When Bernie Sanders was asked in the first presidential debate, "Do black lives matter or do all lives matter?" I was shocked. What a question. How would he answer, I thought, but more importantly, how would I answer?

All lives matter, of course. Because that's the truth. Not to discredit the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, but shouldn't all lives be important, too? I know that's what BLM is trying to say, that black lives matter as much as any other life, but why not explicitly include everyone in this fight? Remind us that there's more than just segregation and discrimination to black lives.

I agreed with and supported both movements, but I did not understand the need for an explicit BLM subdivision...

Until I head Claudia Rankine speak at Stonehill's Martin Institute last week.

Rankine is an accomplished poet, playwright, and author. Her most recent work, "Citizen," is a compilation of prose, poems, and vignettes conceding racial microaggressions. To compile these deeply personal stories, Rankine asked her family, friends, and peers, "Can you remember a day where a moment broke it up and then you realized you were an object of racism?"

What resulted were accounts of everyday occurrences — driving with a friend, attending an appointment, presenting classwork — where racism came into play. Occurrences that I experience as a white person, without concern for how my skin color will impact such.

Now, Rankine's work, which I had the privilege to hear at her lecture, was not my revelation to "white privilege." I'm aware of the advantages of my race. But it was the author's comments on the "white liberal imagination," and the BLM movement, which really opened up my eyes to why this movement matters just as much, if not more, than All Lives Matter.

Rankine noted, "whiteness being pleased with recognition of black pain."

"It's one thing to say 'Oh, that's terrible' and then be able to return to breakfast," Rankine continued. Doing this does not set my day off course, as Rankine stated, "privilege allows empathy to be temporary status," and "doesn't alter one's ability to go through one's life."

BLM fills these voids created by privilege, it makes the mourning and dialogue continuous, and forces you to realize these things happen every day.

Thank you, Claudia Rankine, for your fantastic body of work, dedication to your craft, and most importantly, your honest approach to difficult issues.