John Stuart Mill: The Black Lives Matter Movement

Due to large representation in the media recently, the Black Lives Matter movement has been a popular topic of debate. While many individuals support the movement, others who underestimate the struggle of African Americans view it as unnecessary. I believe that John Stuart Mill would have a mixed, albeit primarily positive, view of the movement. On the positive end of the spectrum, Mill would appreciate that Black Lives Matter activists exercise their freedom of opinion despite outside attempts to suppress them. In addition, his harm principle aligns with the movement’s protests against police brutality and racially motivated attacks. However, as he values political participation, he would question the effectiveness of the movement due to its
Hence Mill would support the protests of the Black Lives Matter movement against those who unfairly attack the rights of the black community. In On Liberty, Mill’s harm principle establishes protection for the freedom of all individuals. The principle states, “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others” (Mill 2015, 13). According to this statement, the harm principle protects the actions and rights of all human beings from unwarranted limitation. This principle aligns with the issues focused on by Black Lives Matter. Activists of the movement regularly protest police brutality and racial inequality in America’s criminal justice system (“Black Lives Matter” 2016, n.p.). From Mill’s perspective, the purpose of such acts of racism is not necessarily “to prevent harm to others.” In fact, the actions themselves actually cause harm. For instance, Black Lives Matter protested the lack of justice for African American teen Trayvon Martin, whose murder is alleged to have been a case of racial profiling. On the other hand, his murderer, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, claimed that the shooting was an act of self-defense (“Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts” 2016, n.p.). However, this may not convince Mill that Zimmerman’s actions were justified. John Gray,
Following the establishment of the movement, there has been some political change in response to racially motivated police brutality and police shootings. For example, Obama has ended the use of specific types of military-style equipment by police departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is making attempts to improve the tracking of police shootings, and some mayors have fired police chiefs due to protests against police brutality (Foran 2015, n.p.). Yet many people think that this is unsubstantial progress. Both white and black commentators have criticized Black Lives Matter for “its failure to emulate the political exemplarity of the civil rights movement of the 1960s” (Hooker 2016, 456). Mill may think that this is due to the movement belittling the importance of political change and involvement. In response to the Democratic National Committee’s expression of support for the movement, Black Lives Matter issued a statement refuting that they endorse the committee. They argue, “While the Black Lives Matter Network applauds political change towards making the world safer for Black life, our only endorsement goes to the protest movement we’ve built together with Black people nationwide” (“BlackLivesMatter Statement” 2015, n.p.). This