Over the past few weeks, I've seen a lot of memes and quotes floating around that about how Martin Luther King Jr. would feel in today's America. Most of them depict a saintly Dr. King who would be ashamed of the actions of his people, most notably the Black Lives Matter movement:

The images are one of many tactics used to attack the Black Lives Matter movement. Many people find the movement hypocritical and believe it is somehow advocating violence.

Derek Hawkins of the Washington Post writes, "In May, conservative commentators joined a chorus of critics demanding a hate group designation for Black Lives Matter from the Southern Poverty Law Center, claiming that in the wake of the shootings of police officers in Dallas, its rhetoric was inflammatory.

The SPLC, which tracks hate groups, refused, explaining itself in a long post by SPLC president Richard Cohen:

'There’s no doubt that some protesters who claim the mantle of Black Lives Matter have said offensive things, like the chant ‘pigs in a blanket, fry ’em like bacon’ that was heard at one rally. But before we condemn the entire movement for the words of a few, we should ask ourselves whether we would also condemn the entire Republican Party for the racist words of its presumptive nominee — or for the racist rhetoric of many other politicians in the party over the course of years.'

It's a common tendency in our culture to point out any potential flaws in other groups, organizations, religions, etc. Our nation has love-affair with pointing the blame. For those who truly believe Black Lives Matter is the root of the violence in our country, I strongly urge you to read their post on "11 Major Misconceptions About the Black Lives Matter Movement." The article details what the movement is about and how to separate the real movement from the actions of those who's action do not represent the group.

But let's be honest for a moment. The problem is not the Black Lives Matter movement. After all, if it was really a matter of Black Lives Matter promoting violence, wouldn't peaceful protests be the answer?

Just last week, the Seahawks Doug Baldwin received death threats for peacefully supporting Colin Kaepernick and kneeling during the national anthem. He responded saying, "And if something was to happen to me, I think that would just further prove my point that there are issues in our culture, in our society that need to be changed.”

Whether it's Black Lives Matter, angry rioters, or the peaceful protest of athletes, people seem to always find reasons to tear them down. It deeply troubles me to see friends of mine who are outraged by protests and riots but are silent when their brothers and sisters of color dead in the streets. Why?

Imagine going to the doctor because you are having chest pains and the doctor notices that it's because of a potentially fatal heart problem. Instead of fixing the issue, the doctor tells you to stop complaining, take pain medicine, and continue living your life. But you can't just keep living. You're in excruciating pain and the doctor refuses to address the real issue.

In our country, the interracial violence and the riots are unfortunate symptoms of the underlying epidemic of systemic racism. Instead of addressing the disease, the fingers are pointed at the symptoms. People want to point their blame at Black Lives Matter or say that Kaepernick's protests are disrespectful.

When addressing the issues of black on black crime, Black Lives Matter leaders wrote, "The Black Lives Matter movement acknowledges the crime problem, but it refuses to locate that crime problem as a problem of black pathology. Black people are not inherently more violent or more prone to crime than other groups. But black people are disproportionately poorer, more likely to be targeted by police and arrested, and more likely to attend poor or failing schools. All of these social indicators place one at greater risk for being either a victim or a perpetrator of violent crime. To reduce violent crime, we must fight to change systems, rather than demonizing people."

These "systems" are part of the disease that is destroying the lives of people of color in our nation. Is any of this a new narrative? This disease and those who so desperately want to continue to sweep it under the rug?

Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested 30 times in the ten year period of 1955-1965. He was stabbed, sprayed with water hoses, attacked by police dogs, and ultimately assassinated. The civil rights movement of his day was not embraced with open arms.

In 1967, Dr. King gave his "The Other America" speech at Stanford University. His words sound eerily relevant to 2016 America:

"…I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention."

Maybe we should look once more at these "systems" and "certain conditions" that still plague our nation. Maybe this energy that is being used to attack the outcries of blacks, could be used to finally face the systemic racism at the heart of it all. This disease continues to eat away at America. The painkillers won't work forever. There are bodies in our streets. I for one believe that Dr. King would not sit silently.