Over the last several years, protests and dissimilarities over the issue of police brutality have sparked the attention of the American public. Now, the ongoing issue has gained both nation and worldwide attention that has now spiraled the issue into even more confusion, more senseless death, and more misunderstanding.

What has now been a social dispute for several decades has now reached the attention of millions once again, but this time, unfortunately, sparks began right here in the great state of Louisiana.

Three incidents in the last week have sparked nationwide protest against excessive force by the police. In Baton Rouge on July 5, 37-year-old African-American Alton Sterling was shot dead after numerous shots to the chest, after being taken down to the ground by two Baton Rouge Police Department officers. The shooting was captured on video from multiple angles, illustrating the two officers on top of Sterling while pinning him down and firing shots from point blank range.

Sterling’s death prompted immediate demonstrations in Baton Rouge and the region. The very next day, police shot 32-year-old African American Philando Castile to death after being pulled over during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Castile’s girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, who’s four-year-daughter was in the backseat during the entire incident, live streamed the incident over Facebook for the world to see. The next day in Dallas, Texas, five police officers were shot dead by an African American war veteran right after a peaceful demonstration ended.

These recent incidents that have occurred over the last few days now has millions of Americans looking for an end to not only the senseless violence by the hands of the police, but any form of racially intended violence and flat out racism that still exists within the police system and the country. Although blacks and other minorities have protested against racism and racist cops for decades, in recent years organizations like Black Lives Matter have worked to rebuild the validity of black life. BLM is a national organization that was created in 2012 after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of his crime. Since then, BLM has worked tirelessly in shaping a world where black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted.

Black Lives Matter is more than just a hashtag on the Internet. There is a significant importance in the BLM movement that goes far beyond the unjust killing of blacks by police and vigilantes, which is why saying things such as “All Lives Matters” or “Blue Lives Matter” demeans the Black Lives Matter movement. Yet somehow, people who support BLM get the rep of being anti-police or anti white people, and those who support the police are seen as bigots who don’t care for black life. Though both are stereotypes, this has created a social and racial separation of ideas and opinions between the American public.

When people are protesting “Black Lives Matter,” the movement is not a scream of hate, nor is it a protest denoting that all lives matter do not matter or that cops lives do not matter. According to the BLM official website, “All Lives Matter” is an intervention specifically created to address anti-blackness. The website goes on to say that by dropping the “Black” and replacing it with “All Lives Matter,” people are not mindful of the ways in which America has built a program of genocide and repression mostly on the backs of black people that began with the theft of millions of people for free labor, followed by control, murder and profit off of communities of color and immigrant communities for centuries. Saying Black Lives Matter does not mean that all lives do not, it’s saying that black lives have to, and will become more important in the eyes of the American public in order to form not just a better country, but a better world. In other words yes all lives do matter, but let’s focus on the black ones. For those protesting “Blue Lives Matter,” yes both a cop’s job, and more seriously, their life is important and no, not all cops are bad. But at the same time, cops are not a race and saying, “well if all blacks are not bad, then all cops are not bad,” is a false equivalence. Some cops choose to join corrupt groups within police departments. Some cops choose to exert force on people to enforce intimidation into obedience. Some cops choose to be coward racist. No black person, ever, chooses to be black.

We as Americans see that we have a problem in America with police brutality. Although this is a problem that mostly affects black people, police brutality is not just a black problem but also an American problem. We as Americans, no matter what color, must address this issue. Police departments across this country must take full responsibility for their actions and instead of not wanting to point fingers, get out and lead the movement that wants change. If you are silent about this issue, you are part of the problem. If you believe harming cops is the solution, you are part of the problem. Stop hiding behind your cell phones and computers screens. Commenting emotional buffoonery on Facebook won’t change anything. Sending hundreds of opinionated tweets won’t change anything. Ignoring several videos displaying how black lives are handled by the police won’t change anything, neither will the harm of cops who actually protect and serve communities change anything. The greatest thing we as humanity are blessed with is life on Earth. Now more than ever, America needs to realize that this is not a black, white or blue issue, but a right and wrong issue.