To understand BlackLivesMatter on Fifth Avenue, Mr. Trump, walk where Blacks have walked

In this climate of hate, it seems that people who want to can find something evil in even a good movement.

Take #BlackLivesMatter. I was appalled when I heard the president of the United States call the movement “... a symbol of hate” as the words were being painted along New York City’s fashionable Fifth Avenue.

He also said painting the words on the street was “denigrating to this luxury avenue.” It seems to me that the avenue where thousands of people trod every day means more to the president than the movement that is meant to stop the violence against innocent Black people.

Three Black women founded the #BlackLivesMatter movement in 2103 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old Orlando-area neighborhood watch volunteer who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012.

Trayvon, a student at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School near Aventura, was walking home from a neighborhood store, where he had gone to purchase a bottle of iced tea and a bag of Skittles, while visiting his father and his father’s fiancee, who lived in a gated community in Sanford in Central Florida.

Trayvon never made it home.

When the unarmed Trayvon was killed, the outrage was felt throughout the country. President Barack Obama was so moved by the teen’s murder he said in an interview, “Trayvon could have been my son…”

It wasn’t until Zimmerman’s acquittal that it seemed to us Blacks, that to some people, our lives weren’t worth a hill of beans. Black mothers and fathers, and Black people in general cried out loud in anguish, “Our lives matter, too!”

It was about that time that three Black women — Alica Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi — created a “Black-centered political will and movement building project called #BlackLivesMatter. Since 2013, the member-led organization has grown to become a global network with more than 40 chapters.

According to information from its website, the mission of #BlackLivesMatter “... is to organize and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes… As #BlackLivesMatter developed throughout 2013 and 2014, we utilized it as a platform and organizing tool. Other groups, organizations, and individuals used it to amplify anti-Black racism across the country, in all the ways it showed up.”

Still, the senseless killing of Blacks continued — at the hands of racist white citizens (Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black jogger chased, shot and killed by armed white men on a Sunday afternoon in February in a small town near Brunswick, Georgia); and at the hands of racist white police officers.

Instead of trying to bridge the gap to racial harmony, our president sees #BlackLivesMatter as a symbol of hate, thereby widening the gap.

Black lives DO matter. I can’t understand why that statement is so hard to digest. And yes, ALL lives matter. Nobody said they don’t.

But this is about getting people to see us Blacks — to really see us — as human beings; to feel our pain when one of our sons or daughters have been brutally murdered by the people who are supposed to protect us; to celebrate with us in our accomplishments.

To say Black Lives Matter is to ask you to take a walk down the path where we have walked in this country for centuries.

I am aware that in all great movements there will always be the “tainters,” those people who get involved just to make the movement look bad. It happened during the civil rights movements and the peace marches. It is happening with #BlackLivesMatter.

Even so, good men and women and girls and boys, must take a stand and see the movement for what it really is — a call to the conscience of America. It is saying, “We can do better. We can stop the racism.”

A fond farewell to a beloved teacher

Congratulations to Dr. Celita Cabrera, who will retire after 34 years as a beloved member of the Monsignor Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens.

Cabrera started at the school as a bus driver. It wasn’t enough for her, so she went back to school and became a teacher, an author, a department head and later received a doctorate degree in education.

“Her accomplishments are a reflection of the dedication she never fails to produce when it comes to her classroom, students and curriculum,” said Surella Rodriguez, a Pace colleague. “As the foreign language department head, Dr. Cabrera taught Spanish to many Pace alumni. She is everyone’s favorite with her enthusiastic attitude, humorous life stories and, of course, her Cuban coffee.”

Melissa Schanchez, a class of 2013 alumna and activities director at Pace, added: “Celita is the strength you need on a bad day. Her words of encouragement along with her delicious cafecito always makes the day better.”

Cabrera’s impact goes beyond the classroom. She has taught generations of families, helped students with personal and housing problems, fed students when they didn’t have lunch and funded students that were financially struggling.

When asked what her plans after retirement, Cabrera said with a chuckle, “I’m going to do nothing. I’ve been working since I was 15 and I’m 75 now.” She said while she has loved every minute at Pace, now is the time to visit with her family and not have to worry about having to rush back to school.

“I am a born teacher. Pace has been my home for 34 years and I love my kids. The good thing about retiring now is that I am alive to see that I’ve made an impact on the lives of others,” she said.