I'm sick of seeing my Facebook feed divided by hashtags and choosing sides. Stop looking with judgment and look with your heart. Look at your family of color. Don't tell them they're exaggerating. Don't tell them they're making this issue up in their minds. Just listen, and then let them know they are loved and important. When you break the wall of stereotypes and race and replace it with love, beautiful things can happen. Stand with your brothers and sisters on the right side of history. All lives are important, but right now black lives need us to stand up and show them we mean that when we say that. - Tiffany Jarrett

My name is Alexx, and I am biracial. Sometimes, I can pass as white. Sometimes, I don’t have to deal with the same issues that some of my black family and friends have had to deal with. Sometimes, I have to deal with things because I am black, but sometimes my privilege benefits me. White privilege is the idea that our society privileges the voices of white folks, as well as those who can pass as white. It emphasizes that those who are closer to whiteness will be treated better by our society. As a biracial person, I recognize that I have more privilege than some of my black siblings. It is the duty of all passing folks, or those with more privilege, to lift up black folks. It is the duty of black folks to lift up other black folks. This is the essence of the Black Lives Matter movement, but it is constantly altered by the media. The backlash that the movement has received from media and those ignorant to what the Black Lives Matter movement stands for, has proven to be a roadblock to the success of the movement, but this backlash will not halt the movement. The backlash proves that the fight is strong and that the fight has just begun.

A lot of folks with privilege seem to assume that the extremists, who don’t necessarily fight for the movement, are the ones turning these peaceful protests to utter chaos. The rallies and protests for the Black Lives Matter movement are meant to be peaceful and raise awareness for the wrongful deaths of black folks. Statistics show that unarmed black folks are killed at three times the rate of unarmed white folks. In fact, according to Mapping Police Violence, 37 percent of unarmed people killed by the police were black despite black people being only 13 percent of the United States population, as of 2015. You can read the full report here.

It is apparent that the Black Lives Matter Movement is needed, especially after the recent deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. A video surfaced recently of Philando Castile’s death, where his partner and child were in the car at the time of the fatal shooting. The video was taken via Facebook Live. The police officer in the video, which can be found here, tried to justify his actions in the video. The other police officers asked the woman to exit the car as she was recording the aftermath, and the police officers threw her phone, and you can hear her being handcuffed. Since the deaths of these two black men, there have been many demonstrations, including the one in Dallas. On the Black Lives Matter website, however, they released a statement, saying, that “Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it. Yesterday’s attack was the result of a lone gunman. To assign the actions of one person to an entire movement is dangerous and irresponsible.” You can read their full statement here. This demonstrates the mission of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is not to kill white folks, nor to kill cops, but rather to make a better world for the victimized and oppressed.

The Black Lives Matter movement is intended to advocate for black folks, because they do not benefit from this system of constant oppression. Many black folks have died at the hands of police brutality. In fact, too many have died to name. You can see some of those who have died at the hands of police brutality, and get a sense of what the Black Lives Matter movement, by watching the video

here. In fact, there have been movements and protests throughout the country, but I attended one on Saturday, July 9 in Winston-Salem. There were not only black folks there, but others as well. There were a lot of white folks there. Many of the people in Winston-Salem, as well as the rest of the country, realize how big of an issue this is. In fact, there were hundreds of people in attendance at the march on Saturday afternoon, regardless of the extreme heat, and it was the biggest march that I have been a part of in this city. White privilege only benefits white, or white-passing folks. It oppresses all others to some degree. Liberation for some of us will never be liberation for all of us. Even though white privilege benefits some people, it will never free them from the oppressive system. As white and white-passing folks, we must stand up and support black folks. Show them that they are supported and that they are loved. We must all show black folks that they shouldn’t have to fight for their right to be alive. That’s all the Black Lives Matter movement is about.