Does All Lives Matter Include Black Lives?
images: via wikipedia
Since the beginning of 2016, 569 people have been killed by the police, with 137 being black people. At the beginning of the week, two men, Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile were shot and killed by police within 48 hours of each other, one for reaching for his license after being told to do so in front of his girlfriend and young daughter and the other for selling CDs. The murders inspired peaceful protests both in the US and the UK but also sparked outrage from those who claim that the race card must not be used and that the #blacklivesmatter hashtag was racist. Every time an incident like this happens (and it has happened so many times that people are almost never surprised when they do) the discussion of the importance of black lives and the state of racism is brought up. Those of us who are hurting and watching people who look like us die over nothing are undermined by those who whine and complain that we should be speaking about all lives. Why do they feel the need to do this? Where in the phrase black lives matter did non-black people find the word only or phrase no other lives matter?
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence toward black people founded by three black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. BLM regularly organises protests around the deaths of black people in killings by law enforcement officers, and broader issues of racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system.
In 2013, the movement began with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. Black Lives Matter became nationally recognised for its street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans: Michael Brown, resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, and Eric Garner in New York City. Since the Ferguson protests, participants in the movement have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African Americans by police actions or while in police custody, including those of Tamir Rice, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Jonathan Ferrell, Sandra Bland, Samuel DuBose, and Freddie Gray, which led to protests and rioting in Baltimore. In the summer of 2015, Black Lives Matter began to publicly challenge politicians—including politicians in the 2016 United States presidential election—to state their positions on BLM issues. The overall Black Lives Matter movement, however, is a decentralised network and has no formal hierarchy or structure (wikipedia).
This post is not meant to come across as an attack but rather a piece to ask why some people are so focused on proving why they think these people deserved to die. Using the phrase all lives matter to describe these events may seem like a lovely sentiment to some of you but it isn't. Of course we know that all lives matter, every life on this earth is beautiful and sacred but when you watch the news and day after day you hear stories of black lives being taken by police, you need to understand that this is something that is not affecting all lives. Not every life is scared to come in contact with the police, not every life has to teach their children that there are some people in power, who are supposed to serve and protect them, might not want to do so, not every life has to think constantly about their behaviour, their skin, quirks and mannerisms and over compensate for this just so they don't die. The phrase black lives matter is not anti white or anti any other race and if you believe it does then maybe you need to look within yourself and ask why you think it does because if you truly believed that all lives matter, then you should be as outraged by these recent events as we are.
One piece of advice I would love to share with those who have been affected the news recently and have been protesting, especially online is to take a break. Mental health is extremely important, and with the constant images and videos of the deaths can take a toll on anyone so please remember that taking a break, doing things that you love like reading, talking to friends or listening to music, is paramount. Events like this have the ability to lower your spirits and take you to a dark place and I understand how bad you can feel if you feel like you're not doing enough for the movement but taking care of yourself and your wellbeing should still be a priority.
Saying Black Lives Matter does not mean that other lives do not or that our lives matter more, it means that us as black people are facing a specific issue that is endangering our lives.