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#BlackLivesMatter As Brand
What the world cannot unsee is the video image of a white Minneapolis police officer with his knee on a black man’s neck.
No propagandist could have staged a more effective symbol. It is metaphoric beyond words and an outrageous meme of white supremacy, broken justice and inequality.
One week ago, Minneapolis was known as the hometown of Prince, Lizzo and the inspiration behind the Coen Brothers movie “Fargo.” It took eight minutes for that to change. Since then, peaceful demonstrations in Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, have sparked riots. Spontaneous protests against racism and social injustice then flamed up in neighbor city St. Paul, and the firestorm has swept around the world.
#BlackLivesMatter is a political and social movement that has attracted tens of thousands of mostly peaceful followers who have rallied around its clear, simple declaration. The grassroots efforts of #BLM help to not only stabilize civil rights protests, rallies and demonstrations across the nation, they have become the Nike of social change.
If you agree that a “Brand” is a community of people who share similar likes and values, then #BLM is not only a movement, it is a Primal Brand.
