For Immediate Release
July 15, 2025
Contact: press@blmgrassroots.org
Black Lives Matter Grassroots Has More Chapters Now Than Ever
With Fifty-One, Including One in Sweden
BLM Grassroots, Justice Families, and Community Supporters Celebrate Twelve Years of Boots-on-the-Ground Organizing with a Massive Convening, Direct Action, and Ice Cream
Leimert Park, Los Angeles – Black Lives Matter Grassroots now has fifty-one chapters, including three led by imprisoned folks and one in Stockholm, Sweden. The now-international organization, whose mission is to end state-sanctioned violence, convened this past weekend to celebrate twelve years since the founding of the birth of one of the largest racial justice movements in the history of the world and the very first Black Lives Matter chapter on this same spot, Leimert Park (aka Africa Town), the heart of Black Los Angeles. The organization was sprung into being after the murderer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was acquitted by a legal system that never served Black people.
BLM organizers from all over the world gathered at BLMLA’s Center for Black Power, a building purchased by BLMLA from the funds that generously poured in from the 2020 uprisings that was once owned by an Israeli arms dealer. Today, the building that still had a restrictive covenant – meant to prohibit its sale to Black people – at the time of its 2022 purchase, is a hub of Black-led activism.
The current membership of fifty-one chapters represents the largest number of active branches ever in existence since the founding of the organization. From Detroit to Houston…Tampa to Buffalo, Long Beach to Boise, BLM Grassroots leadership came together to network, organize, and skill-build. Dozens of BLM activists convened to work, celebrate, and officially onboard a slate of new chapters. 11 of the newly minted chapters include: Boston Metro (MA), East Atlanta – DeKalb County (GA), Gary (IN), Hartford, (CT), Lake County (IL), Miami (FL), North Carolina, Santa Clarita (CA), Saratoga Springs (NY), Will County (IL), and Stockholm, Sweden. More chapters than ever are founded by justice families—whose loved ones’ lives were stolen by police violence, including chapters in Florida, Milwaukee, Houston, New Orleans, and Will County (OH).
“Even though the mainstream media cameras are no longer focused on us, the movement keeps growing and expanding, even into the nation’s carceral system. We are still doing the work. We are still abolitionists, focused on direct action and radical transformation of public safety. And even as our country has descended into fascism, our membership continues to grow and move us towards freedom,” said Dr. Melina Abdullah, Director of BLM Grassroots.
July 13, 2025, marked twelve years since Black Lives Matter was born as a rallying cry for justice in the name of #TrayvonMartin and every Black person stolen by state-sanctioned violence.
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Black Lives Matter Grassroots
The mission of Black Lives Matter Grassroots is to support, sustain, and uplift the necessary agitations, mobilizations, community organizing, and initiatives of Black Lives Matter chapters to fulfill our sacred duty to advance Black liberation. #BlackLivesMatter was birthed to end state-sanctioned violence against Black people. Black Lives Matter Grassroots is a collective of 51 chartered chapters globally working on the ground since 2013.
For More Information: Email: press@blmgrassroots.org
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Leimert Park, Los Angeles – Black Lives Matter Grassroots now has fifty-one chapters, including three led by imprisoned folks and one in Stockholm, Sweden. The now-international organization, whose mission is to end state-sanctioned violence, convened this past weekend to celebrate twelve years since the founding of the birth of one of the largest racial justice movements in the history of the world and the very first Black Lives Matter chapter on this same spot, Leimert Park (aka Africa Town), the heart of Black Los Angeles. The organization was sprung into being after the murderer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was acquitted by a legal system that never served Black people.
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