Black Lives Matter Vancouver will meet today in Strathcona Park

Black Lives Matter has generated headlines across North America since it arose as a grassroots movement in 2012 to revive the black liberation movement.

The activist group emerged following the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida and has made efforts to affirm the importance of LGBT people, those with disabilities, and undocumented migrants of African descent.

In Toronto, Black Lives Matter has been at the forefront of confronting systemic racism, holding demonstrations outside the police station and meeting Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Here in Vancouver, it has set up a Facebook page but hasn't received much media coverage.

Today (May 7), Black Lives Matter will hold a community-building event from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Strathcona Park (857 Malkin Avenue). The gathering will take place near the hub of Vancouver's historic black community in Hogan's Alley, which linked Union and Prior Streets from Main Street to Jackson Avenue.

The community was dispersed with construction of the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts in the 1970s.

The winner of the 2015 City of Vancouver Book Award, Wayde Compton, spent more than a decade to get a memorial plaque for the former residents of Hogan's Alley. His book award came after publication of The Outer Harbour, a collection of stories exploring how nonwhite and poor communities often feel the brunt of urban renewal.