(Video) NFL: Richard Sherman Says Black Lives Should Matter All the Time Including Black-on-Black Violence

This is a point made often and while it is true, it shouldn’t be used to criticize the #BlackLivesMatter movement. There’s murders committed within each race, that has nothing to do with black people being treated unfairly by the police or anyone else in a position of power. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman was asked about the BlackLivesMatter movement after a meme and a comment was attributed to him on a website. While making it clear that he did not write the comment, he did give his take on the movement.

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“As a black man I do understand that black lives matter,” Sherman said Wednesday in a wide-ranging and passionate interview. “I stand for that, I believe in that wholeheartedly. But I believe that there is a way to go about things and there’s a way to do things.”

Sherman used a personal experience to explain his stance.

“I dealt with a best friend getting killed, and it was by two 35-year-old black men,” Sherman said, his voice cracking slightly. “Wasn’t no police officer involved, wasn’t anybody else involved, and I didn’t hear anybody shouting, ‘Black lives matter.’”

Sherman argued that African-Americans should focus on internal issues before addressing systematic ones, such as police brutality.

“If black lives matter,” Sherman said, “then they should matter all of the time.”

The All-Pro cornerback also acknowledged that there are good and bad officers, and said that police should also do their part to bring about change.

“Some of it is being brought to light because of video cameras; everybody has a camera on their phone,” he said. “These are things a lot of us have dealt with our whole lives.”