Hordes of people march down the street, bearing signs with questions such as “Am I next?” and statements in bold print that read “Hands up, don’t shoot.” Every adjective used to characterize a person is represented in this group, marching with their heads held high, straight through the opposition. They protest for an end to racial discrimination and advocate for equality, no matter what. Much like the protests of civil rights movements in the 1960’s, it is injustice these activists hope to bring awareness to, and change they hope to inspire in the minds and hearts of those who may believe differently.

This widespread cultural upheaval has become known as the Black Lives Matter movement. Often presented with a hashtag before the first word, this movement has rattled the nation’s cage and become a mass social justice issue.

“It’s a movement of many people trying to find justice for lives that have been lost because of cops killing them [black people],” sophomore Alexandra Chavarria said. “They feel as if only blacks are being targeted.”

According to the Washington Post database on news reports and public records, 751 people have been killed by police so far in just this year alone. However, statistically, white people make up 62 percent of the United States’ population, while black people only account for 13 percent. While the numbers of white and black people being shot and killed by police officers in the last year do not vary greatly, the proportion and rate of black people being targeted by police officers is much higher than their white counterparts.

“Police officers should actually make sure that they [black people] are armed or that there’s something wrong before they make the assumption that they’re going to be shot. The cops shouldn’t just shoot them right away because they think that they’re coming at them,” junior Chasity Hi said.

With such a large social media presence in today’s society, it is not hard to access the latest news within seconds, from anywhere in the world. This social media presence can also be used to generate an active community in societal matters, such as racial justice. Although despite the statistics, some believe that the Black Lives Matter movement is just a hashtag used arbitrarily on social media to draw attention, rather than a step in the right direction in the advancement of society.

“I feel as though the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement is warranted, but at the same time, I feel as though it’s overdone,” senior Gabriel Mahn said. “Reason being, we should be over this right now, but we’re still causing controversy over it. At some points, people put that hashtag out there just to put it out there.”

While the campaign as a whole has remained largely nonviolent, there have been a few instances in which Black Lives Matter activists used force in their quest for equality. Due to this, even a few black people themselves have been turned off from the movement.

“I’m not for it [the Black Lives Matter movement] because originally, Black Lives Matter was a peaceful rights protest. But now, it seems like they’ve kind of forgotten about that,” senior Tywon Kelson said. “It goes against what their entire purpose was to begin with- which was spreading equality through non-violence.”

No matter how these protests are characterized, the intent of this movement is clear- to fight for an end to racial discrimination still found in the actions of people throughout society. Though some may see it as overshadowing the needs of other groups, and still others believe that this omnipresent lobbying for an issue rooted in decades past will not work, the Black Lives Matter movement will not let its spirit fade away.

“This is an opportunity for the oppressed people to finally have a say in what they believe in,” sophomore Olivia Hernandez said. “Change needs to happen because people need to be equal.”