If anyone watched the Democratic debate this week, or glimpses of it at least, one of the questions asked was "Is it 'black lives matter' or 'all lives matter'?"I LOVE this question. I get fired up every time I answer it. Not in anger, but in pure excitement, because it affords me the opportunity to provide an answer that will potentially bridge the gap of understanding of race relations in this country.

I am not black. I’m Latina, of Bolivian and Dominican descent. I grew up in Smith Hill, Providence, Rhode Island. My neighborhood consisted of mostly Black American and Asian-American families. Even so, I don’t pretend to know the struggles faced by the black community. But, to be honest, I don’t have to experience their oppression to know that blacks are one of the most mistreated populations in our country.

Trayvon Martin.

Michael Brown.

Eric Garner.

Freddie Gray.

Sandra Bland.

The list is bigger than this and is, unfortunately, growing.

All of those listed above have died while in police custody. In each case, police have used excessive force on these individuals, to say the least. In no case was police enforcement held legally accountable for their involvement. I do not know the cases in depth, so I will not make assumptions about accountability or outcomes. I also will not spend my time bashing police officers, and neither am I someone who yells profanities at police on the streets. That’s not me, nor should it be anybody.

However, I do think some questions should be answered. Why are black people seemingly the main victims of police brutality? How is it that, in so many cases, police officers are not held responsible for their actions? Why are the deceased victims criminalized by the prosecution during their hearings?

The answers to these questions may be found when we analyze the history of our country and our culture transparently. The fact of the matter is, the United States of America was founded on a land that already belonged to a people. Its land was then worked on by a people forcefully brought over from a separate land. As the United States grew in strength and opportunity, more peoples migrated to this new land. And as they did, they were discriminated against and treated unfairly at work and in their communities. The point I’m trying to make here is that the United States undeniably has racism embedded in its history and in its culture. Hard to hear I bet, but it’s true.

This mistreatment of course, isn’t exclusive for blacks. It involves peoples from everywhere: Native American, Irish, Jewish, Armenian, Asian, the list goes on and on. However, black people were the ones enslaved for 200 years, and they were the ones segregated for the subsequent 100 years. No race in American history has been as oppressed as our black brothers and sisters.

Jumping forward to present day, we continue to see the massive oppression of black people and the disadvantages they experience. You can look up the statistics. To say that that their oppression is minimal or that the disadvantages they live are independent of American history is naive.

So in theory, YES, all lives do matter. Everyone’s life is of value and no one person has the right to take away the life of another. It is law, it is common sense, and it is universally accepted. We all know and understand that life is valuable, and no one life is of greater value than another. However, to substitute #blacklivesmatter with #alllivesmatter is to do a disservice to black people and their current fight for equality in this country.

There is an injustice being uncovered in our country revolving around the treatment of black people, specifically in our criminal justice system. We have to let this truth be uncovered, and we should actively help this truth be brought to light. The promoting of #alllivesmatter will not help solve the racial problems this country is facing. They need to be addressed. The trend our country is witnessing is the justified killing of unarmed black people We are not seeing a massive killing of all people. We are seeing a disregard for black lives.

I do understand, however, that the term may seem aggressive or offensive to some. But to be frank, the terms and slogans used to promote equality need to be aggressive to match the severity of events occurring in our communities. Still, this may contribute to whites, or other races for that matter, feeling as if they have no voice or little importance in the matter. This couldn’t be further from the truth. At a time like this, we need all races to come together and share in the belief that black lives matter JUST AS MUCH as all others.

That’s what #blacklivesmatter is saying.