FNED 502 Social Issues in Education
 June 19, 2018

                           Stay Woke: the Black Lives Matter Documentary 2016
                                      By Peabody and Laurens Grant

In this documentary “Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement,” the well-respected actor and activist encourage others to be more aware of America’s (poor) treatment of black lives by exploring the evolution of a movement that is committed to the same mission.This documentary features voices of athletes, protesters, actors, musicians, local activists, scholars, educators,  civil rights leaders, celebrities like Jesse Williams, Michaela Angela Davis, Brittany Packnett as well as other leaders. The leaders united and were standing up against injustice towards minority people. The movement wanted to demonstrate its solidarity towards injustice and violence that the African American community was sufferenting from the people who were supposed to protect them (the police). The Black Lives Matter movement moved from social media to the streets across America (the movement was looking for justice). The demand of the movement was to bring justice to the people who lost their lives in the hands of police. Social media transformed the black lives matter.

The black live matter movement “stands on the shoulders of folks who stand on the shoulders of previous movements”. This movement fights for the freedom and justice of black people in a world where these basic rights weren’t afforded to men and women like Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray and countless others whose lives were taken away by police brutality.

“The black community has been in a state of emergency and crisis and pervasive traumatic stress disorder since 1619”  

“The black community has been in a state of emergency and crisis and pervasive traumatic stress disorder since 1619. There hasn’t been a week in the history of this country where innocent, well-meaning human beings haven’t been treated as subhuman by state agents,” Williams said. “We have been conditioned to believe that black people are subhuman... and are told all of these intrinsically destructive tropes, which are flagrantly dishonest.”

Activism by those like Williams highlights the need for an important and immediate call for change.  Jesse Williams wants people to awake and to stay woke. . He invites people to unite, to stand up and speak out on social issues. Regarding justice and social equality Jesse Williams asks, It is ok to break the law or not? Because cops breaking the law left and right. You do not own us anymore. We all have the same inalienable rights or we don’t.

One of the first steps to being “woke” is understanding the depth of these dangerous myths and how societal constructs impede on the lives of marginalized people. In one emotional moment in the documentary, Williams says “no matter what we do, we’re late”.

This comment stroke me because it clearly stresses the requirement for resolution and represents the urgent need to get woke, stay woke and better the state of  black lives in The United States. Just like Jesse Williams I also believe that the struggle is real, social injustice is real and it hurts affects different communities. Racism still exists, sadly and if people do not unite and become an informed, educated team social and racial injustice will be a “big elephant in the room” that people in power keep on ignoring.  Unfortunately minorities, especially African American Communities will still be oppressed. We must become part of the change. We must define the change in America. We must tirelessly seek for justice for all and must not give up until we reach social equality.

According to the film Black Lives Matter became a national movement. Media played a big part as it showed the world what was going on in America.  Just like the documentary mentioned, the question we must ask ourselves is, where does this movement go from here?  What does this movement needs in order to progress and guaranteed that it will continue to condemn injustice and fight for social justice and equality?

Jesse believes that African American are late “no matter what we do we are late” Jesse urges people to get it together, get informed and keep fighting for reform in the government. Leaders have to make sure the movement evolves, that it does not stop like other movements did. The movement is welcoming and guiding leaders to come forward and join the fight against social inequality. Social media is important for the movement as it became a platform which the leaders took and made it work for them Social media such as Black Twitter took their fight to another level. Now Leaders of the Black Lives Movement are now known by millions of people. This generation is not going to let them be nameless.

The following educational (TED Women) video show and interview with the founders of the Black Lives Matterhttps://www.ted.com/talks/alicia_garza_patrisse_cullors_and_opal_tometi_an_interview_with_the_founders_of_black_lives_matter Founders. They talk about how different topics which affect mostly minority people. They state that minority people, especially black people  are subject to all sorts of disparities. These disparities range from natural disasters (climate change) to racial inequality (racism).They state that the world more than ever needs a human race movement that challenges systemic racism in every single context.

I truly believe that in order to see changes in society, we must make changes to our current laws. We need to press from the outside to see positive things happening. People must organize people and act. They have to make use social media as leverage to become aware and expose government mistreatment towards minority communities. If we get united and organized and make sure we do not stay quiet, our voices will be heard. We must make sure we protest against injustice, but we have to do it in a peaceful way. We have to make sure authorities are listening to our concerns.