Stamped

by

Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

#BlackLivesMatter Term Analysis

#BlackLivesMatter is an antiracist activist movement focused on fighting anti-Black racism and police brutality. The Black feminist activists Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi first launched #BlackLivesMatter in 2013, and as of the early 2020s, it’s one of the largest protest movements in American history.

#BlackLivesMatter Quotes in Stamped

The Stamped quotes below are all either spoken by #BlackLivesMatter or refer to #BlackLivesMatter. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism vs. Antiracism Theme Icon
).
Introduction Quotes

I don't think I'm a great writer like Jason, but I do think I'm a courageous writer. I wrote Stamped from the Beginning with my cell phone on, with my television on, with my anger on, with my joy on—always thinking on and on. I watched the televised and untelevised life of the shooting star of #Black Lives Matter during America's stormiest nights. I watched the televised and untelevised killings of unarmed Black human beings at the hands of cops and wannabe cops. I somehow managed to write Stamped from the Beginning between the heartbreaking deaths of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin and seventeen-year-old Darnesha Harris and twelve-year-old Tamir Rice and sixteen-year-old Kimani Gray and eighteen-year-old Michael Brown, heartbreaks that are a product of America's history of racist ideas as much as a history of racist ideas is a product of these heartbreaks.

Related Characters: Ibram X. Kendi (speaker), Jason Reynolds
Page Number: xi
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi founded #BlackLivesMatter as a direct response to racist backlash in the form of police brutality. From the minds and hearts of these three Black women—two of whom are queer—this declaration of love intuitively signified that in order to truly be antiracists, we must also oppose all the sexism, homophobia, colorism, ethnocentrism, nativism, cultural prejudice, and class bias teeming and teaming with racism to harm so many Black lives. […] In reaction to those who acted as if Black male lives mattered the most, antiracist feminists boldly demanded of America to #SayHerName, to shine light on the women who have also been affected by the hands and feet of racism. Perhaps they, the antiracist daughters of Davis, should be held up as symbols of hope, for taking potential and turning it into power. More important, perhaps we should all do the same.

Related Characters: Jason Reynolds (speaker), Angela Davis
Page Number: 242-243
Explanation and Analysis:
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#BlackLivesMatter Term Timeline in Stamped

The timeline below shows where the term #BlackLivesMatter appears in Stamped. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Introduction
History and the Present Theme Icon
...has made this book interesting and relatable. When Kendi wrote Stamped from the Beginning, the #BlackLivesMatter movement was just starting. It broke Kendi’s heart to watch “cops and wannabe cops” kill... (full context)
Chapter 28: A Miracle and Still a Maybe
Racism vs. Antiracism Theme Icon
History and the Present Theme Icon
Power, Profit, and Privilege Theme Icon
How Racist Ideas Spread Theme Icon
...police violence, the antiracist Black women Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi started the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Their slogan shows that true antiracism is based on love—which also means that antiracists... (full context)