‘We have an opportunity,’ Black Lives Matter leader tells hundreds at Sacramento State

Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza spoke Tuesday at Sacramento State after a day of protests to mark six months since the death of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man shot by police.

After what she described as a “big day” in the city, Garza discussed police brutality, economic disparity, racial justice and issues circling around the Black Lives Matter movement.

“When we say thing like ‘all lives matter,’ it may be well intended,” Garza told the several hundred people in attendance. “However, as I mentioned, language matters, and when we say ‘all lives matter’ in response to ‘black lives matter,’ then ultimately what we are saying is ‘I dismiss your claim.’ ”

CSUS President Robert Nelsen said Garza’s appearance was an honor, both for the university and its students, and he hoped her message would inspire a mutual belief in peace.

Garza talked about the origins of the movement – a love letter to black people she wrote on Facebook in the wake of the death of Trayvon Martin, which she concluded with Black Lives Matter – but reminded the audience that racial justice is a constant struggle.

“We have an opportunity to do something right now,” Garza said. “Which is to fight state violence, which is to fight the extrajudicial murders of black people, and which is to uproot the disease that plagues this country, which is racism and white supremacy. That is what Black Lives Matter is about.”

Cole Carman, the president of CSUS’ black student union and Adwoa Akyianu, its vice president said they took inspiration from Garza as organizers themselves.

“What I took away is how to organize people and to move them with power toward a certain purpose,” Carman said. “One thing she really encouraged was knowing our history and knowing how to go about breaking the system. We have to know the system in order to break it.”

Although the black student union did not engage in protests earlier in the day, Carman said that leadership would be getting more involved with Black Lives Matter Sacramento after Garza’s speech.

“I genuinely felt that she came from a place of love,” Akyianu said. “As a people, we’re going to have a difference of ideas, but we always got to keep that love.”

This story was originally published September 18, 2018 at 9:46 PM with the headline "‘We have an opportunity,’ Black Lives Matter leader tells hundreds at Sacramento State."