Why Do Black Lives Matter

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Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin have turned into poster boys for the black lives matter movement. They, along with many others killed by police brutality, have had their names become synonymous with a movement centered on speaking against the oppression of black people. The black lives matter movement was created in order to support and raise awareness of black lives. The movement was made to feel inclusive of all black people and yet many groups that fall under the umbrella of black lives are over looked. Black lives matter as a movement today tends to exclude both women and the LGBT community. The black lives matter movement was coined by three queer women. This fact is one that is largely overlooked and forgotten about even by those who …show more content…
Discrimination against transgender people affects them much more than most people know of. Forty one percent of transgender people reported having tried to commit suicide compared the the one percent of cisgendered people who had done the same (Paquette). Transgendered people are far more likely to be targeted and abused than cisgendered people and yet they are still underrepresented in the black lives matter movement. By not including transgender people in the representation and action done by black lives matter black people are just adding the oppression of another group. Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund once said, “Far too many transgender women of color are lost to violence and brutality and all too often their killers go unpunished” (Kellaway). This shows that transgender people of color are effected in the same ways that cisgender people of color are and that there is no reason for their exclusion from the