Ray Lewis questions "if black lives really matter"

BALTIMORE, April 6 (UPI) -- One of Baltimore's favorite sons pled for peace during the 2015 Baltimore riots, after the death of Freddie Gray.

Now Ray Lewis is taking on the Black Lives Matter movement, asking: "if black lives really matter?"

Lewis posted a video Saturday with its caption reading: "my heart is hurting. We must do better."

"I'm trying to figure out if black lives really matter," Lewis said in the video..."The March murder rate rose by 29 percent, but we're not rioting in the streets over black-on-black crime."

Lewis made several references to recent shootings in Chicago. He suggests a mandatory 25-year prison sentence for owners of illegal guns, while offering those gun owners to turn in their weapons in hypothetical barrels on street corners.

"I'm trying to figure out in my mind why no one is paying attention to black men killing black men," Lewis added. "Why do we always find ourselves as the victims, and now we have the separation once again that we're being victimized because of one bad white cop, two bad white cops, three bad white cops, killing a young black brother. But every day we have black-on-black crime, killing each other."

Lewis' Facebook video has been watched more than 3.3 million times and shared more than 72,000 times. Lewis was charged with the murder of two men in 2000, the night of the Super Bowl, in Atlanta. Lewis eventually pled guilty to obstruction of justice and testified against the two other defendants who were with him that night.

"I know black lives matter, because I'm a black man, but man, stop killing each other. Man, we got to put these guns down in Chicago. Baltimore, Miami, man it ain't that hard. You got to be OK with earning a right living. It ain't supposed to be easy," Lewis said. "...If we don't change what we're doing not only will our kids not have a future, but we might find ourselves extinct."

Lewis retired after winning the Super Bowl in 2012, following a 17-year playing career with the Baltimore Ravens. Lewis, 40, joined ESPN as a studio analyst in 2013. His Facebook feed is full of motivational quotes, speaking engagements, and other forms of social commentary.