In 2012, the murderer of African American teenager Trayvon Martin, was found not guilty by a Florida jury. In the wake of this acquittal the organization #BlackLivesMatter was formed, initially on social media. While Black Lives Matter is a peaceful protest movement, many voices on the political right and in the corporate media have framed it as a violent, even terrorist, organization. In this paper, I explore the connections between critical pedagogy, critical media literacy, and the Black Lives Matter movement. And I question whether critical movements in education and media studies may be organically related to social justice movements outside of academic settings, or whether there is a false articulation between theory and practice suggested by the argument that #BlackLivesMatter may be considered a critical media literacy intervention.