For many, summer 2020 was a time of racial reckoning as nationwide “Black Lives Matter” protests filled streets and headlines.
But five years later, new survey data and interviews with some Northeast Ohio protest organizers and activists show growing skepticism that the protests and the increased attention given to the issue of racial equality in the wake of George Floyd's death produced significant change.
In 2020, a majority, 52%, of U.S. adults told pollsters the 2020 demonstrations would lead to changes that would improve the lives of Black Americans, according to survey data released by the Pew Research Center on Wednesday. But in 2025, less than a third, 27%, of U.S. adults said the demonstrations led to improvements.
“The summer of 2020 was really a moment in time,” said Juliana Horowitz, co-author of the Pew Research Center report. "The way people felt was very specific to that moment and wasn’t necessarily sustained for a long period."
Marches and protests demanding police reform and racial equality took place all over the United States, including in Cleveland, Akron and surrounding suburbs. The demonstrations took place after two high-profile cases of police officers killing Black Americans: Breonna Taylor, who was shot by police officers in her Louisville home, and George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck and back for nine minutes and 29 seconds.
Support for the Black Lives Matter movement peaked in 2020, according to Pew. In 2017, 55% of U.S. adults said they supported the movement. By 2020, that share rose to 67%. As the five-year anniversary of Floyd's death approaches on May 25, support has dipped to 52% of U.S. adults.
Before it was a well-known motto, Black Lives Matter was the name of an activist organization that works to fight racism and injustice, often through policy change, that organized many of the demonstrations in 2020. Some activists said over the past five years, the diminishing support for Black Lives Matter has been accompanied by a rise in opposition to their work.
“Things are just so much worse because you have empowered, emboldened politicians that can do things under the cover and with the approval of a racist president,” said Kareem Henton, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Cleveland, which organized several local demonstrations in 2020. “It’s going to be a big fight to take that empowerment away.”
Henton said he considers Trump's rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion, often called DEI, programs and crackdowns on immigration racist.
The Trump Administration says its efforts to remove DEI programs represent a return to a system where personnel decisions are based on merit rather than race, color, religion, sex or national origin and that Trump is "restoring fairness and accountability in federal hiring" by ending DEI.
The administration's effort to crack down on illegal immigration is motivated by a desire to fight crime, supporters say. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in January that the Trump administration considers all undocumented immigrants "criminals" and isn't seeking to deport only those who commit violent acts, according to Axios.
Being in the country illegally is a civil violation, not a criminal one. During his campaign, Trump falsely blamed immigrants for rising crime.
Henton said the 2020 demonstrations served as a dual call to action, saying that while some people protested racism, others saw the protests themselves as a threat.
“There’s a large portion of the white constituency that believes that this is their country,” Henton said. "They believe that God is with them in maintaining this as a white country, and these folks do not want immigrants coming in, reducing their numbers, reducing their influence."
Back in 2020, it was the diversity of crowds at the protests that raised hopes that the demonstrations would be more effective at spurring changes that would improve lives for Black people.
Demonstrations took place across Northeast Ohio, including in a number of predominantly white suburbs, including Brecksville, Chagrin Falls, Lakewood, Medina and Strongsville.
“That clearly gave a sense of hope and optimism at the time,” said Ronnie Dunn, a Cleveland State urban studies professor. “We were cautiously optimistic that we might have reached a tipping point in the nation's history relative to racial justice.”
Henton said he too was pleased by the diversity of the 2020 protesters. At the time, he was thankful for the turnout, but still wondered if people showed up because it was trendy.
“You have a lot of folks that want to be a part of things in this age of selfies,” he said. “The fact that they knew it was time to show up, and they were showing solidarity — that was the key point.”
The Pew survey results reflect that optimism, particularly among liberals. In 2020, a large majority of Democrats and those who lean democratic, 70%, said they believed the increased attention to race would lead to improvements for Black people. But as of February, only about a third, 34%, of that group said that it has happened.
Five years later, Dunn said many at the protests were more committed to the gesture of kindness than to working for long-term political change.
"Ohio's a red state, so I would say a lot of it was obviously performed," Dunn said. "The real impact of those protests in predominantly white communities will depend on whether the events lead to real policy changes, and we see in the long term, they did not."
The backlash also allowed private companies that in 2020 made DEI polices and anti-racism statements under pressure from the public to eliminate them five years later, Dunn said.
“Five years ago, I guess we wouldn't have anticipated us being where we are today,” he said. “Not only have we witnessed a white racial backlash, but this is of such an extreme nature, the likes of which this nation, I would say, has not witnessed in the past 70 years.”
The poll shows that Americans have become less optimistic about the future of racial equity for Black people. Among those who said the country still has work to do on racial equity, 51% now say it is very or somewhat likely that Black people will eventually have equal rights with white people. In 2020, 60% believed equality was likely.
Today, Black respondents are particularly pessimistic, the results show. Less than a third of Black people who believed there was more work to be done on the issue said it was likely Black people would achieve equal rights with their white counterparts, compared to 61% of white, 50% of Hispanic and 41% of Asian respondents.
Dunn said his optimism has been blunted compared to how he felt five years ago.
“I don't feel too positive about the overall outcome for our democracy as a whole, as a multiracial democracy, just looking at what is going on in this country,” Dunn said. "I have concerns about us still being a democratic society overall."
The poll did show that most U.S. adults, 70%, still say the attention to racial inequality after Floyd’s murder represented a change in how most Americans think about the issue.
Despite the failures and setbacks, Henton said he believes the 2020 protests were worthwhile.
“People showed up. I am not disappointed. A statement was made,” Henton said. “It was a success because it definitely is something that people would draw upon, and it would be a motivator, and there were things that were introduced that we can still build upon.”
