The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart

Alicia Garza is an American activist and one of the three co-founders of the international Black Lives Matter Global Network. She was born in January 1981 in Oakland, California, and spent her earliest years with her single mother in San Rafael. After her mother married, Garza’s family moved to Marin County, a predominantly white suburb in San Francisco. Growing up, Garza had few Black friends and often had her racial identity romanticized and demonized by her white peers.

Garza attended college at the University of California, San Diego. There, she learned about Black feminist thought for the first time and realized the loneliness she felt growing up was a consequence of the inequal social system she lived in. Garza has participated in various organizations since the age of 12. In college, she worked at health clinics providing HIV and pregnancy testing, educating and learning in equal terms.

After graduating, Garza moved back to the Bay Area and briefly worked for Teach For America and AmeriCorps. At around the same time, Garza also volunteered for San Francisco Women Against Rape (SFWAR). However, she soon realized these organizations did not completely align with her emerging political ideals. She moved to Bayview Hunters Point after seeing an ad about the organization. There, she received both a practical and theoretical education on politics and organizing. She sees her time working with People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) as her early formative years as a young organizer.

Garza first Tweeted the hashtag “blacklivesmatter” on July 13, 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder. From there, she worked with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi to build the BLM movement. Black Lives Matter became an official organization in 2014. Currently, Garza is working at the Black Futures Lab (BFL), an institution supporting Black leaders to increase their presence in politics and the electoral arena. The Purpose of Power is both a retelling of her own path toward activism and a brief history of the Black Lives Matter movement. Its goal is to share the lessons she has learned over two decades of organizing.