I started writing this out as a comment on the article "I'm Not Racist For Not Believing in the Black Lives Matter Movement." I encourage you to read it and also share your opinion with the writer. I will not condone hate against her, nor will I condone excessive anger or bashing in any way. She is open to new opinions, and that's what I'm hoping to give her in the nicest way I can, while still delivering the facts. Anyways, my comment eventually got too long, so here we are. My response to "I'm Not Racist For Not Believing in the Black Lives Matter Movement."

Miss Ashton Fetting,

"The Black Lives Matter movement is the current KKK." One step too far, just one. There was a line, it has been drawn, this is not OK. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I went to the KKK's website to make sure that I get this right. The KKK stands for White Supremacy; they stand for murder, belligerent discrimination, and "One White Race to Rule Them All" mentality. If this is what you believe the blacks live matter movement is all about (one black race to rule them all), then you didn't do your research enough. The "slams" and aggression, aren't only against white people. Not even a little bit. They're against those who have repressed and continue to repress an ever growing population of people. You made a good point about not understanding why people hate others based on their race, but it has been happening for years. That's why the black lives matter movement is so prevalent and important. We (I say we because I'm in support of it) are in the beginning of making history. If you read your history book, you'd know that any great change in history was preceded by either war, or a war of intellects. By that I mean, people who know their rights and what they deserve, as humans, fighting the people that want to take it away from them.

Since we are both young, white women, I don't expect either of us to ever fully understand what it's like to be black in America. However, we can learn, and we can talk about it, and not make it such a hard topic for people to discuss. From your article, it seems not only that you don't understand, but that you don't really want to. The first part of making a difference is starting to talk about things that people don't want to talk about. Like melanin. Melanin is in the skin, it's a part of people's bodies, and until recently, there was no way of changing it. It comes in two forms, a brownish color, and a reddish brown color. We as white people, distinguish it as having a pale skin tone or having more olive skin tone (of course, there are other skin tones in there, but these are the more basic ones). The production of melanin is affected by UV exposure, genetic makeup, size of melanocytes, etc, no one can help the color of skin that they have. What we can help, is the hate we feel over someone's genetic makeup. Now, how dumb does that sound? "I hate you because your genetic makeup, something you can't control, is different than mine." If that were the case everywhere, I'd hate my brother or my mom.

This month, and for the next couple months or years to follow, it's black lives matter, because the people that receive the most hate and anger towards their race and color of their skin, are black people. I don't believe that they, as a race, hate white people, they hate how our ancestors treated theirs and how some people are more likely to shoot them for walking down the street than others. What I think you fail to understand is how prevalent racism, against black people, is. I've never been afraid walking down the street, I've never been worried about whether or not my brother will come home at the end of the day, or whether or not I'd get shot for asking a question, but there are people who live like this every day.

I want to try and compare it to feminism to maybe shine some light on some other aspects. Women are still earning less on the dollar than men. Those are facts that I didn't pull out of my ass, but facts that I looked up. On another scale, black men earn less that white women and black women earn less that black men. How can you even believe that the higher the position the more power they have? The higher the position, the more stress is forced on them to perform at a higher rate than most, (by them/they, I mean anyone who isn't white). The glass ceiling for women is a very real thing, it's something that a lot of women don't get to break through, and it's the same for black people. They're shut down, and silenced for their opinion; so, how can you think that they are even offered the same things that we are as white women? If you don't believe me, or maybe need some more positive enforcement, here's Viola Davis's speech when she won an Emmy for Lead Actress on Prime Time. Notice her reaction when she wins, and notice the color of the other women nominated. I'm sure you'll say "but she's a Julliard Graduate," check out the interview she did with the A.V Club about her small role in "Doubt." I hope these two wonderful pieces of information will help you realize that for the second time in history, black people are standing up for themselves as a group, and that's something that most people should be in support of.

You mentioned the American Dream closer to the end of your article. Well, here's the hard truth; the American Dream isn't achievable because it's different for everyone. For me, it's having enough money and time to help support my family, and I'm not there, yet. For some, it's being able to have food for the night, or a warm bed to sleep in, and they might never achieve that. For Miss Viola Davis, it was being an actress, and having to beat out hundreds, if not thousands, of other black women to live her dream in her small rolls along the way. Now, she's able to use her voice, that she fought for, to shine light on the things that need to shine.

I believe in our troops, and our police officers, and I love them and what they do to protect us from danger. The people I don't agree with, are those putting hate against others in the world. What you should be talking about is ALL of the people who put hate into the world. Not just the people who say "Black Lives Matter" then break the law, but the police officers who are killing unjustly, and the little boy down the street who just kicked a girl in the stomach because she's black, and George Zimmerman, and everyone like them who aren't standing up for what's right. You can't seclude a single group of people, that's what got us here in the first place. I believe in the Black Lives Matter movement because it's a larger step to bring people together and to prove the worth of so many, even though we shouldn't have to.

All lives matter. They do. They all do. But the people that are being outrageously targeted, are those in the black community. I hope to use my voice, a voice that has more pull and more power, to shed light on the voices that don't. Not only the people who literally can't speak for themselves, but the people who can't get it out because their voice is being stifled, and the people who were never given the vocabulary to articulate it, and the people who are trying, so hard to be heard, but can't because of people like you, who don't seem to want to understand the other side of things. If you've ever lost a family member, or a friend, to something unjust, you'd be up in arms, too. If you were ever told to get back to the fields where you belong, or if you had ever been refused service because of your skin, you would be in the same boat as those who experience these injustices every day. So, please, take this into mind the next time you say, "I don't believe in the black lives matter movement."