LAUSR

Significance After George Floyd was murdered by police in May 2020, protests against systemic racism erupted across the United States. These demonstrations turned out a much more diverse crowd than previous waves of demonstrations for racial justice. We analyze a unique dataset collected from participants in these protests during summer 2020 to understand what motivated participants to join the crowd. We show that personal identities to specific subgroups representing race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation are connected to specific intersectional motivations. Movements that activate individuals by connecting to a range of subgroup identities are more likely to engage diverse crowds, and therefore, have the potential to motivate greater social change.