5 years in the past, the world watched George Floyd die with a police officer’s knee on his neck. A 17-year-old woman, Darnella Frazier, held her telephone regular and compelled the world to see what Black communities have identified for hundreds of years: the police don’t maintain us secure. Within the weeks that adopted, uprisings swept the globe. “Defund the police” grew to become each a slogan and a requirement. Budgets have been challenged, techniques questioned, and for a second, the unattainable appeared inside attain.
Now, 5 years on, lots of the wins have been clawed again. Police departments are larger, bolder, and extra militarized. Abolitionist calls for are ridiculed or ignored. Liberals who as soon as raised fists or promised donations in solidarity have fallen silent—or joined the backlash.
However what can’t be undone is the shift in public consciousness. As a result of what we did in 2020 was not simply political. It was narrative. We informed the reality in a means the world couldn’t unsee.
I’ve spent the final decade constructing narrative technique alongside the Motion for Black Lives, rooted in a centuries-long Black Radical Custom. We have now all the time identified that energy lives in story. To make abolition make sense, we now have to combat not only for insurance policies, however for which means. 5 years after George Floyd’s homicide, that combat continues. And from it, we stock three classes.
1. The state will all the time attempt to management the story, so we should inform our personal
The story of policing has all the time been a narrative of management. From slave patrols to damaged home windows policing, dominant narratives have solid Black folks as inherently legal, immoral, or undeserving of safety. These tales have by no means been unintentional—they’re designed to justify violence, legitimize inequality, and make injustice seem like “public security.”
In 2020, our motion flipped that narrative. We recast Black struggling as state-sanctioned violence—hurt produced, promoted, and institutionalized by the state. We mentioned the issue wasn’t “dangerous apples,” it was the tree. The system. The soil. We provided a distinct framework for security—one rooted in care, not cages.
And we have been punished for it. The defund motion confronted a coordinated state response: federal prices, surveillance, and media smear campaigns. Our opponents understood what we already knew—if you change the narrative, you modify what folks imagine is feasible. That’s why the state clings so tightly to its tales, and that’s why we should maintain telling ours.
2. Narrative energy alone received’t save us, however we will’t win with out it
Narrative doesn’t change materials situations by itself. Nevertheless it shapes what individuals are prepared to combat for. And in 2020, tens of millions have been prepared to combat. Not only for convictions or physique cameras, however for a radical shift in how we take into consideration justice, security, and belonging.
In cities throughout the U.S., police budgets have been slashed, faculties eliminated cops, and new departments of public security have been proposed. Although a lot of these beneficial properties have been reversed, the concept of defunding police is not fringe. It’s a part of the talk. That’s narrative energy.
However the backlash has taught us one thing, too: we should deal with communications like we deal with organizing. Not as ornament, however as self-discipline. Not as messaging, however as technique. As a result of our opponents are constructing disinformation ecosystems whereas we’re nonetheless asking if comms is “core.”
If the battleground is which means, every single day folks, activists and organizers have to be strategists. And our actions have to be able to combat—and fund—the lengthy sport.
3. We’re in an ideological contest for the long run, and it’s removed from over
We reside in a time of rupture. The post-racial fantasy has collapsed. Neoliberalism is dropping its grip. The U.S. empire is in seen decline. And reactionary politics—from guide bans to anti-trans legal guidelines to outright fascism—is dashing in to fill the void.
The correct has a narrative prepared: legislation and order, nostalgia, scapegoats. A previous that by no means was, and a future constructed on concern.
So we should meet that with a narrative of our personal.
Our actions aren’t simply resisting techniques—we’re rehearsing new worlds. Worlds the place mutual support replaces punishment. The place security means meals, housing, and healthcare, not pressure. The place Black folks, Indigenous folks, queer and trans folks, immigrants, and all of us who’ve been deemed expendable, aren’t simply protected—however prioritized. The place Palestine is free.
This story isn’t utopian. It’s already being lived in encampments, kitchens, lecture rooms, and neighborhood bailouts. It’s being informed in artwork, music, organizing, and coverage fights. It’s rooted in reminiscence and propelled by creativeness.
And it have to be nurtured, sharpened, and amplified.
The query now will not be whether or not George Floyd’s loss of life modified something—it did. The query is: Who has the ability to form what comes subsequent? The Motion for Black Lives has all the time identified the reply to that query: we do.
5 years in the past, a teenage woman dared to inform the reality. At present, it’s our flip to maintain telling it—boldly, strategically, and collectively.
Let’s make sure that they don’t get the final phrase.
Shanelle Matthews is the previous Motion for Black Lives communications director and a Distinguished Lecturer at Metropolis School of New York. She is the co-editor of Liberation Tales: Constructing Narrative Energy for twenty first Century Social Actions.
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