What does Black Lives Matter mean to you?
Junior Tommy Holdefer, physics major
“That black people have been discriminated against and they don’t have all the privileges compared to white people in this country, so the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to raise awareness about that fact and help that situation.”
Senior Lauren Francois, psychology major
“I just feel like we are regressing so much right now and it’s really sad. We need to stop looking at the color of someone’s skin; I feel like we’ve been so past that. It’s just really sad to think that we’re going back in nature so much.”
Junior Alex Rodio, education major
“I’m really not sure; I feel they have the right message, but I feel like their methods sometimes are counterproductive and I wish that they would — like Martin Luther King, Jr. — take a more peaceful approach kind of like his.
Sophomore Daniel Arndt, behavioral neuroscience major
“A lot of people think that Black Lives Matter means not all lives matter, but I actually really like the term black lives matter because it means we’re all equal. It’s really saying all lives matter but getting mad and saying ‘you’re not accommodating for white people right now.’ That’s not really functional and that’s not really doing anything but really deteriorating the people who’re trying to help those black lives who are being discriminated against.”
Junior Justine May, sociology major
“To me, Black Lives Matter is a movement and a mindset to bring attention to the injustice that are done to people of color in general, but mostly to black and brown lives. I think that overtime a lot of institutionalized racism, policies, cultural stigmas and feelings have clouded the meaning of black lives when they do have value; just historically speaking black lives haven't been valued and I think the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement signifies a shift in our culture to no longer stand for injustice and to show that black and brown lives are equal to every other life out there and by no means more important than any other life; we just want to be treated equally.”