When They Call You a Terrorist

Black Lives Matter is a decentralized social justice movement that organizes nonviolent demonstrations to protest police brutality and eradicate White supremacy. By design, there is no traditional hierarchy governing the movement’s activities. In response to claims that the organization is leaderless, Black Lives Matter’s founders say the organization is “leader-ful.”]

Black Lives Matter has faced criticism, mostly from the American right but also from other parts of the political spectrum. Some on the right, including former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, call the movement a terrorist organization, a claim Cullors addresses and refuses through her book. Other critics—including some from within Black Lives Matter—believe that the group is insufficiently focused on Black women. 

A gang injunction is a type of restraining order prohibiting suspected gang members from engaging in certain types of behavior, some of which is otherwise legal. They date back to 1982, when the Los Angeles City Attorney and the LAPD targeted three gangs with a combined membership of 72. According to the ACLU, over time these injunctions were increasingly used to target non-gang-affiliated individuals, most of whom were non-White. That includes Monte, who at one point is arrested for wearing the same T-shirt as a friend, as if it indicated a shared gang affiliation.