Tuesday night, I opened Twitter to see #AltonSterling trending on my timeline and my natural instinct was to look up his name. Sadly enough, I wasn't shocked to see that he was an African-American who had been shot by a police officer. I was shocked and upset to see that the video of his shooting was going viral on the Internet. No family should have to see a loved one's murder being blasted on TV.

The next night, I opened my news app and saw the name, Philando Castile. My stomach dropped as I thought, "Oh no, not again." Sure enough, another African-American man was shot in the arm by police and bled to death--in front of his baby girl.

As usual, the Black Lives Matter movement rose up again to protest these injustices against my people. Following the normal pattern, the hashtag #AllLivesMatter became a trending topic too. The next day, I read about the tragic events that happened in Dallas and watched many people place the blame on the BLM protesters. Naturally, the "Twitter fingers activists" took to Twitter to resurrect the #BlueLivesMatter movement.

This week, all down my social media timelines I saw statuses from both sides, and the ones that troubled me the most were about how the shootings of the two men were just a result of them disrespecting police officers or not following their orders. These statuses made claims of how there is no racism involved and it would happen if the victims had been white. Or in Alton Sterling's case, how he shouldn't have had a gun; which, quite frankly, I find ironic because these were the same people who are constantly up in arms about their Second Amendment right. The worst statuses of all claimed that racism no longer exists in America and regarded the BLM movement as something that perpetuates reverse racism.

Let's get a couple things straight:

There is no such thing as reverse racism. Minorities do not have the power to economically, politically, or institutionally oppress (or for a more lighthearted word --discriminate against) white people. Minorities can be prejudiced, but the notion of anyone other than Caucasian people being racist is simply "reaching" or a figment of the imagination. When a movement from a minority base, whether it be race related or from the LGBTQ+ community, starts, it's not promoting reverse discrimination; it is, however, telling the rest of privileged America that we are tired of injustices and demand that we have a system that does not institutionalize us. The things (affirmative action or gay marriage) that society offers us are not enough. I want to be able to walk into a store and not be followed because the color of my skin. I want to be able to go out with white friends and not be stared at the whole time. I do not want there to be the assumption that I am the token minority in my sorority. That, my friends, is what a racist institution is.

Going back to one of the victims, Mr. Sterling: Hours after his death, media outlets broadcast his criminal history and a mugshot suggesting the notion that he was a thug or a criminal anyway. What did Brock Turner get? A broadcast of his swim times, Olympic potential, and a nice picture that most likely came from his swim days. The treatment of the two is not something new. You see, when a person of color commits a newsworthy crime, they are called criminals or thugs. If they happen to be Muslim, they must be a terrorist with connections to ISIS. But, if they are White, they are afforded the luxury of being coined "mentally ill" or "troubled." Their families get to put out apology statements in hopes that we sympathize with them. This is called systemic oppression.

I am not one to dispute facts and will readily admit that last year Caucasian males were killed more than African Americans by police. However, when adjusted for population, Black people are nearly three times more likely to die at the hands of a law enforcement officer than White Americans. When there are instances where charges are dropped when an officer shoots a 12-year-old for having a BB gun, there's a problem. When an African American man is repeatedly telling officers that he can't breathe, and later died, there's a problem. When a man sustains back injuries while in police custody and dies from those injuries, there is a problem. Tamir, Eric, and Freddie never received their justice. They are why the Black Lives Matter movement is paramount to combating these injustices.

With the deaths of African Americans aside, because some of you will claim we don't know all of the evidence, there is still an injustice with the prison system. Black people sentenced for a nonviolent crime are 23 times more likely to serve life without the possibility of parole than their white counterparts. Essentially, the same crime can be committed, but a Black person can count on spending the rest of their lives in prison, while the White offender has a lesser chance of serving time. This is the systemic racism and oppression Black people are tired of facing.

Black people contribute to society in the same ways that any other race does, but they are consistently treated as inferiors by the system. How can you trust a system that continuously shows you that it's "by the Caucasian people, for the Caucasian people"? Whether or not any of the African American people killed by police are criminals, they did not and nor will they ever, in any capacity, deserve to be killed. Neither did the police officers in Dallas. But by choosing to only grieve the deaths of the officers in Dallas and not question the deaths of Alton or Philando, you are choosing the side of oppression. When you choose to take no action because it's not your problem, you are choosing the side of oppression. By saying "all lives matter," you are choosing to ignore the injustices African-Americans (and other minorities) are facing, you are therefore choosing to further institutionalization of many. Supporting Black Lives Matter doesn't take away from the importance of anyone else's life, not are you opposing the police. But choosing to not see the injustice that we face, you are part of the problem.