TL;DR:
The Black Lives Matter movement has been one of the most influential and prominent movements in this current decade. The movement was founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi following the controversial acquital of George Zimmerman for the death of African-American teenaged male, Trayvon Martin, in the summer of 2013. Since that summer, the movement has drawn upon African-American and cultural revolutions tactics since then and developed chapters all over the US, and some in Canada and Ghana.
Though widely known, the movement is also clearly misunderstood by many, primarily white people, though there are also people of other cultural backgrounds. The movement is not of racist origins, or even origins to threaten other people living today. The Black Lives Matter movement is to point out that black people experience much more violence and prejudice today, especially in the United States, than any other racial group present. Though people may state that "All Lives Matter," we can clearly mark that the frequency in these past four years of African Americans that have been murdered, killed, and died due to violence, especially involving police brutality and/or racial inequality/profiling is a hell of a lot more than of other races that have been murdered or killed.
At this point, you may be wondering, "Who cares about these facts? I have my own opinion on the Black Lives Matter Movement." And of course, your opinion is your own. But, to those reading this, especially those that know African American people, live in places with high occurrences of gun violence, police brutality, or racially-charged acts, know your place. Check your privilege. You can do something today. Whether it's promoting this article or just the simple hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media, you can do something today to actively support your voice to higher powers, especially those within our government, to take a bigger stand on racial inequality towards our African American brothers and sisters. The more you sit back and just say "I have black friends, I'm not racist", or "I check my privilege before I do/say...," nothing will get done. Please, remember these names: Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Michael Brown Jr., Alton Sterling, Freddie Gray.
Black Lives Matter is a movement for which you should get the facts about before you build your own opinion on it. If you want more information on the Black Lives Matter Movement, click these links:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/nicholasquah/heres-a-time...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-ma...
https://mic.com/articles/123445/this-one-chart-sho...
