The United States of America: The country that seems to be progressing on social issues by the minute. But racism toward blacks is not one of them.

This is where we come across the movement Black Lives Matter. This movement was created to bring awareness to those individuals who feel superior to blacks as well as to the people who say racism does not exist anymore.

This is an issue that needs to be addressed because it not only affects the African-American community, but every colored person living in the United States of America.

This is why Cal State Northridge Africana Studies Department held a week-long event where students were able to learn the importance of African-American history and making sure it does not repeat. For students at CSUN, this meant asking questions to professors or others who considered themselves activists for the African American community.

There has been a surge in police officers killing black men and women around the country within the last year which is why Black Lives Matter has taken on a national status. For black CSUN students, racism is felt all around even in 2015.

Although CSUN has a history of racism, undergraduate student Elizabeth Perez believes it does not occur as much on this campus because of how diverse CSUN is, but that racism still needs to be discussed. Also as a Latina, she has had to deal with obstacles of assumptions made toward her because of the way she looks.

In recent years, Cal State Northridge has placed more obstacles for students on financial aid to overcome. Many of these students are low- income African-American and Latino students. The university now requires those on financial to pass 80-percent of the classes he or she takes and not have a criminal record.

When it comes down to the facts, it is important to understand the privilege to have meaningful conversations with others, but it is also more important to know that until you apply what was talked about at these events, these discussions don’t mean anything.

CSUN student Carolina Blanco really believes Black Lives Matter should be constantly discussed because she has also had to deal with individuals confronting her for speaking another language. She also believes Black Lives Matter not only supports the black community but the Latino one as well.

It is vital that every minority student attending CSUN or any other university in America understands that the system was not made for them to succeed and in order to do that you have to be resilient to the different obstacles that will come your way while receiving an education.

On Friday night, Dr. Cedrick Hackett’s week long events came to a powerful ending by showing the film “Dear White People.” This film was powerful in showing how racism has continually come about in the educational system in recent years by showing how white fraternities and sororities have tried to portray African-Americans by supposedly dressing up like them. The most recent case was a couple weeks ago when a fraternity and sorority decided to have a black face party at UCLA which resulted in temporary suspension and angry African-American students.

These events are why Black Lives matter have been established today and why the up-and-coming generations of students will be looked upon to take a stand against racism and also to educate the uneducated in the inner city communities.