Top left: Black Lives Matter protest in Paris. Photo by Bastian Greshake Tovaras (CC BY-SA 2.0); Top middle: Black Lives Matter rally in Melbourne, Australia. Photo by Matt Hrkac (CC BY-SA 2.0); Top right: Black Lives Matter rally in Melbourne, Australia. Photo by Matt Hrkac (CC BY-SA 2.0); Middle right: Black Lives Matter protest in London, UK. Photo by G. Miessi (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); Middle center (top): George Floyd mural in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo by Lorie Shaull (CC BY-SA 2.0); Middle center (bottom) Black Lives Matter protest in Washington, D.C. Photo by Geoff Livingston (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); Middle left: Black Lives Matter protest in London, UK. Photo by G. Miessi (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); Bottom left: Black Lives Matter protest in Paris. Photo by Bastian Greshake Tovaras (CC BY-SA 2.0); Bottom right: 2017 Black Lives Matter demonstration in Berlin, Germany. Photo by Montecruz Foto (CC BY-SA 2.0).

The killing of 46-year-old black American George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, was met with an outpouring of anger and grief, as Americans took to the streets to protest the police brutality endemic in black communities and the violence to which black people in the United States are routinely subjected. Taking place against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wave of protests that rippled throughout the country kicked off a reckoning by the United States of its long history of violence and injustice against its black citizens.

The demonstrations quickly spread to other countries, with protesters in nations throughout the world marching in solidarity with black Americans and demanding that their own leaders confront the past and present treatment of populations of color. As the slogan “Black Lives Matter” morphs from a controversial rallying cry of an often misunderstood grassroots movement into a sentiment embraced by the mainstream, the weeks following the death of George Floyd have felt for many like a watershed moment.

In this special section, we share stories by members of the Global Voices community, reporting and reflecting on how this moment is playing out in their own countries and communities.

Indians create awareness with #DalitLivesMatter (July 4)

US and Venezuelan politicians accuse Maduro of instigating violence during BLM protests (July 1)

Short film demonstrates what it can be like to be black in Japan (June 30)

June 2020: A month of #BLM in Japan (June 27)

Taking down statues: France confronts its colonial and slave trade past (June 27)

Afro-Czechs on visibility, racism and life in the Czech Republic (Part II) (June 25)

Afro-Czechs on visibility, racism and life in the Czech Republic (Part I) (June 24)

Old statues, new maps (June 24)

In the wake of Black Lives Matter's protests, death of black 5-year-old becomes symbol of Brazil's racism and inequality (June 22)

Remembering Amadou Diallo, a Guinean victim of police brutality in the USA (June 22)

Americans, your fantasies about Canada enable Canadians’ complacent sense of white superiority (June 18)

Amid Black Lives Matter protests, fresh calls to remove statuary that hijacks the Caribbean's historical narrative (June 11)

Black Lives Matter protests in Trinidad and Tobago spark discussions about race (June 9)

Actually, anti-blackness has everything to do with Sri Lanka (June 9)

Black Lives Matter in Jamaica too (June 8)

The future of protest in Uganda (June 6)

‘Sit with that discomfort': Two white Trinidadians go public about racism  (June 6)

For black and indigenous people in Central America Black Lives Matter (June 5)

‘Born fi dead': the Caribbean looks at the George Floyd protests and sees itself (June 3)

To speak of George Floyd, it is necessary to speak of my own failures (June 3)