Thirteen years ago today a jury acquitted the man who killed a 17 year old boy walking home from a convenience store. That same night Alicia Garza sat down and wrote a love letter to her people. Her last words: "Black people. I love you. I love us. Our lives matter." Her friend Patrisse Cullors replied with three words:
#BlackLivesMatter. Their friend Opal Tometi added her voice. And a movement built from grief, love, and radical Black sisterhood was born from a Facebook comment section.
Thirteen years later the names are different but the pattern is not. And as long as Black families are still waiting for answers, the movement will still be here.