“Whose streets? Our streets!”: this chant is a reference to the fact that black people are often criminalized simply for existing in their own neighborhoods and is chanted by the Black Lives Matter movement. On Sept.17 people took to the streets in St. Louis after a police officer was found not guilty for murdering an unarmed black male and planting a gun on the body. The protest had remained peaceful until nightfall when most of the protesters went home and a few stayed to take more violent actions. In response, police officers chanted, “Whose streets?Our streets!” while arresting over 80 people and mocking a slogan that has significant meaning to black people. How do we trust law enforcement with our rights and our lives when they publicly mock our beliefs?

The Washington Post found that 34 percent of the unarmed people killed by U.S. police officers in 2016 were black males. But black males only make up six percent of the population in the U.S.

To draw attention to the fact that not all lives are being treated equal to others, the movement called Black Lives Matter was born. This movement was created after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of 17 year old Trayvon Martin in 2012.
There is a misconception that Black Lives Matter is a racist movement. Racism still exists in society and some may even argue that it’s in our government. The Black Lives Matter website decrees, “We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for black people and, by extension, all people.”

This is not a racist movement. It is a movement calling out the racism that exists in today’s society. To be completely honest, at first I loved the idea of All Lives Matter. I loved the fact that we had people fighting for everyone’s lives and all could be treated equally. But then I looked into it and I found that it’s just a slogan and that it isn’t a movement fighting for the equality of everyone’s life. Instead it hides the fact that not all lives are being treated the same.

Believing that all lives should matter and saying that you believe in the All Lives Matter slogan isn’t the same thing. All Lives Matter is a response to the Black Lives Matter movement. The basis for All Lives Matter is to distract attention from black lives because all lives are equal. The basis for Black Lives Matter is bringing forth evidence proving that black lives are being treated as less than other people’s lives.

So before we can get to a point when we can say that all lives matter, we need to be at a point where society can prove that all lives are being treated equally. The dream is that one day all lives will be treated equally and that no race, ethnicity, religion, gender, age or sexal orientation can change that. But we’re not there yet. Movements like Black Lives Matter are necessary to call out racism and discrimination that’s still present in society so that one day all lives will be treated equally because they all do matter.

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