According to a new Pew Research Center report released Wednesday, the Black Lives Matter movement has lost popularity among Americans in the last three years. According to Pew, 51% of Americans strongly or somewhat support the Black Lives Matter movement. According to the organisation, this is a decrease from over 70% of Americans who voiced support for the campaign in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing in 2020 and 56% last year, reports CNN. According to the report, the waning support is mostly due to a decline in the proportion of white individuals who say they support the movement. According to Pew, the total number of Black and Hispanic adults who voiced support has remained stable over the last year. Also read: Black Americans faced over 1.63 million excess deaths over 2 decades, new study finds Eighty-one percent of Black adults back the movement. According to the poll, 63% of Asians and 61% of Hispanics agreed, compared to 42% of white adults. According to the research, when asked which words best define the movement, over one-third of Americans said "dangerous" and "divisive" describe it extremely or very well, the report said. However, there were considerable disparities across races and ethnic groupings. While white adults were more likely than other groups to think the phrases "dangerous" and "divisive" characterize the Black Lives Matter movement extremely or very well, 50% of Black adults said the word "dangerous" does not describe the movement very well or at all, according to the report. Also read: Protests spread in wake of George Floyd death in US According to Pew, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans are all more likely than white adults to say the phrase "empowering" characterizes the movement extremely or very well. However, almost one-third, or 34%, thought the same thing about the word "divisive". Adults under 30 were more likely to support the movement than those in all other age categories. The research also revealed a large ideological divide. According to the research, 84% of Democrats and Democratic leaners favour the Black Lives Matter movement, while 82% of Republicans or Republican leaners reject it, the report also said. Americans also shared their thoughts on the movement's influence on a variety of problems. According to the study, around 32% of Americans believe the movement has been extremely effective in drawing attention to racism towards Black people. According to Pew, a smaller proportion of US respondents said the movement had a similar influence on enhancing police accountability (14%), improving the lives of Black people (8%), and improving racial relations (7%). Also read: Bangladesh to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement These findings are based on an online survey conducted from April 10 to April 16 among a random sample of 5,073 persons in the United States, derived from panels initially recruited using probability-based approaches, the report concluded.

The murder case against former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd went to the jury Monday in a city on edge against another round of unrest like the one that erupted last year over the harrowing video of Chauvin with his knee on the Black man’s neck. The jury of six white people and six people who are Black or multiracial began deliberating after nearly a full day of closing arguments in which prosecutors argued that Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd last May in a way that even a child knew was wrong. The defense contended that the now-fired white officer acted reasonably and that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a heart condition and illegal drug use. Also read: Prosecutor: Chauvin ‘had to know’ Floyd’s life was in danger The jurors deliberated about four hours before retiring for the night to the hotel where they are being sequestered for this final phase of the trial. They were due to resume Tuesday morning. After closing arguments were done, Judge Peter Cahill rejected a defense request for a mistrial based in part on comments from California Rep. Maxine Waters, who said “we’ve got to get more confrontational” if Chauvin isn’t convicted of murder. The judge told Chauvin’s attorney: “Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.” He called her comments “abhorrent” and “disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch.” Chauvin, 45, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, all of which require the jury to conclude that his actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death and that his use of force was unreasonable. The most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison. “Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw,” prosecutor Steve Schleicher said in closing arguments, referring to the bystander video of Floyd pinned to the pavement with Chauvin’s knee on or close to his neck for up to 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as onlookers yelled at the officer to get off. Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson countered by arguing that Chauvin did what any reasonable police officer would have done after finding himself in a “dynamic” and “fluid” situation involving a large man struggling with three officers. As Nelson began speaking, the now-fired Chauvin removed his COVID-19 mask in front of the jury for one of the very few times during the trial. With the case drawing to a close, some stores were boarded up in Minneapolis. The courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and National Guard troops were on patrol. Floyd’s death set off protests last spring in the city and across the U.S. that sometimes turned violent. The city has also been on edge in recent days over the deadly police shooting of a 20-year-old Black man, Daunte Wright, in a nearby suburb on April 11. About 300 protesters marched in the streets outside the courthouse shortly after the jury got the case, lining up behind a banner reading, “Justice 4 George Floyd & all stolen lives. The world is watching.” Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell had the final word Monday, offering the state’s rebuttal argument. The prosecutor, who is Black, said the questions about the use of force and cause of death are “so simple that a child can understand it.” Also read: Defense expert: Floyd died from heart trouble, not restraint “In fact, a child did understand it, when the 9-year-old girl said, ‘Get off of him,’” Blackwell said, referring to a young witness who objected to what she saw. “That’s how simple it was. `Get off of him.’ Common sense.” Under the law, police have certain latitude to use force, and their actions are supposed to be judged according to what a “reasonable officer” in the same situation would have done. Nelson noted that officers who first went to the corner store where Floyd allegedly passed a counterfeit $20 bill were struggling with Floyd when Chauvin arrived as backup. The defense attorney also pointed out that the first two officers on the scene were rookies and that police had been told that Floyd might be on drugs. “A reasonable police officer understands the intensity of the struggle,” Nelson said, noting that Chauvin’s body camera and badge were knocked off his chest. Nelson also showed the jury pictures of pills found in Floyd’s SUV and pill remnants discovered in the squad car. Fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in Floyd’s system. The defense attorney said the failure of the prosecution to acknowledge that medical problems or drugs played a role “defies medical science and it defies common sense and reason.” During the prosecution’s argument, Schleicher replayed portions of the bystander video and other footage as he dismissed certain defense theories about Floyd’s death as “nonsense.” He said Chauvin killed Floyd by constricting his breathing. Schleicher rejected the drug overdose argument, as well as the contention that police were distracted by hostile onlookers, that Floyd had “superhuman” strength from a state of agitation known as excited delirium, and that he suffered possible carbon monoxide poisoning from auto exhaust. The prosecutor sarcastically referred to the idea that it was heart disease that killed Floyd as an “amazing coincidence.” “Is that common sense or is that nonsense?” Schleicher asked the jury. Blackwell, his fellow prosecutor, likewise rejected the defense theory that Floyd died because of an enlarged heart: “The truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.” Earlier, Schleicher described how Chauvin ignored Floyd’s cries and continued to kneel on him well after he stopped breathing and had no pulse. Chauvin was “on top of him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds and he had to know,” Schleicher said. “He had to know.” He said Chauvin heard Floyd, “but he just didn’t listen.” The prosecutor said Floyd was “not a threat to anyone” and was not trying to escape when he struggled with officers but instead was terrified of being put into the tiny backseat of the squad car. He said a reasonable officer with Chauvin’s training and experience — he was a 19-year Minneapolis police veteran — should have sized up the situation accurately. Chauvin, wearing a light gray suit with a blue shirt and blue tie, showed little expression as he watched himself and the other officers pinning Floyd to the ground on bodycam video played by his attorney. He cocked his head to the side and occasionally leaned forward to write on a notepad. Also read: Police chief: Kneeling on Floyd's neck violated policy An unidentified woman occupied the single seat set aside in the pandemic-spaced courtroom for a Chauvin supporter. Floyd’s brother Philonise represented the family in court, as he often has during the trial. Schleicher also noted that Chauvin was required to use his training to provide medical care to Floyd but ignored bystanders, rebuffed help from an off-duty paramedic and rejected a suggestion from another officer to roll Floyd onto his side. “He could have listened to the bystanders. He could have listened to fellow officers. He could have listened to his own training,” Schleicher said. “He knew better. He just didn’t do better.”

Echoing solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustices, much-anticipated art exhibition “The Black Story,” was launched virtually by Gallery Cosmos on Thursday. Curated by Nahar Khan, Executive Director of Gallery Cosmos, the special exhibition is shedding the spotlight on the recent wave of protests against racial injustices perpetrated against the Black community in America, which inspired people of all colours across continents to proclaim “Black Lives Matter”, in solidarity with the movement.

In light of the global Black Lives Matter movement, a month-long virtual interactive exhibition titled ‘The Black Story’ will begin on Thursday.

On the eve of the first match of Bangabandhu Bangladesh vs West Indies Cricket Series,  Bangladesh and West Indies cricket teams showed solidarity with  Balck Lives Matter movement, a decentralized political and social movement.

Bangladesh cricket team, along with the touring West Indies, are all set to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

A white Ohio police officer was fired Monday after bodycam footage showed him fatally shooting 47-year-old Andre Hill — a Black man who was holding a cellphone — and refusing to administer first aid for several minutes.

One person was shot and killed late Saturday in Portland, Oregon, as a large caravan of President Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed in the streets, police said.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Washington DC on Friday to protest police brutality and racism on George Floyd. 

A giant, yellow ‘Black Lives Matter’ mural was painted Thursday on New York City's Fifth Avenue right in front of Trump Tower, a skyscraper that serves as the headquarters for the Trump Organisation.