An Opinion Piece By Maggie Benjamin, recent Buffalo State graduate

When the Black Lives Matter movement was first established in July 2013, it was just a #Hashtag. It was a hashtag that spread around the world after a treacherous incident was inflicted by George Zimmerman upon Trayvon Martin (SAY HIS NAME). It was a tragedy that another young black boy lost his life to such senselessness. To this day when I pray, I pray for his family and their strength and courageousness. I can only imagine how hard it was and is for them to cope with such a thing, but I respect and honor them for their willingness to publicize the story of Trayvon Martin (SAY HIS NAME). While I know that must have been immensely difficult, it was the beginning stages of dire change that was and still is much needed in our community.

In lieu of the remembrance of Trayvon Martin (SAY HIS NAME), and the many other innocent black lives lost, Black Lives Matter went from a #Hashtag to a movement. Since Trayvon Martin’s death, another movement began as well. That movement is referred to as “SAY THEIR NAMES”. This movement began because it is extremely common for innocent black lives to be obliterated at the hand of police brutality, and then the truth being confined to oblivion. Since Trayvon Martin’s death in July 2013, 165 innocent black lives have been added to the “SAY THEIR NAMES” list, meaning 165 black people, and their loved ones have been subjected to such tragedy. This is only the ones who have been recorded.

Can you imagine how many more have gone unspoken about? If so, I’m sure you would conclude that this is just the small fraction of instances that have occurred. Could you imagine how tired we (the black community) are of being killed for our skin color and for our familial origins of which we have no control over? If you can imagine this, you have probably experienced racial discrimination or some other form of injustice before.

If you cannot imagine what this is like, but you can imagine how hurtful it is, we need you to stand by our side, speak up, and put actions to your words. We need your help to make a change.

So, the big question that needs to be answered here is, what can our white community members do to help us make a change? We ask that you stand with us in unity, not just at rallies and protests, but in your everyday lives. All we ever wanted was to be equal. Nothing more, nothing less. Help us stand up for our rights which are all the rights afforded to our white counterparts. We are all a part of one community that we seemingly divide into black and white. Help stop the division by speaking up on our behalf. Help end racism by correcting ignorance relentlessly. We, as a black community, know how tiring it is to fight relentlessly for the things that we are entitled to like our freedom, our safety, and our equality. We get it, it’s hard, and it can cause conflict, but it is long overdue, and it is not all on the black community. It is the responsibility of all people as we all comprise the community.

While the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Say their Names movement were good measures, I think people lose sight of what each of them entailed. A movement in this context is a group of people working together to advance their shared political, social, and artistic ideas. This sounds much like an ongoing process. One that is not to be given up on or forgotten about. 

    • This movement needs to remain ongoing until justice is served.

    • It needs to remain ongoing until equality is more prevalent than inequality. 

    • It needs to remain ongoing until togetherness is more relevant than segregation. 

See, we are taught that segregation ended with the Civil Right’s Act of 1964, but that didn’t end segregation, it changed the ways of which we are segregated. It changed the laws, but it didn’t demand a change from all people. Let us as a community of blacks, and whites, and everything in between, come together to abolish segregation amongst our people. Black Lives Matter, just like the lives of everyone else matter.

A Note From The Editor:

After this article was written we in Buffalo NY experienced firsthand the tragic results of racism in our own community. On May 14, 2022 an avowed white supremacist travelled to Buffalo and murdered ten black people in a Tops supermarket on the east side of Buffalo.

Here are a few organizations to contact:

• Fundraiser by National Compassion Fund, Buffalo Survivors Fund(gofundme.com)

• Feed Buffalo, feedbuffalo.org

• FeedMore WNY, feedmorewny.org

• Thurman Thomas Family Foundation, WNY, ThurmanThomasFamilyFoundation.org

• Buffalo NAACP, buffalonaacp.org

• Black Lives Matter, blacklivesmatter.com