This archive report was first published on 5 June 2020.
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was chased down and killed in Glynn County, Georgia, in a tragic event that would become a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement's resurgence. Just a month later, on March 13, Breonna Taylor was sprayed with bullets in her Louisville, Kentucky, apartment by police officers. These incidents, along with others, including the stabbing of Nina Pop in Missouri and the police shooting of Tony McDade in Florida, created a sense of outrage and despair that would eventually fuel the movement.
As the pandemic spread, Americans were living in a state of hypervigilance and anxiety, with feelings of uncertainty, fear, and vulnerability. The lack of clear information about how to avoid the virus only added to the sense of unease. Meanwhile, the pandemic exposed the stark contrast between the privileged and the marginalized, with some Americans fleeing cities to second homes while others lined up at food banks.
As social distancing measures took hold, daily life moved online, and people turned to their screens for connection and community. It was in this context that the Black Lives Matter movement gained unprecedented momentum, with organizers citing the pandemic as a key factor in the movement's growth. On May 28, 2020, Twitter reported that over eight million tweets were posted with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, a significant increase from the 146,000 tweets posted on December 4, 2014, after Eric Garner's death.
The sheer volume of video documentation of police atrocities at protests only served to reaffirm critiques of unbridled uses of force and underscore the cognitive dissonances. Our social feeds have become like security cameras grids, each with images of a dystopia: peaceful protesters dispersed with chemical irritants and smoke canisters, police officers pelting demonstrators with tear gas, and police vehicles accelerating into crowds.
