Black Lives Matter Movement
           By: Ciraye Mitchell               l

 
​    In the past few months there have been protest going on about the black lives matter
Movement. BLM is an international human rights movement originating in the African
American community that protests and fights against violence and racism towards people.
#Blacklivesmatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s
murderer. Everyone has their own opinion on the Black lives matter movement some people
stand for this movement because they believe that black lives do matter and that these killings
going on with black people specifically is not right. Lately police officers have been killing black
people suspecting them of doing something wrong when really those people are doing nothing
wrong at all.
   Other people do not believe in #Blacklivesmatter instead they believe in #Alllivesmatter.
Maya smith, a sophomore of Hillgrove Highschool stated, “I think the BLM movement is a good
thing. I think that people should hear what we have to say. And that we should stand up for what
we believe in as black people even if some people do not agree.” Maya went on to explain,
“BLM, I think is a movement where black people are just trying to voice our opinion and trying
to let other people hear what we have to say because what we are saying and standing up for is
important. I also think that the movement is a thing because we don’t feel equal to anyone else
meaning any other race in America.” Some people believe in #Alllivesmatter and yes, all lives
do matter, but some people wonder why is it that black people specifically compared to any other
race is being killed on a day to day basis. 42-year-old, Camella Mitchell stated, “Yes, all lives do
matter but recognize that black lives are included in that statement so stop taking black lives for
no reason.”
   Many people believe in this movement also because the black community has been
racially profiled for such a long time, and with protesting people believe that with getting the
word out maybe we will see a huge decrease in racial profiling. 15 year old, Marie Roberts
explained, “The color of your skin does not define you and it makes me very upset people have
the nerve to suspect and point the finger at black people solely because of their skin color.”
In reaction to the BLM movement people started the “All Lives Matter” movement
arguing that the term Black Lives Matter implies that other lives do not matter. The black lives
matter movement exist because the black community is not being treated fairly compared to any
other race that exist in America. People need to know that black lives do matter and that they are
not living in the world to just exist and be pushed around and just be racially profiled. The
hashtag Black lives matter is not saying that only black lives matter it is saying that black lives
also matter.

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