The Black Lives Matter movement was founded to work towards a world where Black lives are no longer targeted for harm. It began as a hashtag and grew into nationwide protests against police killings of Black people. However, others have criticized the movement for solely focusing on Black victims and not also advocating for other people of color who face racial injustices and police brutality. The documents also discuss several cases of unarmed Black and Latino individuals being killed by police, as well as the impact of protests in Ferguson and issues with "Stand Your Ground" self-defense laws.

1. Cullors, P., Tometi, O., & Garza, A. (n.d.). AboutBlack Lives Matter. Retrieved February,
2015, from http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/
Mission Statement "#BlackLivesMatter is working for a world where Black lives are no longer
systematically and intentionally targeted for demise. We affirm our contributions to this
society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression. We have put our
sweat equity and love for Black people into creating a political project–taking the hashtag off
of social media and into the streets. The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL
Black lives striving for liberation." This foundation is trying to focus on the systematic
oppression that only black people face everyday, while all people of color, people with
disabilities, women, and members of the lgbtq community are systematically being
oppressed. The biggest flaw of black lives matters is that the movement is solely focused on
the improvement of black lives, when the movement should at least include all people of
color who face racial hardship. Other groups aren't receiving nearly this much attention and
it is a shame not to include them, when all minorities should be working towards equality.
Jolly, J. (n.d.). Ferguson riots: Ruling sparks night of violence - BBC News. Retrieved
February, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30190224
Ferguson is a great example of how peaceful protesting can turn. In August of 2014, Michael
Brown was shot by police in Ferguson, Missouri. This incited many protests that spanned
countless weeks on end. After peacefully protesting, police began arriving in the areas to
dictate the protesting crowds. The protests became less peaceful as police harmed the
people in the streets with things such a tear gas and other riot control methods, despite the
majority of the protesters complying to authority’s demands to avoid exactly that. These
people were being robbed of their right to a peaceful protest. Eventually, tensions rose so
high that it incited reactions in the crowd, which lead to looting and general violence amongst
both sides. This kind of protesting made a mark in history, thus accomplishing its goal, but
this inaction lead to actions that caused media outlets to portray these protests in the wrong
light. This further tore the nation; those who were on the fence or unaware were being
informed that this cause could lead to mass disruption of everyday life, something that
terrifies most of the country. There needs to be more action other than just bringing things to
light; police are still getting by with covering things up in order to avoid racial uproar even
today.
Kindy, K. (n.d.). Fatal police shootings in 2015 approaching 400 nationwide. Retrieved
February, 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-police-shootings-in-
2015-approaching-400-nationwide/2015/05/30/d322256a-058e-11e5-a428-
c984eb077d4e_story.html
This article was published 5/30 of last year. This isn’t even half way through the year
technically, and the fatal police shootings were already nearing the hundreds. An infographic
on this page shows that of approximately 385 fatal police killings reported, 41% were white.
That seems like a good basis for the argument that whites are targeted more by the police,
right? Wrong. I’m not going to take the easy way out by arguing that black deaths are less
for this side. It needs to be noted that the rest of the people that are killed are minorities. Of
course black deaths alone appear to be less than that of white deaths, but when combining
the death toll of those that are meant to be “minorities” versus white, they account for over
half of police killings. The term minority implies that these people are meant to be fewer in
number, so why are police killing more of them?

2. Lohr, D. (n.d.). Hector Morejon, Unarmed Teen Shot, Killed By Police, Cried For His Mother:
'Mommy, Mommy, Please Come' Retrieved February, 2016, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/28/hector-morejon-police-shooting_n_7165106.html
How many of you know who Hector Morejon is? Unfortunately, I didn’t find out until I began
researching this topic myself. Hector was a 19-year-old latino child who was in a vacant
home tagging the interior when the police were dispatched to his location. An officer looked
in the window and thought he had a gun, so he was shot on site. He was later confirmed to
be unarmed. As he was laying in the hospital after the shooting, he cried for his mother
“mommy, mommy, please come. Please come.” those were his last words. He bled out in
the hospital. We hear stories of black victims such as Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Tamir
Rice, and countless others who I could list but won’t. This is because only the black deaths
are being brought to light from the black lives matter community. Imagine the amount of
minority deaths that aren’t brought to light because their communities fear the authorities
and aren’t receiving the same support as black victims.
States That Have Stand Your Ground Laws - FindLaw. (n.d.). Retrieved February, 2016,
from http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-law-basics/states-that-have-stand-your-ground-
laws.html
Police brutality shouldn’t be the only thing that is mentioned. The castle law and the stand
your ground law allows people to shoot when threatened. 23 states have this law, though a
lot of times the definitions vary from state to state, allowing for loopholes and inconsistencies
in the criminalization of those who utilize them.