Generation #BlackLivesMatter? Majority of millennials back controversial movement

The study revealed that the majority of individuals surveyed support the #BlackLivesMatter movement and think racism is a “major problem.”

The results revealed 63 percent of African Americans ages 18-30, 25 percent of Asian Americans, 27 percent of Hispanics, and  17 percent of non-Hispanic whites “strongly support” #BlackLivesMatter, while 26 percent of all millennials support of the movement.

“We can’t affect national narrative, we can’t affect national legislation that comes down and affects local people if local people don’t push back and take a stand about what’s happening in local communities,” Chelsea Fuller of the Advancement project told USA Today.

On racism, 34 percent of African Americans, 14 percent of Asian Americans, 16 percent of Hispanics, 5 percent of non-Hispanic whites, and 12 percent of all millennials regard racism as the most important issue when choosing a political candidate to support.

With recent police-involved shootings across the country, the Black Lives Matter movement remains a controversial movement as its leaders, including 20-t0-30-somethings, work to build their presence through social media and in legislatures.

With a majority of racially diverse millennials supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, critics question if their support stems from a desire to create a “disruption.”

“The millennials counter what they view as tactics of civility and compromise with the glorification of the tactic of disruption,” The News-Gazette’s Sundiata Cha-Jua explained. “Rather than grapple with strategic questions, millennials substitute aggressiveness for analysis. The regressive elements of respectability politics cannot be countered by militancy alone but must be challenged by a more radical analysis and practice.”

Where the young movement and its supporters will go after protests and headline-grabbing actions isn’t yet established.