2000s

Katrina's storm surge exposed Army Corps of Engineers levee failures. The Lower Ninth Ward — 98% Black, median household income ~$27,000 — flooded under 20 feet of water. Approximately 393,000 Black residents were displaced from the metro area; 100,000 had not returned five years later. The racial composition of the neighborhoods that flooded most severely reflected decades of discriminatory zoning placing Black communities in low-lying flood zones.

Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005. Failures of Army Corps of Engineers–maintained levees flooded the Lower Ninth Ward, home to 120,000 residents, and other majority-Black neighborhoods. An estimated 393,000 Black residents were displaced. The federal response was widely condemned as racially negligent. Over 1,800 people died.

By 2008 the U.S. incarcerated 2.3 million people — the world's largest prison population. Black men were incarcerated at a rate of 3,161 per 100,000, compared to 487 per 100,000 for white men. One in nine Black men aged 20–34 was behind bars. The Pew Center reported that 1 in 100 American adults was incarcerated; for Black men in their thirties, the ratio was 1 in 36.

The 2008 financial crisis, driven in part by predatory subprime mortgage lending concentrated in Black and Latino neighborhoods, devastated Black household wealth. Between 2005 and 2009, median Black household net worth fell 53 percent — from $12,124 to $5,677 — compared to a 16 percent drop for white households. The Pew Research Center documented the widest Black-white wealth gap in 25 years.

Obama won 365 electoral votes, defeating John McCain. He won 95% of the Black vote; Black voter turnout exceeded white turnout for the first time in recorded history. Civil rights scholars cautioned against framing the election as the end of structural racism.

Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first Black person to hold the office. He won with 52.9 percent of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes, carrying states including Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, and Ohio. His election drew record Black voter turnout and was witnessed by over a million people gathered in Chicago's Grant Park.

Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in a Sanford, Florida gated community as Martin walked home from a convenience store. Zimmerman, who had called 911 to report Martin as suspicious, was not initially arrested. After national outcry, he was charged with second-degree murder. His acquittal in July 2013 directly catalyzed the founding of Black Lives Matter.

In Shelby County v. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act by a 5-4 vote, invalidating the coverage formula that determined which jurisdictions required federal preclearance before changing voting laws. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion. Within hours, Texas, North Carolina, and other states moved to implement voter ID laws and other restrictions.

The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Shelby County v. Holder struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — the formula used to determine which jurisdictions required federal preclearance before changing voting laws. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the formula was based on 'decades-old data.' Within 24 hours, Texas announced it would implement a previously-blocked voter ID law and a redistricting plan. Within two months, nine of the thirteen formerly-covered states had introduced new voting restrictions. North Carolina passed the nation's most sweeping post-Shelby voting law, later struck down by a federal court as targeting African Americans 'with almost surgical precision.'

In response to George Zimmerman's acquittal, Alicia Garza wrote a social media post that Patrisse Cullors amplified with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Opal Tometi helped build the online infrastructure. The three women are credited as co-founders of Black Lives Matter, which grew into one of the most significant civil rights movements of the 21st century.

George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, whom he shot on February 26, 2012, while Martin was returning from a convenience store in Sanford, FL. Zimmerman had followed Martin despite being told by a 911 dispatcher not to. Alicia Garza wrote a 'love letter to Black people' on Facebook the night of the acquittal; Patrisse Cullors shared it with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter; Opal Tometi helped build the network. BLM was born.

George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder and manslaughter on July 13, 2013, in the killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, whom he had shot on February 26, 2012, while Martin was returning from a convenience store in a gated community in Sanford, FL. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, had followed Martin despite being told by a 911 dispatcher not to. He invoked Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Alicia Garza wrote a 'love letter to Black people' on Facebook the night of the acquittal; Patrisse Cullors shared it with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter; Opal Tometi helped build the network. BLM was born from that moment.

George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of Trayvon Martin. The verdict prompted nationwide protests. Alicia Garza wrote a 'love letter to Black people' on Facebook, which Patrisse Cullors shared with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Opal Tometi joined them, founding what became a global movement for racial justice.

Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson on Canfield Drive. Brown was unarmed. His body lay in the street for four hours. The killing triggered weeks of protests in Ferguson and nationally, militarized police responses, and a DOJ investigation that found Ferguson's police and courts operated as a system of racial extraction.