The progress by Black Lives Matter is a point of political tension amid an important discussion on discrimination and the wave of police violence against African-Americans.

For Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, columnist to the newspaper The Root, Black Lives Matter is the most significant anti-racist movement there has been in the United States in years.

The initiative, boosted by women and black transgender people, began after the absolution of George Zimmerman, a white security guard that killed African American adolescent Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, in 2012, for considering him a suspect, although he was unarmed.

The murder of 18-year-old black boy Michael Brown on August 9, 2014 by white police officer Darren Wilson boosted even more the entity fostered, in a great extent, by social networks.

Observers say that Black Lives Matter has brought about greater use of cameras on the police uniforms, expedite accusations against officers for shooting black unarmed people, as well a change in the public opinion about the issue.

Its most outstanding actions include blockages of roads, malls, bridges and companies from one end to another in the United States

In the middle of September, it was also responsible for the resignation of the chief of police in Surf City, a town in North Carolina, after the officer called the group as terrorist in a Facebook comment.

Thus, it is not by chance that right-wing activists reject its stances, as proven by a march in recent weeks, joined by 20,000 demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama that counteracted with the motto "All Lives Matter."

Black activists claimed that they had found an offensive rhetoric in that action.

Do all lives matter? Of course, but the real situation is that in our country, some lives are more important than others, said Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, in statements to the newspaper The Hill.

She added that the members of the so-called red party are not in contact with what is happening and they refuse to admit that there is inequality in terms of race.

She considered shameful that conservatives want to marginalize her movement blaming African Americans for the answer to police brutality against minorities.

Republicans are using a pattern and practicing violence against black people to undermine their roots. They are trying to divert the attention away from what is really happening, she explained.

For the republicans, the state of social disadvantage in which the so-called minorities are answers to the application of policies they consider liberals and to the inefficiency of the government programs.

Garza defended that some activists interrupt speeches by the presidential nominees to the elections in 2016, another act of civil disobedience that the entity puts into practice.

The independent Senator for Vermont, Bernie Sanders, and former State Secretary Hillary Clinton witnessed, in different electoral meetings, the discontent in activists, who are trying to draw the attention of the aspirants to the White House to the situation regarding discrimination and racial violence.

The candidates come and give speeches, but in fact, what people want is a conversation. It is necessary to hold talks between the affected communities and the people representing them, Garza said.

She asserted that Black Lives would launch a group of political proposals in the coming weeks, besides organizing a public forum with the presidential nominees as guests.

The activist said they expect to align themselves with other groups, including immigrants, environmentalists and critics of the excessive power of the financial institutions (Occupy Wall Street).

DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCE, AN UNFINISHED DISCUSSION

Not even the arrival to the White House of the first African American stopped the spiral of violence and murders against black people in a country founded on the grounds of slavery and racial discrimination.

We should recall that Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, thanks to the overwhelming and unprecedented support of the black community, together with extensive sectors of women and young people.

But since he assumed his post in 2009, the living conditions of the majority of Afro-Americans have been deteriorating, as a consequence of the economic crisis inherited from the Government of George W. Bush (2001-2009), together with militarization of the police and an alarming escalation of racist violence.

Obama's almost total silence about this issue, gave way this year to inadequate avowal of the scope of police racism, moderate proposals for a reform with not enough funds and inconsistent implementation, and his call to reverse the compulsory minimum sentences that have overcrowded the prisons disproportionately with Afro-Americans, as recently highlighted by the website Socialist Worker.

If the democratic leaders and even few republicans are admitting that Black Lives Matter exists because thousands of people have taken to the streets and many more have seen their believes or ideas challenged and changed, the website said.

Polls have revealed that currently, the full implications of police brutality and racism prevailing in the US society are better understood, an important change in social awareness, thanks, in a great extent, to activists.

According to the Pew Research Center, almost half of the white people thought last year that the country had done everything possible to put an end to racial discrimination.

Today, that number decreased to less than one third. More than half of the white people, together with 86 percent of the black people consider that there is still much to do to overcome racism.

Black Lives Matter is facing numerous challenges, if we consider that most of the US citizens think that racial relations in the country are bad and could worsen.

Almost six out of every 10 citizens, including a majority of white and black people, believe that racial relations are generally bad, and almost four out of every 10 people think that they will worsen, according to a poll taken in July by the newspaper The New York Times and CBS News, the news division of the television and radio network CBS.

During the last year, there was an increase in the number of killings by the police and incidents recorded and presented as evidence, related to excessive use of force by police agents against black people and Latinos.

Research by the British newspaper The Guardian proved that July, 2015 brought a record of 118 deaths in the hands of police agents and Afro-Americans recorded the highest percentage, with a higher rate than the usual.

There has been some success, including the fact that it is more probable to see a murderer police agent today, being accused for his crimes, although not necessarily sentenced. But this progress is still little, compared to the magnitude of the problem, said an article posted on the website Socialist Worker.org.

The article predicted that survival and strengthening of Black Lives Matter, within the bulk of social movements, would be possible as long as it puts pressure, not only on legislators but also on attorneys and the public opinion, regarding the unfinished social discussion on racial and economic inequality.