Community Reform to Value, Protect and Invest in Black Lives

On June 22, 2020, the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change hosted an online community conversation on how we can collectively work to reform our communities to value, protect and invest in black and brown lives. Drs. Amanda Nell Edgar and Andre E. Johnson, University of Memphis faculty, and authors of The Struggle over Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter examined one of the defining social justice struggles of our time. They discussed the surprisingly complex relationship between Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter as it unfolded on social media, and in interpersonal and community relationships. The authors are here to share insights into calls for reform in Memphis and the nation that follow from #BlackLivesMatter activism, including protests following the Murder of George Floyd.