While sitting among strangers, one overhears many conversations and stories. In some cases, the stories are the everyday type with no origins or messages of extreme importance. However, I recently overheard one that was all but ordinary.
The conversation went a little something like this: “This Black Lives Matter thing will not last,” one person in the group said. “It will blow over, just like everything else has.”
As the others in the group nodded along and switched the focus to a new, safer subject, I found myself sorting through a pile of colliding thoughts in my head.
This conversation struck me with anger at first, but then I began to think on it more. Have we really let the #BlackLivesMatter movement disappear from public discussion? Did it become uninteresting after everyone posted their feverous statuses, tweets and snapchats?
I would like to address the anonymous conversation in a way that is very disputative, but somehow I cannot help but agree with this individual on some level.
There has been a dramatic decrease in posts using #BlackLivesMatter lately. By the end of June 2016 — 3 weeks after the horrible shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile — it was almost as if people forgot the shootings had happened.
It was not until recently that we were reminded by Colin Kaepernick’s passive protest of the national anthem that we again began posting about the troubles minorities face.
Though his methods were not ideal, Colin Kaepernick’s actions during the national anthem at a 49ers game reminds us that we should not let #BlackLivesMatter be forgotten. He also showed us that there is always a peaceful way to deliver a big message to the world.
We need to remember that the shootings of unarmed minorities are still occurring. Just because it is not plastered in the “Trending” section of Twitter does not mean that it is not happening.
According to The Washington Post, more than 660 fatal shootings have been committed by police officers all over the nation in this year. This just goes to show how recent these shootings still are. Injustices are happening all around us, but we do not see them unless they are pictures of it on Facebook.
I propose that we change that. Everyone can make an effort to assist in the #BlackLivesMatter movement, whether it be by constantly protesting, the formation of organizations against police brutality or simply making posts on social media.
“All these people want is something to argue about,” I recall hearing.
Yes, but we do have something to argue about. Until these injustices stop, lost lives are redeemed and all individuals finally feel safe again, we will always have something to argue about.
Mikala Turner is a journalism major from Bruce.
