Black Lives Matter movement marks 10 years of activism and renews its call to defund the police

The Black Lives Matter movement hits a milestone on Thursday, marking 10 years since its 2013 founding in response to the acquittal of the man who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin

- Aaron Morrison

Gunned down in a Florida gated community where his father lived in 2012, Martin was one of the earliest symbols of a movement that now wields influence in politics, law enforcement, and broader conversations about racial progress in and outside the U.S.

BLM activists and organizations plan to mark a decade of the movement with in-person and virtual events. Calls to action include a renewed push to defund police departments and reinvest in Black communities that have suffered disproportionately from police brutality, unequal treatment in criminal justice systems, and mass incarceration.

In the wake of Supreme Court decisions that stymied relief from student loan debt held disproportionately by Black borrowers and banned affirmative action in higher education, the need for BLM's existence couldn't be more clear, said prominent movement activist Melina Abdullah.

"What this movement moment means is that we have to absolutely redouble our efforts and redouble our commitment to making Black lives matter," said Abdullah, who is a director of BLM Grassroots Inc, a collective of organizers across the country.

"Ten years in, we're getting a glimpse at what would happen if there were no Black Lives Matter," she said. "We're not just going to fight when it's popular, but we're going to fight because we need to fight."