Silencing dissent: Government measures and moral panic in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter resurgence

In the Spring of 2020, a White police officer was witnessed kneeling for nine consecutive minutes on the neck of a Black African American man, George Floyd. This was filmed by a passer-by and posted online as one of the many examples of police brutality against Black people in America. This footage quickly garnered attention throughout the United States and struck a chord with people of all races across the globe. Something about seeing this brutality so clearly made it difficult for people to ignore, creating a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement which had originally been created in 2013 in response to the murder of African American teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012. This article outlines why despite the monumental imprint these marches had on British and American society and history, this potential moment for revolutionary structural change did not come to fruition. It explores how measures have been implemented to deliberately weaken progress towards social justice, using tactics such as moral panic and colour-blind rhetoric, depoliticising of teaching, and utilising social media and legislation to suppress and censor activists and protestors.