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Black Lives Matter

Yazmine V. Slosar

University of Texas at El Paso

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Black Lives Matter is a movement that started in 2012 after George Zimmerman was

convicted and acquitted of 17-year old Trayvon Martin's death. The name "Black Lives Matter"

speaks for itself. "This movement is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black

racism that permeates our society" according to blacklivesmatter.com. This movement welcomes

anyone that wants to bring an end to anti-Black racism. People should definitely be involved in

and support Black Lives Matter because no one should be treated less than others. It's a clich

thing to say but, we should all be equal. Yes, all lives matter but they won't matter until black

lives matter.

We should all be involved in the black lives matter movement because, as Martin Luther

King Jr. once said, "The time is always right to do what is right." And what is right is to not let

black people feel like they are any less of a person because people arent treating them as they

should. The Black Lives Matter movement is a very popular movement and many people have

knowledge about it.

According to blacklivesmatter.com, Black Lives Matter is more than just trying to find

justice for the killings of Black people by police. Black Lives Matter seeks to find justice for all

Black people; Black queer and transgender, disabled, un-documented, Blacks with records, Black

females, all Black people. Saying Black Lives Matter is saying they matter because they are

human too and way too many are deprived of basic human rights and dignity when that should

not be the case at all.

There might be some people in our society that may think that racism is over and

everyone is treated equally but the fact of the matter is, that is completely false. There are many

people who are against Black Lives Matter. For instance, there is one incident that occurred at
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the East Tennessee State University Campus involving a former student named Tristan Rettke.

During a Black Lives Matter protest on the ETSU campus on September 28 of 2016, Tristan

Rettke showed up to the campus protest wearing overalls and a gorilla mask while he carried a

Confederate flag. According to Judge (2017), he dangled bananas on a rope in front of several

protesters and witnesses said that Tristan Rettke used racial slurs and intimidated the protesters.

One activists death that led to many people talking about the Black Lives Matter

movement was the death of 28-year-old Sandra Bland on July 13, 2015. Sandra Bland was

stopped by a Texas state trooper that claimed it was because Sandra didnt signal when she

switched lanes. When Sandra questioned the state troopers instruction to put out her cigarette

and get out of the vehicle, he arrested her for assault of an officer. Within 65 hours of her arrest,

she was found hung and the coroner called it a suicide. Many people started talking about her

death because they thought it was unusual for her to take her own life so close to the time she

had gotten arrested. People predicted that she did not take her own life but officers inside of the

jail did.

There has been way too many cases involving injustice and racial profiling. It seems like

the more aware we are becoming, the more it seems to happen. This isnt a movement that is

going to go away in a couple months or years; Black Lives Matter has been going on since 2012

and if anything, it will continue to get bigger. There are so many people who are invested in this

movement and they will not give up without a fight.

There are a couple of things people can do if they want to help Black Lives Matter. One

thing people can do is find a local Black Lives Matter Chapter and contact them for membership.

Another thing they can do is learn the principles about what Black Lives Matter is all about.

People could also find a local or national event and attend one. One of the simplest things
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someone can do if they want to help Black Lives Matter is to be aware and learn about what is

going on.

The following shows how white Americans view the Black Lives Matter movement. As

you can see in the chart, there are more Republicans that oppose the Black Lives Matter while

there are more Democrats who strongly support the movement.

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There has been a study that shows the percentage of how many people are satisfied with

the way Blacks are treated in U.S. Society from 2001 to 2015. The following chart shows this:

According to this chart, whites show the highest percentage of satisfaction throughout the

years while national adults show the lowest percentage. The year that had the lowest percentage

numbers from all National adults, Blacks, Hispanics and Whites was 2015. Incidentally, 2015

was the year that more people became aware of how Black people were being treated and started

talking about Black Lives Matter.