We are in the midst of a national uprising. While there have been protests against anti-Black racism and police violence before, in the summer of 2020 we are hearing the voices of Americans of all colors recognizing and railing against injustice. But that is not enough — it is time for change, says Alicia Garza.

It’s not just a matter of changing people’s attitudes, it’s also time to change policies of systemic racism, particularly when it comes to community safety, says Garza. “Whether you feel comfortable or uncomfortable with the slogan of ‘Defund the Police,’ it's important for us to be grappling with what actually keeps communities safe.” Is safety only achieved through punishment? Or, is it achieved by ensuring the infrastructure that has been denied Black communities for so long is fixed and rebuilt.

Marches are happening everywhere — ”in Alaska and Idaho and Wyoming,” notes Eugene Scott — and recent polls show that a majority of Americans now support the Black Lives Matter movement. What makes this time period different?

The difference, says Garza, is that white people are finally showing up to the movement. And while there may be some very real questions about what took so long, there’s simply no reason not to welcome everyone. Black people have been clear in stating that Black Lives Matter for going on a decade, and when the rest of America joins, they can take actions “to actually make Black Lives Matter where [they] are.”

Black Lives Matter is a new (and very powerful) way of saying something that’s been fought for since the abolitionist movement and then the Civil Rights movement. But BLM, says Dyson, “is an ideal so deep and profound that you knew it was doing something  — because it made white folk uncomfortable, and it made comfortable Negroes uncomfortable.”

But “Black Lives Matter” — though an easy concept to hold on to — must be more than a simple slogan. “We need to connect it to deeper wells of social resistance and political intensity that allow us to leverage our history in new forms, so we have to think ‘Black LIves Matter’ as often as we can,” says Dyson.