●Asmanyas 26 millionpeopleparticipatedin BlackLives

Matterprotestsin theweeksafterthepolicekillingof

GeorgeFloydin Minneapolisin lateMay,makingit oneof

thelargestmovementsin U.S.history.

Cullors, Garza,andTometistarted BLM in 2013 after

GeorgeZimmermanwasacquittedofkillingTrayvonMartin,

anunarmedBlackteenagervisitingfamilyinFlorida.For

sevenyears,BLMhashelpedorganizeprotestsagainst

policebrutality,culminat-

ingonJune6 whenmore

thanahalf-millionpeople

gatheredin 500-plusloca-

tionsaroundtheworld.In

themonthsthatfollowed,

theU.S.hashaditsbig-

gestcollectivereckoning

onracismsincethecivil

rightsera.Companieshave

pledgedtohiremoreBlackpeopletopositionsofpower;

grocerystaplesandWashington,D.C.’sfootballteamnixed

theirracistbranding;andpolicebudgetshavebeenreviewed

forcuts.AmajorityofAmericansnowsaytheysupport

BLM,upfrom43%in2016,accordingtothePewResearch

Center.Editedexcerptsfromtheco-founders’conversation

onNov. 17 withBloomberg’sRebeccaGreenfield:

BloombergBusinessweek: WhydoyouthinkGeorge

Floyd’s killing had the impact it did?

Tometi: The fact that a Black man could be quite liter-

ally choked to death in broad daylight without any mean-

ingful intervention was traumatic. People were confronted

withtherealitythatanti-Blackracismis deadly—andthat

itcontinued to persist despite all that was going on [with

Covid-19]. They didn’t have a job to go to or other respon-

sibilities that would normally have kept them preoccupied.

They could not look away.

How involved was BLM in

organizing protests?

Cullors: We supported

protests that happened

across the country.

In  Minneapolis, I worked

directly with the Black

Visions Collective, which

was a former BLM chapter.

Garza: I wasn’t on the

ground.Protestsarethemost difficult part of our move-

mentbutnotwhatencompasses all the work that we do.

Wewerealsogearingupfora massive election cycle. The

organizationsthatI started,the Black Futures Lab and the

BlacktotheFutureActionFund, were busy trying to get

peopletotaketheirprotests to

thepolls.Wespentourtimereg-

isteringvotersandhavepartner-

shipswith 15 Black-ledgrassroots

60

LIV ES

BLACK

Tometi (left)

and Cullors in

Los Angeles

B Photograph by

Djeneba Aduayom