The Shakerite VOL 91 ISSUE I

Black Lives Matter organized protests during
2015 to spread awareness of the injustices Black
women and Black transgender women face. According
to The Guardian, 21 transgender people had
been killed in the United States by the end of 2015.
Of the 21 victims, 13 of the victims were Black, and
almost all of them were transgender women of color.
A series of organized protests against police
brutality toward Black people took place during
2016. In early July of 2016, more than 100 protests
took place in America following the death of Alton
Sterling on July 5 and the shooting death of Philandro
Castile the next day.
Although Black Lives Matter David Vahey
is known for protesting against the
death of Black people and police
brutality, they also protest acquittals in cases that
make it to trial. In June 2017, Black Lives Matter
held a protest after the officer accused of killing
Castile was found not guilty.
Black Lives Matter marked the organization’s
five-year anniversary in 2018. On May 1 of that year,
according to a Pew Research Center analysis of
public tweets, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter had
been used nearly 30 million times on Twitter, an average
of 17,002 times per day since its first use in
SPRING 2021 THE SHAKERITE 15