“You can take your uniform off; I can’t take my black skin off.”

This quote captures the spirit of the latest OzSpeaks, a forum for students to talk about recent and relevant topics on social justice.

Tuesday’s OzSpeaks on Blue Lives Matter, a pro-police movement that reignited following the Houston police shootings, was the third such forum this year.

This specific topic was chosen because, according to Jerri Howland, the associate vice president for student affairs and the organizer of these forums, “We expected the topic to be one people would want to have a space to talk about.”

OzSpeaks was created following the series of attacks and social justice issues that arose this summer.

“We know our students were experiencing these things in their own communities and we wanted to give them a forum to express what they were feeling,” said Dan Roberts, an assistant moderator for the forum.

So far this year,  OzSpeaks has covered the topics of the Pulse shootings in Orlando, the Black Lives Matter movement and the Blue Lives Matter movement.

The Blue Lives Matter forum brought together a diverse group of individuals. A majority of those who spoke have some sort of familial tie to the police in this country and expressed how distressed they were at how their loved ones have been threatened in their line of work, more so than they were before.

A majority of those who spoke were African American with family in the police force and spoke on how they feel torn between the two movements, feeling required to stand up for Black Lives Matter as black individuals and to stand for Blue Lives Matter because their family stood in the ranks of the police.

Not everyone who spoke felt positively towards the Blue Lives Matter movement. One speaker expressed guilt at not feeling dismay when they heard about the news of the Houston shootings on police members. Another speaker said they are reconsidering their major because it often leads to direct interactions with police. Some expressed concern that the movement had chosen to brand itself with the “lives matter” name, putting it in direct response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Many who came to the forum did not plan to speak, only to listen to hear opinions and information. Some were opened more to the proposition of a certain side.

“I don’t know anyone in the police force, so it was definitely easy to take a side,” Oswego State student Taylor Tessier said. She is aware of the feelings of those on the side of Blue Lives Matter movement and is “less likely to shut it down.”

Alexis Bowerie, whose father is in the police force in her hometown, said she is “more aware of people’s emotions on the other side of the argument.”

“I didn’t plan on speaking, but then I felt like it was a safe environment to do it anyways,” Bowerie said.

Keyonna Rwen, an Oswego State student, said, “When people were talking about having families in the police departments, it really hit home and made me realize there are people who really are just doing their jobs [in the police force].”