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Evan F. Moore | Syndicated Columnist

Black people in America are sick and tired of falling for the swindle that America loves to call equality.

And thats why weve seen so many protests pop up all over the country.

Remember how Lucy tries to get Charlie Brown to kick a field goal on the Peanuts cartoon? Charlie Brown says to himself, She must think Im the most stupid person alive. Then Lucy would convince Charlie Brown to kick the football, and then does what she always does takes the ball from him so he can embarrass himself.

Thats what America has done to black people since we showed up as slaves in Jamestown, Virginia, back in 1619.

Since then, America in many cases thinks were stupid. And the best way to battle darkness is to shine a light on the things that have divided so many Americans.

Even though the Black Lives Matter movement appears to be one of the most polarizing groups around, many Americans are unaware that theres a difference between the hashtag, the movement and the organization.

Black Lives Matter was created in response to the 2012 killing of a Florida teen named Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer. Since Zimmerman was acquitted of murder in 2013, hes been every bit of the thug that he and many others painted Martin and his family out to be. His resume includes domestic battery after, according to The Orlando Sentinel, in September 2013 his then-estranged wife, Shellie, accused him of threatening her and her father. In November that same year he was charged with aggravated assault on a girlfriend after she said he pointed a shotgun at her. Then, in January 2015, he was charged with aggravated assault for throwing a wine bottle at his female roommate. All charges were eventually dropped by the women. However, Shellie said in a 2013 interview with NBCs Today show, In hindsight I shouldve (pressed charges), and I really regret that, but Im on probation and the officers made it very clear that day if I pressed charges we were all going to go to jail and I wouldve been the only one to stay there.

Add to that CV racism and arrogance, after, according to CBS News, police overheard him using slurs and being belligerent with a sheriffs deputy while being kicked out of a bar this past November.

Zimmermans killing of Martin, acquittal and the way he has carried himself after the fact have been too much for black people to take. Thats why the founders of Black Lives Matter Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors decided that enough was enough.

Meanwhile, white America remains largely silent on things that affect black lives. The protests and other forms of civil disobedience are BLMs, and other civil rights organizations, way of holding a mirror up to our country to show that America doesnt live up its promise like many people seem to believe.

From my experience in covering protests, reading activist groups manifestos and speaking to members, Black Lives Matter simply means that black lives ought to matter just as much as anyone elses. No less, and most definitely, no more.

Having said that, America is really lucky that black people, and Charlie Brown for that matter, only want to be treated with respect instead of going for revenge like the colonists did.

After all, revolutions, stateside or not, have been started off of less.

Evan F. Moore is a syndicated columnist with Gatehouse Media.

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EVAN F. MOORE: Intersection of race, violence and culture - Houma Courier