Will Black Lives Matter Survive the New Year?

There’s no doubt that Black Lives Matter has put race, police relations and civil rights on the forefront of the public consciousness. The movement has become a revolution that has brought together people from all walks of life, uniting people in a common cause that black people are being brutalized in this country every day with little to no repercussions. But does Black Lives Matter have the power to keep pushing forward and affect real change?

With no indictments and no arrests in the high profile cases of Sandra Bland and Tamir Rice, among others, it makes you wonder – what has Black Lives Matter really accomplished? What can it accomplish long-term? On daily newscasts and social media posts, we see the protests and signs but behind the scenes, because of Black Lives Matter’s actions, how many rogue cops have been fired? How many have been arrested? How many prosecutors have lost their jobs? How many police chiefs have revamped their forces?

Not to say that BLM hasn’t done lots of wonderful work, but does the movement have the right leadership and vision to propel it into not only into a new year but make it a juggernaut of the new civil rights movement? Sometimes, the message can seem a little short-sighted, moving from one headline-catching shooting to another when it’s officer-involved, but often avoids black on black crimes that don’t usually make it to the media. When “Black Lives Matter” is chanted, it should mean all black lives, even those who don’t make it in the papers and not just the black lives in the here and now but those in the future as well.