I am an advocate for Black Lives Matter. Although I am not black, and although I have not gone through the struggles and hardships of many black individuals, I am an advocate for this movement.

Many people believe that the Black Lives Matter movement condones and enforces violence and hatred against white people, and that is simply not the case. In fact, if you check the official Twitter page for Black Lives Matter, the most recent tweet states “The #BlackLivesMatter Network advocates for Dignity, Justice, and Respect.” The founders of Black Lives Matter (Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors) initially created this movement as a “call to action” for the black community after the injustice suffered at the hands of Trayvon Martin. Martin was a 17-year-old black boy who was wrongfully murdered by George Zimmerman, and Zimmerman was not held accountable for his crime.

While black-on-black, black-on-white, and white-on-white crime definitely still exists, it is important to recognize the significance of white-on-black crime because it seems to occur the most often and for unnecessary reasons. If you didn't already know, African Americans were forcibly removed from their country hundreds of years ago to perform endless hours of hard labor every day without proper food, pay, or working conditions. Not only did they suffer because of these things, but many (if not all) were physically and verbally abused or killed, and black women and young girls were raped and sexually assaulted. It wasn’t okay then, and it's still not okay now, even though slavery does not exist anymore. These people have been taken advantage of and considered as less-than-human for a very long time, and that is truly unacceptable.

Yes, there are black people who intentionally do bad things, and there are black people who intentionally want to hurt other people, but you cannot let the actions and attitudes of these individuals reflect on an entire race. It isn't fair to treat black people more harshly than white people just because they have a different skin color. I know that in my life, I can say with absolute certainty that I've encountered many more rude white people than black people, and that is because so many white people believe they are entitled to everything.

An example would be the commotion around “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter.” Black Lives Matter is a movement that advocates for peace and justice and racial equality among the black community. Most white people, however, seem to believe that because black people are reminding the rest of the world that they are still being treated like hardcore criminals in a white-supremacist society, they need to make sure the world knows that they are just as important as black people. Meanwhile, black people are just trying to tell the white people that they aren't being treated like them even though they should be, and the white people aren't having it. White people are also reminding society that the lives of police officers matter, and of course they do, but police officers haven't been racially oppressed for hundreds of years. Black Lives Matter is not a movement that declares Black people’s lives as the only ones that matter; it is a movement that says “we recognize that your lives matter, but our lives matter too.”

I’m not saying that every white person is bad, but not every black person is bad either, nor is every police officer. In this world, there are good people and there are bad people. As the good people and as the informed people, it is our job to recognize our white privilege (meaning that as white people, we are treated marginally better in society in comparison to black people), and it is our job to let the bad people know that what they’re doing isn't OK.

Too much has been happening in this world lately for us not to stand together and help fight this blatant oppression. With that said; become informed, become a black ally/advocate, and become aware of your privilege as a white person in this country- you’re already much better off than others who probably have it much worse.