Black Lives Matter: Racial Tensions In The United States

In the last 10 years, polar opposite groups have come to light, such as Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter; at the surface, these seem to be about police brutality but under the surface, racial tensions are the cause. While Black Lives Matter, or black advocates, has some extreme members which take their purpose of “black lives matter TOO” and change it into “black lives matter MORE, blue lives matter, or mostly white supremacists, is not without its faults as well. White Supremacists favors the protection of its fellow officers above the safety of citizens; even in situations where no danger is present, black lives are lost. With these two extremes, and much more, it begs the question if race relations have gotten worse or better and

Obama’s election, though significant, only revealed underlying racist illogicality and beliefs of those who voted for Obama but believed that in doing so they were exempted from ever committing racist conduct. When it was seen that there was a very successful black man, it gave some the illusion that America was completely fixed of all racial issues so as a result people stopped continuously working to end racial tensions. Due to this lack of attention, racial tensions started to move backward rather than forward. Furthermore, people who already have racist feelings were further aggravated and their racist perceptions strengthened with the appearance of Obama everywhere they look, such as on social media, TV and heard on the

A way to combat these tensions is for everyone to believe in the principles that their beloved country was founded on such as freedom, liberty, and equality. Everyone in American should feel the sense of patriotism and pride in their country and the basic rights they are given every day. All Americans, black or white, need to respect the basic rights of to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for one another, which they enjoy every day. Back to the issue of Black Lives Matters vs Blue Lives Matter, there is a way to fix both the racial aspect and the issue of police brutality. Police officers should live in the area they work so in more segregated areas with the majority of the population is black or white should have officers of the same race, since they live in that area, and if a white person wants to work in a black area, they should move there to make ties with the community and create more racial diversity. This would decrease police brutality because ¨the more black officers a department has…the less likely the incidence of fatal encounters with black people.” In order to assure the respect of one another’s race, there are a few actions each party could complete. White people and Black people could let go of the past to be able to move forward such as letting go of the idea of white superiority and the idea of letting go of slavery in order to move forward. By doing this, it would create an equal playing