Why #BlackLivesMatter: The Fight For Equal Rights, Equal Protection and Equal Punishment.

The reminiscent atmosphere of the turbulent 60's and civil rights has slowly but surely crept its way back into the forefront of the American social consciousness. African-American men, women and children have found themselves as targets and in the crosshairs of  white supremacist rifles, police issued guns and at the mercy of a judicial system where in its DNA is systematic racism that will try and convict them at a higher rate than that over their white counterparts.

In response to the tragedies of Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland the Charleston South Carolina terrorist attack and countless murders of other black men, women and children who've died at the hands of white police officers and extremist The people have spoken, the people have cried, the people is now yelling #BlackLivesMatter.

It seems that while many of us understands what #BlackLivesMatter means, many don't. Mainstream America in a predictable attempt to trivialize the #BlackLivesMatter movement has countered with an #AllLivesMatter respond. However, as I heard a poet once say "Fuck All Lives Matter" because all lives aren't being taken. The #BlackLivesMatter movement is in no way trying to say that black lives are more special than others, it's not saying we want better treatment. What we're saying is that our lives are equally as important as everyone else's. We deserve to have our rights equally protected, and if we find ourselves in the hands of the law for whatever reason, we have the right to be treated equally even in punishment.

Detractors, black and white alike attempt to inject propaganda to take steam away from the #BlackLivesMatter ideology with "Black on Black Crime" Statistics. It's truly disappointing to see people try so hard kill a movement built on a benevolent cause, especially so-called leaders in the black community.

Black on Black crime is a problem. I will not deny that. However, so is white on white crime. According to FBI homicide data white on white crime is at 83% and is study rising, while black on black crime is at its lowest rate in decades. The fact of the matter is every race commits acts of violence more within their own race than any other. This has absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand. If a black man, kills another black man. One black man is dead and the other will likely be guaranteed and lengthy prison sentence as he should. It will not be swept under the rug, the suspect will not be allowed to go home and still earn money while awaiting an internal investigation by his friends and peers.

This would synonymous as telling America, even though Terrorist are killing us and our allies, we need to be focused more on American on American violence because, Americans kill more Americans than terrorist kill us. Do you see how stupid that sounds.

My hope is that the death of Sandra Bland does not become another story with immediate outrage and fizzle out of the minds of the people and become another story on the back page of newspapers. My hope is that as a black man, I can feel free to exercise my rights if I see they are being trampled by police authority, and if I am guilty of a crime. My punishment be equal to my white neighbor.