The Black Lives Matter is a movement that was sparked from the killing of an unarmed African American man named George Floyd. In a long time coming between African American US citizens and the police, African Americans still seem to be facing the same results of their ancestors. The year 2020 was a very difficult one in the United State’s history from the introduction of a new virus called Covid-19, to the disproportional killing of unarmed black men and women, to even the untimely death of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.

This past year has made people open their eyes to the racial and social injustices that occur on the land in which many have perceived as the land of freedom. With the deaths of these particular ethnic groups, people are beginning to believe that not much progress has been made since the times of the Civil Rights Movement.

After seeing all of these injustices in this country, African Americans saw this as an opportunity to take a stand for rights that should have already been given to them. By starting a non violent protest worldwide, African Americans showed that they are very powerful and unified but are suffering because the people who are put in power are the ones that are abusing it.

African Americans are not only asking to be unharmed but to also be seen as human beings, so we ask how can African Americans get to a place where they are in good standing while also their voices are being heard?

“I believe that history has a way of repeating itself and we (African Americans) need to be in places of power where we can make those changes,” Averett African-American Religions Professor Dr. Emmett Young said.

This is a statement that one has to sit back and think to truly grasp the nature of what Young means.
There is no doubt that systematic racism occurs in the United States and it comes to pass because of the policies that are put into place by outdated themes and can only be restored when black people are put into places of power to make adjustments. The Black Lives Matter movement is more than just a saying but it is a declaration that these acts are not to be tolerated. Although the movement was started by African Americans, many other races have joined along to create a movement in which we see and call out injustices just like civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. did in the 1960s.

“We are heading in a good direction because we are not a single group,” Young said.

This movement has evolved in a way in which many people have voiced their strong beliefs from athletes, to politicians and even celebrities. When thinking about what this movement began from, the important questions need to be asked. The people who are put into these positions of power should be equipped with the proper knowledge that is required to begin having these kinds of conversations.

“we have to share the background of African American history in this country and the sacrifices as the beginning of the conversation and then people buy in because education is our, its emotional, its eye opening moments of, wow I never knew that,” Faculty Coordinator of African American Studies Dr. Antoinette Gazda said.

When people use education as a way to further investigate the feelings or struggles in that of one group, they can help to better put themselves in the conversation and have mutual feelings on the topic at hand.

“We have to talk about what happened before we can fix what is happening now,” Gazda said.

This problem is like a garden weed. When you tear the weeds apart they will continue to grow back but if you pull them by the root they will seize to return. When we continue to see relapses in history then it has become obvious that we haven’t gotten into the root of the problem to extract it permanently.