Story by Kassidy Fikes

When I was asked to write this piece, I was expecting to write a hard news piece on the movement. Instead, I was asked to write an opinion piece because we didn’t have any protests or events in the Pooler area related to the recent deaths of blacks at the hands of police and citizens.

And I thought, “how do I write an opinion on what is a fact to me?” but then I realized that what is real for me isn’t necessarily for everyone else a reality. So I decided to take this time to write about what the movement of Black Lives Matter means to me. Because it might mean something different to each individual.

The Black Lives Matter movement has been going on for hundreds of years. From the Emancipation Proclamation to Juneteenth, to civil rights, black panthers, and now, Black Lives Matter. It is all the same movement. The movement to free a race of people from oppression, to be treated with the same respect and dignity as white people.

Many people get the wrong idea about the movement. Some think that because it is called Black Lives Matter that somehow it means that every other life doesn’t. That’s not what the movement is saying in the slightest. It’s saying that EVERYONE matters, meaning Black lives matter, too. It is to call attention to the injustice and common mistreatment of Black people.

We deserve more

People think that because we are no longer in chains and we have rights means that we are free. They think that because there have been a few black people in power that we are equal. It isn’t about the ones that made it but about the ones that haven’t.

The Black Live Matter movement is about more than a trend or what is on the news. For many people, it is an everyday battle. Gritting your teeth through racist or ignorant comments. It’s about people’s sons and fathers being killed for nothing more than the color of their skin.

It’s about overcoming.