I can’t tell you the last time I logged onto Facebook without seeing something regarding the phrase, “All Lives Matter!” As a retort to the to the Black Lives Matter movement, this phrase has gained momentum at breakneck speed since the aforementioned movement began, following the death of Trayvon Martin when three women named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi began tweeting #blacklivesmatter. What started as a hashtag became an ethos and has transcended Twitter to become a true movement. While yes, every single individual’s life should be of equal concern and importance, the #alllivesmatter phrase is just another example of trying to white-splain a problem away.

I grew up in a small, white conservative town my whole life, so I’ve always been extremely familiar with right-wing viewpoints. After almost a year and a half of seeing the embracing of the All Lives Matter slogan, I truly feel as though this resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement has resulted greatly in part due to ignorance on the topic. I recently stumbled upon a post on Facebook which was a wonderful simplified explanation: “My personal interpretation of Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter. Bob is sitting at the dinner table. Everyone else gets a plate of food except Bob. Bob says, ‘Bob Deserves Food’. Everyone at the table responds ‘Everyone Deserves Food’ and continues eating. All though Everyone Deserves Food is a true statement, it does nothing to rectify the fact that BOB HAS NO FOOD!!”

In a similar manner, one could compare Black Lives Matter with feminism. Feminism largely focuses on equality for females, not by tearing down men to arrive at an equal point, but to raise females up to arrive at the same level of equality as men. This is similar to the movement in that activists aren’t attempting to invalidate those of every other race, but to reach a point at which black citizens are not treated as inferior. At which mainly black towns are not being poisoned by the water they drink. At which black men are not slaughtered in the street, and black girls have a one in two chance of being sexually assaulted.

No, the black community is not the only one in which problems arise. However, they deserve every single ounce of effort for repair which the white community receives from society as a whole. And that is the point which is so commonly being missed. White, Latino, Asian, etc lives are not being discounted, but the focus on black struggle is being brought into the spotlight with the hope that real change can occur. Why are so many acting as though this is such a terrible thing? Why are we focusing our fear and anger at the movement aimed for real change and improvement, instead of at the fact that black teenage males are 21 times more likely to be shot dead by police than their white counterparts? And contrary to popular belief, the movement is not just in regards to police brutality. While this is obviously a focal point for the movement, activists are attempting to enlighten the privileged about the unequal struggle black Americans face from the very beginning, as early as preschool. Black children make up 18 percent of America’s preschool population but represent nearly half of all out-of-school suspensions. This treatment continues into the court system, where black children are 18 times more likely to be tried as adults than their white peers. It also extends to the job market, in which white college graduates are twice as likely to land a job as black college graduates. We haven’t even gotten to the justice system yet, in which black people are given 20 percent longer sentences than white people are for the same crimes.

The largest issue with All Lives Matter lies in the fact that it entirely ignores context. The context of “Black Lives Matter” is not that other lives don’t. The context of “Black Lives Matter” is that the value of black lives remains under assault in the United States.