BET

     My SO and I were watching the BET channel, and saw multiple celebrities, writers, artists who were advocating for BLM. I thought to myself, "how inspiring", as I thought that, he said "man they are advocating more violence".

     I had a couple of things to say. First of all, my first statement was "do you even know what Black Lives Matter is about?" Of course he could not give a definite answer. Then I said look at the channel that this is on, BET. It is aimed towards the black community. They are trying to enlighten others that they are not alone with this battle of inequality and unrighteousness.

     We had a bit more to say to each other, but at the end of the day, he too agreed with the BLM movement. There is no reason to not agree with it. Ignorance is not always bliss.

                  

Talking BLM

     Yesterday as I was sitting in my Spanish class, I decided to ask a peer of mine what his thoughts were about BLM. In my opinion, race and ethnicity plays an important role in how you choose to support BLM. I for one will admit that before I learned what it was truly about, I too disagreed with the movement. Here is a bit of the conversation that K (this is the name that I am choosing to call him by due to confidential reasons) and I held.

Me: I have a question to ask you, what do you think about Black Lives Matter?

K: I think that it is like the clowns. People just trying to get attention and causing an outrage.

Me: So you don't think that they have any true purpose in what they are trying to achieve?

K: Yes.

Me: So you think that police brutality is just doing their jobs huh?

K: I know some policemen, and they are trained to shoot to kill. If someone is killed, then I guess they had it coming.

Me: So you're telling me that if you have a gun in an open carry state, and are restrained on the ground by two police officers, your family would be okay with them killing you because you weren't "following the law", so they had to shoot to kill?

K: That's different..

Me: How is that different?

K: Because that is police brutality.

Me: That is what happened to Alton Sterling. The saddest part is that most people try and justify his death as "he got what he deserved", whereas Harambe the gorilla, was shot because he was truly a threat to a human life, and people wanted to justify him as innocent and unfair.

After kind of going back and forth, it made sense why my friend was against this movement. He only saw what social media was feeding him, and to pile onto that, most of his peers are too against BLM so this shows that he was only seeing the ugly side of it. Read more than you see people, Black Lives Matter is more than just "raising awareness". It is peaceful and justifiable on why our black community are peacefully attempting to change society into making it equal.

Denasia Lawrence

    Moments before the Miami Heat vs Philadelphia 76er's basketball preseason game, Denasia Lawrence courageously knelt down with a mic in her hand. I have said this before, but celebrities who take part in this movement are incredibly inspiring.

     Denasia Lawrence decided to use her fame in light of the inequality that our black americans face today. This happened much time after Colin Kaepernick, and she knew the consequences that she would be facing afterwards. While she also knelt, she wore a Black Lives Matter shirt.
            

Let us all use our voice to help those who do not have one.

Greenwood against BLM

     The latest protest against BLM is by the Football Team in Midland Texas. Each football player came out with an American Flag, in protest against Colin Kaepernick. As much as those would find this as an admiring act, I have found it to be ignorance. Instead of realizing the deeper meaning behind Kaepernick's decision, they have decided to protest against as something that does not have to do with Kaepernick's intentions.

          The veterans are important indeed, as well as those who have fallen for our country. But, Kaepernick kneeling for the flag is a symbol of wanting the equality for our freedoms, not disregarding what has already been done.

After Alton Sterling...

     This blog will be a bit short, but I think it shows how President Obama too supports the BLM movement. After the Alton Sterling shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, there was a retaliation act done in Dallas Texas shortly after.

     5 officers were shot down tragically. There is no justification. I do want to comment on Obama. Before this act happened, Obama said words that some believe to have triggered this act.  I have seen and read what he has said, and have found nothing to have triggered this event.

     The next event that undertook place was that Obama then received more backlash because he did not choose to light up the white house blue. But how would that have looked? This massacre happened because of the police brutality to a black man, and now that 5 white officers are down, Obama has to speak up for them?

     This is what is wrong with America, both sides in my opinion are innocent. The innocent police that were murdered and Alton Sterling. President Barrack Obama chose to not light up the white house because I think that it would have been unfair to both sides. It would have been unfair to Alton Sterling, and it would have been unfair to the policemen that were murdered.

 Controversial memes.

Celebrities and BLM

     I have made clear at the beginning of this blog about those are in need of a voice. Although there are many impressive acts going on right now with the BLM movement, I am most stunned by the celebrities who have chosen to speak out and support this movement. Today, I will be talking about Beyonce and Colin Kaepernick.

     In February of 2016, Beyonce performed in the 50th Superbowl Sunday halftime show.
What do you see interesting about this photo? I found that this was an awakening point in our society. Beyonce is known as "queen B", and in this halftime show, her backup dancers are dressed as what I understand to be "Black Panthers". On top of that, but they performed her new song, "Formation".
     Beyonce see's the discrimination that is going about in America, and instead of forgetting her roots, she used her fame to speak for those who can not. Beyonce is a celebrity, but she is also black. The song "Formation", in my opinion was sang purposely to show to everyone else that the black community is gearing up once and for all for the equality that they deserve.

Kaepernick has received lots of backlash. His way to protest is to kneel for the national anthem.
 Kaepernick too is using his fame to speak for the voiceless. The way that I like to defend his act, is by a speech written by Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the 4th of July". You can access the full speech here.
"Fellow-citizens; above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them."-Frederick Douglass
This courageous act has brought about many others following in his footsteps. The National Anthem was brought about for those who have fought for our freedom. The key word here is "freedom". What good is fighting if not all who stand behind have the same freedom as those standing beside them?

Society as it is..

     Normally, I HATE talking about controversial topics with anyone. However, I love talking about them with my older sister whom I will refer to as K. She speaks so much truth to me, and I always feel as if I have been enlightened in a new way. The subject of police brutality has become one of those "unspoken rules" where you do not speak about it like politics, abortion and religion. The case that we like to speak about most together is the Alton Sterling case in relations with the shooting of Harambe case.

                                  
                                           
The differences in these memes are disturbing. K made a great point to me about these two cases, let me also add that we are both mothers. "Why are Americans more caught up in trying to justify why a gorilla got shot over a human being? If it were my baby that fell in the cage, I would have yelled SHOOT THAT GORILLA!" How powerful! Why is it that we are more concerned about a gorilla being killed but not a human being? There was an actual person's life in danger with an animal who can take multiple men without even blinking. Alton was only one man, who was being tackled by 2 men, and then shot multiple times in the chest and stomach, but society wants to say that "he shouldn't have evaded arrest".
     All in all, a man who has a gun in an open carry state, evades arrest, and is black, is no reason why a person should be brutally murdered.