Vision
At BLM Philly, our vision is an inclusive, politically and economically self-sustaining and self-determining, healthy, and free Black community.
Mission
BLM Philly, a local chapter of the BLM Global Network, is a Black organization that seeks to disrupt the [multiple/overlapping/layered, countless] violences against Black people and elevates the experiences and leadership of our most marginalized. We work to build local Black power and a healing, joyful, liberatory movement through grassroots organizing, political education, youth development, and coalition building.
About Us
In the summer of 2012, #BlackLivesMatter was born. BLM is created by co-founders, Patrisse Kahn-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi, in response to Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, being acquitted for his crime. It gained more traction On August 9, 2014, when Officer Darren Wilson murdered 18 year Mike Brown in cold blood in the middle of Canefield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri.
That same summer, local Black activists and organizers in St. Louis issued a call for Black organizers, healers, artists, attorneys, and independent media folks to come to Ferguson to demand justice for Mike Brown. This National Weekend of Action was organized by Darnell Moore and Patrisse Kahn-Cullors. On August 28, a Northeast (NYC, PHL, NJ) contingency of about 30 activists bused for 20 hours from NYC to Ferguson, Missouri for the Black Life Matters Freedom Ride. Months after the life-changing experience in Ferguson, the BLM Northeast (NYC, Philly, NJ participants on the ride) hold their first of several meetings on December 10th. Soon after they began exploring more city-based meetings.
In February of 2015, two of the original Ferguson Freedom Riders decided to initiate the chapter and filed the paperwork necessary for Philadelphia to have an official chapter. Months later, in May, BLM Philly held the first local chapter meeting at the St. Paul’s Baptist Church then, the chapter has flourished launched a number of initiatives including, letter campaigns, Black Joy and Healing circles, vigils, and forums.
Local Chapter Structure
There are three tiers of involvement:
- Supporters/Potential Members
- Members/Committees
- Core Organizers
This chapter is committed to non-hierarchical leadership. We are committed to collective accountability and deliberation.
Guiding Principles
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Black Women
We are committed to ensuring that Black Lives Matter Philly is a Black women affirming space free from sexism, misogyny, and male‐centeredness. -
Diversity
We are committed to acknowledging, respecting and celebrating difference(s). -
Globalism
We see ourselves as part of the Global black family and we are aware of the different ways we are impacted or privileged as Black folk who exist in different parts of the world. -
Collective Value
We are guided by the fact that Black Lives Matter, all Black lives, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status or location. -
Transgender Affirming
We are committed to embracing and making space for our trans siblings to participate and lead. We are committed to being self-reflexive about and dismantling cis-gender privilege and uplifting Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence. -
Empathy
We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts. -
Queer Affirming
We are committed to fostering a queer‐affirming spaces. And when we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless s/he or they disclose otherwise
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Intergenerational
We are committed to fostering an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, shows up with capacity to lead and learn. -
Loving Engagement
We are committed to embodying and practicing justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with others. -
Restorative Justice
We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people. As we forge our path, we intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting. -
Black Families
We are committed to making our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We are committed to dismantling the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” that require them to mother in private even as they participate in justice work. -
Black Villages
We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, and especially “our” children to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable. -
Unapologetically Black
We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a necessary prerequisite for wanting the same for others.
About Herstory
Global Network
Summer 2012: #BlackLivesMatter was born
BLM is created by co-founders, Patrisse Kahn-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi, in response to Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, being acquitted for his crime.
August 2014: Ferguson
On August 9, 2014, Officer Darren Wilson murdered 18 year Mike Brown in cold blood in the middle of Canefield Drive in Ferguson, Missouri.
August 2014: Black Life Matters Freedom Ride
Local Black activists and organizers in St. Louis issue a call for Black organizers, healers, artists, attorneys, and independent media folks to come to Ferguson to demand justice for Mike Brown. This National Weekend of Action was organized by Darnelle Moore and Patrisse Kahn-Cullors. On August 28, a Northeast (NYC, PHL, NJ) contingency of about 30 activists (including Taylor Johnson-Gordon and Azsherae Gary) bus for 20 hours from NYC to Ferguson, Missouri for the Black Life Matters Freedom Ride.
BLM Philly
February 2015: BLM Network Chapters begin formally forming
Azsherae Gary and Taylor Johnson-Gordon initiate the BLM Philly Chapter application.
May 2015: First BLM Philly Meeting
- Our first chapter meeting is held on May 7, 2015 at St. Paul’s Baptist Church. Approximately 15 people in attendance.
- Initiatives: #AiyanasDreams, Philly Tent City, #KeishaJenkins, & #BlackJoy
Spring 2016: Reboot
- First meeting post hiatus is February 2, 2016 at Vare Recreation Center
- Initiatives: Black Healing Matters & “To ____ with Love” letter campaign
- November Retreat - Membership Process and Organizational Structure are created
- Re-launch/Open Meeting is January 28, 2016
2020: Philly Black Radical Collective
BLM Philly is a part of the Black Philly Radical Collective. We, the radical Black organizing community in Philadelphia, make the following demands upon the City of Philadelphia to abolish the structures of policing and related state violence. Until our demands are met, we will be in the streets.
