INTRODUCTION TO THE BLACK LIVES MATTER GALLERY

Less than a month after George Floyd was murdered by the police in Minnesota on May 25, I started taking pictures of pro-Black Lives Matter signs. Outrage over blacks being indiscriminately killed by while police while family, friends, and bystanders filmed these atrocities with their cell phones finally tipped the balance of belief away from institutionalized authority. Prior to this point, it had been easy to look away. No more, whites and other groups soon flocked to join the movement as allies.

Ironically, though considered a very progressive City led for the first time by a black mayor, London Breed, San Francisco has a very small black population.In 1970, blacks comprised 13.4% of the City’s population, but in 2010, the number had dropped to 6.1%. Ironically, the only other segment of the City’s population to suffer a significant drop are whites, but they went from 71.4% in 1970 to 48.5% in 2010. The first demographic shift, a decrease in black residents, is a concern, whereas the latter decline of whites is not, and yet the support for the BLM movement suggests that many San Franciscans recognize this problem.