Something is going on that's bad. What's going on between police and others is getting worse. You have to have law and order. At the same time, you have to have a level of spirit, a level of unity. There's no unity. You look at the level of hatred, the rocks being thrown.”^[12] At a campaign event in Pennsylvania on September 22, 2016, Trump said, “If you're not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you're watching on television at night. … There is no compassion in tolerating lawless conduct. Crime and violence is an attack on the poor and will never be accepted in a Trump administration. Never, ever.”^[13]

• In a Fox News interview on September 21, 2016, Trump responded to a question about what he would do to cut down on inner-city crime by advocating the use of stop-and-frisk, a policing technique known for its use in New York City. He said, “I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well. And you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically. You understand. You have to have – in my opinion, I see what’s going on here, I see what’s going on in Chicago, I think stop-and-frisk, in New York City, it was so incredible, the way it worked. Now, we had a very good mayor. But New York City was incredible the way that worked. So I think that would be one step you could do.” A federal judge ruled stop-and-frisk unconstitutional in 2013.^[14] The next day, Trump clarified that he was talking specifically about the city of Chicago, saying, “Chicago is out of control, and I was really referring to Chicago with stop-and-frisk. They asked me about Chicago, and I was talking about stop-and-frisk for Chicago.”^[15]

• At a rally for Trump in Birmingham, Ala., on November 21, 2015, several attendees reportedly assaulted a Black Lives Matter demonstrator after Trump asked for him to be removed. Video from the event and witness accounts suggested the man was kicked, punched, and choked. On November 22, 2015, Trump said, “Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing.”^[16]

• In a Fox News interview on July 18, 2016, less than two weeks after five Dallas police officers were killed and nine were injured by a gunman who told negotiators that he was upset about the police shooting deaths of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana, Bill O'Reilly asked Trump if Black Lives Matter was "a fuse-lighter in the assassinations of these police officers." Trump replied, "Certainly, in certain instances they are. They certainly have ignited people and you see that ... It's a very, very serious situation and we just can't let it happen."^[17][18][19]

• Read what other presidential candidates said about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Recent news[edit]

This section links to a Google news search for the term Donald + Trump + Black + Lives + Matter

See also[edit]

• Donald Trump
• Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016

Footnotes[edit]

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