The world reacts to TIME Magazine’s powerful cover

TIME Magazine has weighed into the racial tensions engulfing America with a powerful new cover. And the world is taking notice.

Time Magazine has put the emotional hashtag on its front cover.

THE United States erupted into racial tensions once again this week after video emerged of South Carolina policeman Michael Slager fatally shooting 50-year-old African American Walter Scott in the back.

The officer has since been charged with murder but the heartbreaking incident is the latest in a string of black deaths to have received international attention in the last two years.

When 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was fatally shot by neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman, the trial captivated the country. The eventual not guilty verdict shocked the black community in Florida and spawned a powerful mantra: “Black lives matter.”

The statement has become a movement, with the words plastered on placards in protests across the country. It was also a call to action in Ferguson, Missouri, when a police officer was acquitted of killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

Now one of the most iconic magazines in the world, and a barometer for the sociopolitical climate of America, has weighed into the debate with a powerful new cover.

The new edition of TIME Magazine today appropriated and the world is taking notice.

well, gonna be interesting to see the reaction to that time cover.

— Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) April 9, 2015

HAVE YALL SEEN THIS WEEK's COVER OF @TIME MAGAZINE??? The world is finally opening up their eyes. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/6EEFByUDC3

— PEABODY™ (@AchaFlocka) April 9, 2015

Now that it's on the cover of TIME Magazine, it will be accepted as truth? No. It's not that simple.… https://t.co/wQpD0eJp8J

— Carmen Rodgers (@CarmenRodgers) April 9, 2015

Time magazine's powerful new cover. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/qKiuyID8vn

— Antonio French (@AntonioFrench) April 9, 2015

That @TIME cover seems to be making an affirmative defense of the justice system. Remember that #BlackLivesMatter is a call to axn.

— mervyn marcano (@britrican) April 9, 2015

@TIME This belong to you? I looove this cover 😍✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ My grandparents gotta be rolling in their grave's. 👏👏👏✊✊✊✌✌ pic.twitter.com/d5Ertv3mDw

— Meg ♥ (@1MissCnn) April 9, 2015

Damn is that really the TIME magazine cover?

— Trevon or Tre (@Joy_Behar_Swagg) April 9, 2015

Thank you #TimeMagazine #BlackLivesMatter in EVERY context. http://t.co/40baBU4zcJ

— Gabriel C. Stovall (@GabrielCStovall) April 9, 2015

Why I love Time magazine. pic.twitter.com/oxmnOEsNQs

— kenye ⚪️ (@H0llyw00dSmile) April 9, 2015

Somebody finally got off the fence with this one. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/CuzFvw50HH

— Spectacles in Script (@SpectNScript) April 9, 2015

Originally published as The world reacts to TIME Magazine’s powerful cover