White People Say Black Lives Matter

February 26th, 2012; a day a mother and father lost their son. August 9th, 2014; a day where a petty theft caused civil unrest to erupt. September 20, 2016; a day where a man was shot for possession of marijuana and a firearm. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Keith Scott were all black men in different areas of the country who were fatally shot for various reasons. Blacks, regardless of education, wealth, or social status, are generally looked upon by white people as inferior and are the first non-white people accused when something goes wrong. This outlook on Blacks is bred into white society. This cycle of teaching racism to the next generation has created a new civil rights movement, the “Black Lives Matter” movement, nearly fifty years

Hispanics, Asians, and Middle Eastern people, to name a few ethnic groups, are also discriminated against. In his Huffington Post article, “The Real Reason White People Say ‘All Lives Matter,’” John Halstead explains just why white people are uncomfortable with the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” By being a society where being white is the default, white people are immediately thrown on-edge when a specific race or ethnicity is mentioned. The phrase “Black Lives Matter,” causes white people to think that “White Lives Don’t Matter.” However, when the same phrase is mentioned but focused on a different group, such as “Refugee Lives Matter”, a phrase that is gaining in popularity due to the displacement of Syrian people due to war in the country, the same results are seen. By seeing white as the default skin color, we only continue the idea of entrenched racism. Racism is an extremely controversial topic, yet white people question its existence. When confronted with “Black Lives Matter,” white people retaliate with cries of “All Lives Matter” and believe that they are solving the issue. On the contrary, they are fueling the problem. White people, after tweeting their own personal cry of “All Lives Matter” move on, not realizing that they are increasing the number of blind eyes turned to the issues that provoke protests and civil rights movements such as “Black Lives