On Saturday August 13, African-American 23-year-old, Sylville K. Smith, was shot after fleeing a traffic stop. Smith was carrying a stolen gun, loaded with 23 rounds, and refused to drop his weapon after being repeatedly told to do so.

The officer that shot Sylville K. Smith was black.

This shooting has spurred violence, riots, and looting in Milwaukee. The first night of riots alone, gunshots were fired, buildings and cars were burned, local businesses were looted and 17 people were arrested.

Protesters in Milwaukee are rioting against the injustice in the legal system, disregarding the fact that Sylville K. Smith already had a legal record and was toting a loaded, stolen gun. But is this shooting the crime they should protest?

What exactly is this senseless violence and destructive protesting accomplishing?

Black Lives Matter is defined on Wikipedia is a social movement, or a loose confederation of affiliated groups and organizations that advocate for multiple causes related to racial injustice.

Black Lives Matter is meant to protect black lives, yet the only black lives they acknowledge are the ones ended by police. The real injustice and threat on black lives that must be addressed is other black people.

The true ignorance of Black Lives Matter is their refusal to recognize that the real danger towards black lives comes from within their own communities. Not from the police.

For the sake of time, lets focus on Milwaukee. This city, like thousands of other cities across America, has been wracked by homicides, rates nearly as high as they were in the dark days of the 1990’s. Homicide rates that have nothing to do with police brutality.

Last year the number of homicides, hit a 22 year high when the homicide rate increased 69% from 86 homicides in 2014 to 145 homicides in 2015. A disproportionate number of those homicides were black perpetrators on black victims. Where was the protest from Black Lives Matter regarding these staggering statistics?

2016 in Milwaukee is set to be just as violent with over 83 homicides already. Over three-quarters of the victims so far have been black, and no, the perpetrators weren’t cops. They were other blacks.

For an organization concerned with protecting the welfare of black lives, why Black Lives Matter is noticeably silent on encouraging a decrease of the black-on-black violence/murders? It is tragic and disheartening to see Black Lives Matter overlooking the tragedy in their own communities to focus on police brutality.

The riots in Milwaukee, as in Ferguson, Baltimore and Dallas, are supposedly meant to be a call for the "justice" of police brutality against black lives. But where is the call for the justice of the 93% of black homicide victims across the country in that are killed by other black people?

Does Black Lives Matter not care about justice for all black lives?

In an attempt to decrease violent crime within the black community, police officers are forced to interact more often with problem-plagued communities than with less crime-ridden communities.

But does a higher interaction rate with these troubled communities make the police racist?

Wouldn't the police be racist if they did nothing?

Black Lives Matter will continue to cause destruction and violence until they accept one simple fact:

The greatest threat to Black Lives is not the police, but themselves.