Michael Brown's death a decade ago set off a new chapter of social change

NEW YORK — There have been moments before, times of heartbreak and grief that led to anger and calls for justice. Coming just weeks after the July 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York City police, in a country where the nascent push of Black Lives Matter was still reeling after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, the protests over Brown’s death and the heavily armed law enforcement response to them erupted in the nation’s consciousness. “What really emerges in the most effective social movements is that they’re trying to not just make visible change in the world on policy, on structure and things like that,” said Hahrie Han, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. I would say, arguably, absolutely those are related.” Ferguson did more than call attention to police brutality In regards to Ferguson, think about some of the things that have happened since 2014, or things we talk about regularly that we didn’t a decade ago: Professional athletes engaging in protest online and on the fields of play, setting off a furor about athletes and activism that has turned into its own conversation; diversity and representation on camera and behind the scenes in the world of entertainment after April Reign created the viral #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, the speed and furor of protests after the 2020 death of George Floyd, as Black Lives Matter took to the streets, and of course, the backlash to all of it, the views from some quarters that those on the left have gone too far. That activism went into a higher gear after Ferguson, in moments including a November 2014 NFL game, where five members of the St. Louis Rams came onto the field with their hands raised in a pose that had become synonymous with the protests; athletes referencing the names of those who had been killed on the clothing they wore at games, and in at least one case, joining a protest like New York Knicks basketball player Carmelo Anthony did in 2015.