Read More... Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor (Credit: Don J. Usner) Black Lives Matter was a slogan coined by three queer black women after George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin four years ago. It exploded into a movement after Mike Brown was shot dead by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014. Black Lives Matter, or the Movement for Black Lives, has exceeded any attempt to neatly define it and is much larger than any single group or leader; it’s a collective framework for black people across the country, politically engaged and otherwise, to articulate their grievances and demands. But as movements grow and gain power, they must tackle the complicated work of building institutions capable of effecting systemic change.