“Black Lives Matter” is a slogan that has been surfaced and has made its way into the limelight. The purpose of this movement is quite controversial, but it claims to be focusing on the injustices of blacks in the legal system. There are a plethora of question surrounding this movement. Some of the most important include: Is black lives matter a valid slogan? What does black lives matter mean? Who is black lives matter trying to protect?

As with everything controversial, there are multiple sides, opinions, and facts. Jack Hunter claims that the real questions: “Why are African-Americans targeted and incarcerated at a disproportionate rate compared with any other racial group? Why are they more often the victims of police brutality?” According to him, the slogan is not about the lack of importance of other lives, but rather that the legal system and greater society view black lives as less important than everyone else. In opposition, Derryck Green states that black lives matter is only inclusive to black lives that were taken by white police officers. Green strongly suggests that the emphasis on these “rare, alleged cases of police brutality” is taking focus away from the high abortion rate for black women, illegitimacy, black children stuck in underperforming schools, and black unemployment.

The wealth gap between whites and minorities was astounding to me. It boggles my mind that the median household of a white family is 13 times more than a black family. How? Why? How is this possible? More importantly, is this stemming from racial prejudice or is there a larger bigger picture question? Professor Joe R. Feagin claims the socioeconomic differences can be traced back to whites being given land grants, loans, and government assistance more than blacks. On the other hand, Walter E. Williams, a black conservative, rejected the notion of modern day institutional racism. Williams claims that government assistance of single mothers “has done what slavery and Jim Crow could not have done: destroy the black family and create a high rate of illegitimacy and family breakdown.” Williams further explains that he believes the poverty in black communities stems from a lack of values and children growing up without a male authority figure.

The bottom line is, regardless of whose reasoning you believe, whether it’s Hunter or Green Feagin or Williams, it is extremely important to realize that there is a huge problem here. There are black communities are struck by poor schools, poverty, shootings, and crime. While I do not fully agree with Green, he makes a very valid point in discussing a plethora of issues that are not addressed by black lives matter that should be. The real question here is what is the greater society going to do to help them get away from this?