With Beyonce’s “Formation” and Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy performance, the #BlackLivesMatter movement has been excelling. Black people around the nation are standing up against racial issues such as police brutality and racial profiling.

Ever since Trayvon Martin was shot in 2012, the black community has been in a constant battle for justice. These movements have brought people together and started so many organizations or improved upon old ones so that future black children do not have to feel the pressure of racism.

So why would three black women on the University of Albany’s campus lie about being racially attacked, putting the black community 70 years back?

Asha Burwell, Alexis Briggs and Ariel Agudio are all facing serious charges after falsely reporting and accusing white individuals of verbally and physically attacking them on a CDTA bus. Not only did they lie to the police, but they went on television in tears talking about their traumatic experience and injustice that they were faced with. Students at Albany protested and some black students even transferred due to the fear of being attacked on campus. But after a thorough investigation, it was found that the three women were the aggressors and not the other way around.

There is never a time where dishonesty should be used, but during the time where blacks are finally coming together and fighting about the racism that exists in this country, it is definitely not a good time to be deceitful. Strong blacks in the community defended these girls and took them under their wing only to be embarrassed and ashamed.

Black people are already stereotyped into a box of negativity and what these women did not help the movement. There have been countless tweets and posts about how these women are punks, lowlifes and other degrading terms. As a black woman myself, how am I supposed to defend them? Some people already believe that racism does not exist and that we are the ones “creating the problem,” then people like these three women go out there and help their theory. Being the minority is already tough, but now we have to deal with dishonesty.

This past month was Black History Month, the one month to celebrate ourselves and remember where we came from, but instead it was filled with a reminder of why some people believe that we will never overcome it. It is time that we start using the past as a catalyst for change in the future and not only come together when there is a crisis in the black community.