#blacklivesmatter

With all of the uproar about police brutality, I just wanted to comment on what is going on. Though I know minimal about the recent cases, I do know that police brutality towards African-Americans has always been a problem. And it will continue to be a problem until the system changes. In my opinion, the easiest way to change the system is to be a part of the system and remake it. The relationship between the police and the community is very strained which allows immersion into the system to be harder.  This is due to the injustices that happen. Another way to stop this is through education. This fall, I’m taking a writing seminar called Race, Rioting and Police Brutality in the US in the 1960s. I want to educate myself on my past. One of the requirements for graduation in LSA at University of Michigan is Race and Ethnicities (courses related to that topic). With this, people will gain more knowledge on people and the past/present. I’m glad this is a requirement just because I think it’s important to learn about and because Michigan is a PWI (Primarily White Institution). It’s going to force people to see the world differently, even if they want to act like racial issues aren’t real. We talked a lot about race relations in my sociology class and about how people don’t always want to believe these issues are real and where these issues come from. Everyone should take a sociology class because it’s eye opening. I think this will also spark change in the system. To me, it is crazy that the police get away with killing people, as if murder isn’t supposed to be illegal. I was discussing this with my mother earlier, and she pointed out that this is nothing new. She discusssed different issues, such as segregated water fountains. One day, I pray, that the laws will reflect that the lives of African-Americans matter. The whole #blacklivesmatter movement is simply a reflection of how black lives are undervalued and why they should be valued. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and as a whole African-Americans are not treated with respect. Yesterday there was a protest at my university. I didn’t know, and I happened to just walk past (it was very peaceful). I wish I would’ve went just to see what it’s like to stand up for what you believe in. Literally to stand and support a cause.  I believe that our lives need to matter while we are alive and death should be a reflection of our accomplishments (which happens when you die naturally). Black lives matter doesn’t mean Black lives are the only lives that matter, it’s just saying that those who have been killed unjustly matter. You matter.