The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013, shortly after the death of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon Martin was a black teenager who was shot down by a white man for looking suspicious. Though Trayvon had committed no crime, and his killer had been instructed to take no action, the man who shot him was not sentenced to jail time. 

This awakened many young adults who could relate to Trayvon Martin and inspired the hashtag #blacklivesmatter which grew into a movement. The movement is very literal. The main goal and focus is simply to remind our society that black lives are important and can not and should not be taken without repercussions (as they have been).

When we romanticize the civil rights movement we give the wrong expectations for arising movements like Black Lives Matter, and we invalidate the experiences of black people. This creates insecurities, internalized racism, and gross prejudices and stereotypes that become harder to overcome overtime.

So many black lives have been lost in the past few years, and many times those who are not completely aware of all aspects of the situation will defend the murderer. They do not understand that racial profiling plays a role in anything, and they can't believe that black lives are being lost simply because they are black. The problem is that black lives have always been taken away and destroyed. However, that is a part of American history and the Civil Rights Movement that is left out of our education. That is why many people believe that we are past it; obviously, we aren't.