The Black Lives Matter organization was started in 2012 after the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. According to their website, the organization stands for the liberation of oppressed people. The movement has received backlash due to its title, Black Lives Matter. People started pushing for All Lives Matter to be more inclusive of all people. However, Marissa Jenae, co-founder of the movement said in an interview with Fox that “All Lives Matter is a racial slur."

President Barack Obama was speaking at a criminal justice panel and pointed out that the phrasing "black lives matter" was started to indicate a specific problem, not to say that other groups do not matter.

“I think everybody understands all lives matter," Obama said. "Everybody wants strong, effective law enforcement. Everybody wants their kids to be safe when they’re walking to school. Nobody wants to see police officers, who are doing their jobs fairly, hurt."

The danger in dismissing Black Lives Matters is that it’s doing just that--it's dismissing the fact that black lives matters. Groups have always started programs because there was a problem to begin with, so why do people have such a hard time accepting 'Black Lives Matter'?

Increasingly, it seems situations are revealing that people do not value black lives.

Recently at San Jose State, three white students tortured their only black roommate, Donald "DJ" Williams, by calling him three-fifths, and having " n----r" written on a board, physically locking him in a closet as well putting a bike chain around his neck. The victim pressed charges, but this hate crime case resulted in misdemeanor battery charges and no hate crime convictions.

It was clear that DJ's life did not matter to his white roommates.

Constant overlooking of racial abuses reveals that black lives do not matter, and that is why this movement is so important.