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Black Lives Matter Knoxville co-founder explains message

Leaders with Black Lives Matter's Knoxville chapter said some people misconstrue the organization's message, following the shootings that killed law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas.

Leaders with Black Lives Matter's Knoxville chapter said some people misconstrue the organization's message, following the shootings that killed law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas.

The chapter’s co-founder Elandria Williams said when a lone shooter acts out against police, it conveys a false impression of what Black Lives Matter stands for.

"A life for a life, to me, doesn't make sense,” she said. “Anytime a life is taken away, that's a really saddening thing."

Williams is an education coordinator at Highlander, a research and education center for social justice. She said the movement is not against individual police officers, but rather a system that she says disproportionately targets blacks and other minorities.

"I got involved with police brutality in the early 90s,” she said. “White students would be on the other side and they would be fine, but Black students would get rounded up. Those of us who lived up north or out west could go home, but those who lived in East Knoxville would get put in jail."

Protestors have held at least three rallies in Knoxville since the death of Alton Sterling, 37, who died earlier this month in a confrontation with Baton Rouge police.

WATCH: Black Lives Matter protesters march through Market Square

Those protests have been peaceful, pushing for one goal.

"For me what it's about is how we change the system so that all of our lives are valued," Williams said.

"As black people, Latino people, and poor white people, frankly, in Knoxville... what do our lives mean?” Williams asked. “What does it mean for us to have access to equitable health care, to housing, to economic development? What does it mean to actually shift this country?”

10News reached out to Knoxville police, but the department declined to speak. On Sunday, the department issued a joint statement with the City of Knoxville after a lone shooter killed three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers:

"We call for calm and remind residents in our city that these incidents heighten the importance of continuing efforts to work together to ensure safety for all,” the statement read.

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