“All lives matter” (2014) is what some White Americans and their hangers-on cannot seem to stop their colour-blind racist selves from saying when the phrase “Black lives matter” comes up. Not just ordinary people, but even those running for president – in both parties.
“Black lives matter” became a catchphrase and the name of a protest movement in 2013 after George Zimmerman was found not guilty and got away with killing Trayvon Martin. The phrase and the protests took off a year later after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson.
Over the past year or so citizen video and Black Twitter have made clear to the nation what many Blacks have long known: that police regularly kill Blacks and get away with murder. As if Black lives do not matter.
So at the very least, under the circumstances, saying “All lives matter” in answer to “Black lives matter” is like saying “All diseases matter” to an AIDS activist. A true statement, yes, but one that is so besides the point that it comes across as either wilfully obtuse or heartless.
But sometimes it is uglier than that. For example, “ALL LIVES MATTER” was written across a painting of Sandra Bland, right across her name (pictured above). As if “All lives matter” is Whitespeak for “Black lives do not matter.”
Anyone who truly believes that “All lives matter” would not say that when the issue of Black Lives Matter comes up. Because if all lives truly do matter, then so do Black lives. So they would not rub out the “Black” with the “All”, given the times we live in. They would be concerned enough to know that the phrase means
“Black lives matter TOO,”
and not twist it to mean
“ONLY Black lives matter,”
so that they can dismiss the issue.
Those who say “All lives matter” do not care about Black lives. Not one bit. Arguably, they do not even care about Whites lives. What they do care about is dismissing or avoiding issues of race. Changing “Black” to “All” does that.
Mike Huckabee, who is running for president, said last week:
“When I hear people scream ‘Black Lives Matter,’ I’m thinking, of course they do. All lives matter. It is not that any life matters more than another. That’s the whole message Dr. King tried to present, and I think he’d be appalled by the notion that we’re elevating some lives above others.”
That addition of Dr King is telling. Whites bring him up when they want to silence Blacks.
For most Whites, King’s “whole message” seems to be boiled down to just one quote from just one speech. Yet in that very same “I Have a Dream” speech Martin Luther King said:
“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.”
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
- Black Lives Matter
- Mike Huckabee
- Martin Luther King, Jr
- colour-blind racism
- wilfully obtuse
- The Black-on-Black crime argument – because I know it will come up
551
I have seen black people start to use this. The minds of most black people are in chains. If whites tell them something is bad then they see it as bad. It they tell them something is good, then they will view it as good.
To some black people #Blacklivesmatter is bad because it does not address black on black crimes. Yet because whites have deemed #Alllivesmatter as more acceptable they will cling to it and use it without realizing that slogan care nothing about ANY lives.
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They always want to pull MLK out of their hind parts to deflect. Yes, all lives matter but the reality is it’s the black ones that are getting snuffed out on a regular at frightening frequency.
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@Mary Burrell
I am going to start Quoting the other half of that to see what they will have to say.
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Overkill
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@Abagond you seem to be going tbrough some gyrations eg some whites and their hangers on? A sticky wicket indeed,
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I agree ‘#alllivesmatter’ is good place to approach that whole connotation?…
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Its interesting especially in light of king/dolozel, can’t put my finger on it just yet
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If Whites really want to make the ‘#alllivesmatter’ tag stick, then they need to be just as vociferous as Blacks in pointing out how unarmed Whites who are killed by the police.
What is the point of trying to stop Black people from complaining about fellow Blacks who are killed police abuse? If ALL people are really suffering from police brutality equally, then wouldn’t you think that Whites should be complaining about the POLICE, rather than complaining about Blacks calling out the police?
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“Pistol-whipped detective says he didn’t shoot attacker because of headlines”
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/13/us/alabama-birmingham-police-detective-pistol-whipped/
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Seeing that Sandra Bland murial defaced like that tells me all I need to know about the impetus behind “alllivesmatter.”
It’s evil.
Our lives seem to not matter unless the whites dictate otherwise. That ain’t gonna work.
The sooner we realize we’re on our own and act in our best interests accordingly, the better off we’ll be. Other ethnic groups in this nation don’t leave themselves so open to sabotage and attack as we do.
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@ King
Their is Copblock which is run by whites. It seems to report everything that has to do with police brutality. When I ran a BLM search on their site they had an article up detailing the FBI’s surveillance of BLM in New York. I haven’t seen any mention of “all lives matter” on their site.
http://www.copblock.org/
I think Copblock represents only a minority of whites who take police brutality seriously. I think the majority of whites believe BLM is racist.
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I don’t think the Sandra Bland mural even had the “Black Lives Matter” phrase on it anywhere. It was simply defaced with “All Lives Matter”. That’s a passive-aggressive “Shut the **** up!”
@Kiwi
“The truth is, Whites are also brutalized by police (in the sense that American policing is heavy-handed all around compared to many other countries) but only Blacks seem to be making an effort to change that. Black Lives Matter is essentially fighting for everyone’s rights and all they get in return is chastisement from those who would also benefit from change.”
Yup. White people will support harsher government policies if they’ll hurt blacks even if they could potentially be used against whites too. It’s an example of cutting off your nose to spite your face. I think those in power know that if they want white support for certain measures they can use the black, immigrant, or muslim bogeyman to get them to agree.
IMO, Donald Trump’s campaign has cynically, but successfully, embraced this strategy. He is wealthier than the vast majority of whites in this country and doesn’t necessarily represent their interests. However, he doesn’t have to address any of that if he simply points the finger at groups that they hate, blame them for America’s problems, and make laws to hurt them instead of laws that would threaten his personal wealth or improve the lives of the poor, regardless of race. He’s a classical demagogue, but the polls show that he’s quite popular.
Another example can be found in this article which addresses the effect of race on how juvenile offenders are punished.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/06/05/when-to-punish-a-young-offender-and-when-to-rehabilitate/the-race-factor-in-trying-juveniles-as-adults
This not only demonstrates the tendency Kiwi mentioned but is also relevant, by extrapolation, to the topic of police brutality. As long as blacks are suffering disproportionately at the hands of police there will be little motivation for white America, in general, to push for a change in how the police operate. From this perspective, it doesn’t matter if some white people are also killed under the regime of aggressive and heavy-handed policing.
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All Lives Matter (as little).
But some matter less than others.
-American Farm
George Notwell
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-sign-vandalized_55cb64b3e4b0f1cbf1e6f0bf
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That “All Lives” stuff is just a diversionary tactic. It would only be an appropriate response if the slogan was #ONLYBlackLivesMatter. Of course all lives matter, but it’s not all lives that are being ended illegally by police in an ever increasing fashion. That dubious honor has been reserved for black lives.
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All Lives Matter is code speak for saying Black Lives “don’t “matter. Precisely!
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Mike Huckaby needs to have a whole stadium full of seats and sit his hypocrite self down.
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v8driver
“Pistol-whipped detective says he didn’t shoot attacker because of headlines”
Trying to figure the downside of this?
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@ Origin
I think that has been the case throughout American history, yet when talk of racial injustice comes up, we’re often given the “It’s the elites that are responsible!” line. As if whites have not willingly been enforcers of race fueled agendas for centuries. War on terror, War on drugs, the very history of America’s police force. This fear and loathing is at the core of America and I don’t see that changing. Ever. What’s the solution for Black people? To be just as wholesale desensitized, greedy, exclusive, aggressive and deceptive? The thought of having to go that route just to have somewhere on planet Earth where we can just be, makes me sick. It’s just so tiring.
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When Whites say “All lives matter” (a chess-move phrase) that includes Darren Wilson, Brian Encinia, George Zimmerman, Michael Slager, Raymond Tensing, Daniel Pantaleo, Timothy Loehmann, etc. I wonder if Bill Cosby is included in the same phrase? Probably not. Can death row prisoners use the “all lives matter” phrase before execution? Probably not. These “all lives matter” people are extremely amusing. LMAO!
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@ Mack Lyons
I beg to differ, I see Asians, super marginalized with no political power, being bastardized inside their own shopping centers on a regular basis. Whites just go there and try to mock them…
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@ Mack Lyons
Have you ever seen a white dude show up with a black female and try to mock black folks @ a black setting like a wedding or a convention? Asians let that kind of shit happen all the time without a thought.
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Man,I love your blog!!!
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…White people have been playing the “King” card for years.
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Again its an extension or superset like the gays with marriage so forth their ‘movement’ idk i dont use twiter anyway i dont follow it certainly not on no interracial twist, which obbiously i follow sp sorry
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No power home due to slumlord owner racked $4k with the power co an me with the day off n broke too
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Damn library is closed for like a year…
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Governors_of_Arkansas
Huckabee’s republican they know they need some hearts and minds right about now
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@ Gen
What’s the solution for Black people? To be just as wholesale desensitized, greedy, exclusive, aggressive and deceptive? The thought of having to go that route just to have somewhere on planet Earth where we can just be, makes me sick. It’s just so tiring.
Why do people think that blacks have to be so damned gentle, opening and above-board all the time? What’s wrong with being as aggressive (and, I daresay, cutthroat) as necessary to move you and your people forward?
They’re playing the championship finals while we’re playing pick-up games.
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@ Mack Lyons
For starters, who gets to be black?
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Who’s black is actually a really good question. If it is defined in terms of some kind of “pure” ancestry (no ancestors from outside of the African people who were taken to the “New World”) many of us would be technically disqualified even if we don’t seem “mixed”. I remember reading that the actor Don Cheadle tested at about 20% european DNA. Miscegenation is just a historical reality in the Americas. This is why I can’t take issue with the “one drop rule”. It allows acceptance as a full member of the black community even if you’re “mixed”.
On the other hand, it can stand in the way of clearly defining who’s in and who’s not. Whites don’t have that “problem” because that identity is defined for exclusivity and power. If you don’t look a certain way you’re not white even if you have a white parent. The fact that whites do not allow people to be fully white while having other ancestry is not a mark against the “one drop rule”. That just says you’re black. White supremacy says you’re not welcome as white if you’re “impure”. This was part of my argument in the “Hapa” thread when I said “one drop” isn’t the issue per se.
I think that right now it’s kind of self-evident who’s black: those who say they are and who’re treated that way by whites. It’s a honor system and because of racism most people won’t fake it. However, if we got our reparations, for example, how would we defend against white people pretending to be black and stealing our stuff again? LOL. It is an interesting question.
[Kind of OT so I’m done!]
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@Thatdeborahgirl its polemic i suppose, i have been pistolwhipped so.. wasnt my gun. … but that part of it? Makes me feel some type of way but it shows popular movements can have an impact
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@Origin
There’s no such thing as “pure black” or pure white. So some bogus genetic test saying Don Cheadle is “20% european” is pure BS.
Race is a social construct, and not even all indigenous Africans and indigenous Europeans, if that is such a thing, have common genes.
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When I saw Sandra Bland’s mural defaced it hurt me. The ugliness of that act mirrors how many in the dominant culture feel toward people in black bodies.
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A street is being named in her honor. #SayHerName Sandra Bland
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@ Origins
This is why I asked that question. When we start talking allocation of resources and availability of opportunities based on physical appearances, lines will be drawn (many times, right through families) and it will likely get really nasty pretty fast (look no further than “white” people).
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@resw77
The criteria for what race you’re in (skin color, hair texture, eye shape etc.) is based on social convention but your genes, which influence your apperance, follow the biological concept of inheritance from your parents. Nothing social about meiosis followed by the union of an egg and sperm (except perhaps for the need to date a prospective mate first…lol).
So it is indeed possible to match genetic markers to other modern populations where they appear commonly and therefore to the people from which you would have likely obtained them. Genetic test results do not say you’re “black” or “white” but show the populations that your markers match. Just as you have stated, all Africans or Europeans do not have the same genes so it is also possible to narrow to particular regions or groups (Igbo/Hausa or Iberian/Scandinavian). Nonetheless, we can still generalize and say European or African if specificity is not required.
I have no particular reason to doubt what I read about Cheadle. Twenty percent European DNA is equivalent to a bit less than two great grandparents from Europe. Given the history of America, I wouldn’t be too shocked by that. In fact, IIRC, 20% is the average for African Americans. I used to be uninterested in DNA ancestry testing but now I think I would do it esp. if I could find out which African groups my ancestors were likely from.
@Gen
Yes. The idea of excluding people because they do not fit an appearance criterion is distateful to many black people. Yet white people have been doing it quite happily for centuries. What contrasting group psyches eh? Maybe our hope is in the development of a strong true community that people have to genuinely participate in to benefit from, not arbitrary classifications that could exclude people that should belong.
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@Thatdeborahgirl
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/26/us/virginia-shooting-wdbj/index.html
I consider a race war ‘the downside’
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The expression “All Lives Matter” is one of the most annoying things I’ve heard since this discussion about police brutality has been in the spotlight. It is meant as a way to deflect the discussion and also as a way to belittle the people pointing out the brutality.
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1. White folks who appropriate MLK’s speech and reduced it to one line which some will twist into their own interpretation have no idea who the man was. As a response, I would ask them, what else did Dr. King say during his lifetime?
2. All lives never mattered in this country. Since when have they ever? If people took an honest-to-goodness look at history and at society today, they would see that. But no, they can’t stand that truth and prefer to live in ignorance.
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@ Brothawolf
Exactly. One of the main themes of US history has been #OnlyWhiteLivesMatter.
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Truth!!!
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To be honest, the reason why I never used the saying “Black Lives Matter” is because some people abuse the statement, use it in the wrong context for their own gain and it makes me mad that they had to ruin a good thing.
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@Brothawolf:
Yes, so then it is reasonable to ask: Do “All Lives Matter” ‘supporters’ truly campaign for the mattering of all lives? Do they protest and march for all sorts of different groups which are undervalued, including, yes, Black lives? I think we all know what the answer to that question is. When was the last time you heard of an “All Lives Matter” protest against, say, child abusers abusing children or something, with that particular slogan in use, and not as a reaction against something Black people were doing or a Black Lives Matter protest? Furthermore, if “All Lives Matter” is so great, why didn’t Whites come up with it FIRST? Why is it that all these “nominally White-catering” groups only appear AFTER the corresponding Black version, NEVER before? Why didn’t “White Entertainment Television” with that explicitly mentioned in the name come BEFORE “Black Entertainment Television”? Why hasn’t an explicitly-named “United White College Fund” come BEFORE the “United Negro College Fund”? Why? Why? Why?
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@Mary Burrell:
Yes. It’s appalling, isn’t it? And the brazen contradiction: someone is trying to say someone’s life matters, and then “All lives matter” is sprayed on OVER it, as though to erase it, as though to say their life DOESN’T matter, by using a statement which implies it DOES!
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@Mack Lyons
I agree that in some aspects, blacks are subject to certain abuse and attack from white people nowadays that are more common to blacks than to non-blacks, eg, deadly local police brutality. (In prior periods, other ethnic groups may have suffered this even more acutely than blacks.)
However, I do chime in with some of the other commenters that it is wrong to suggest what you said above (that only blacks suffer this kind of treatment and no one else). In many other aspects, Asians, Middle Easterners and Arabs, American Indians, Mexicans, etc. are subject to sabotage and attack that most blacks almost never have to face, ie, singled out for racial reasons and abused for that in situations that blacks almost never have to worry about, eg.,
– immigration, or the right to be in the USA
– viewed as terrorist, or spy, or supporting actions, behaviours, ideologies which seek to overthrow or undermine the white American hegemony
– abuse and stereotypes that are open season abuse, esp. from white liberals that are completely taboo to apply to blacks (eg, Colbert’s mocking of Asians to mock people who appropriate American Indian icons).
– omission and deletion from textbooks about one’s history and existence
TeddyBearDaddy above gave an example of abuse that Asians have to suffer on a regular basis that may be almost invisible to blacks. You may never witness or empathize with such abuse if you are not on the receiving end. Asians, Mexicans and Native Americans were subject to ethnic cleansing and lynching at higher rates than blacks in prior generations. Just because it is erased from our textbooks does not mean it didn’t happen.
It certainly is not a contest. There is plenty of abuse to be shared around. Police brutality, esp. in black neighborhoods and to blacks in general is without a doubt a thorny issue that whites would like to toss behind their backs or change the narrative to make it about something else. I have no intention to do that. I am fully opposed to changing “Black lives matter” to “All Lives Matter.”
But, if you change the narrative to something re: what whites do to blacks and toss out everything else, I will have to call you out on that. That is not any better than what whites do to change the BLM narrative.
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[…] since Mike Brown, John Crawford, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland […]
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If you work at Facebook, you can write on the walls. They seem to be covered in whiteboard. Lately, some employees have been crossing out #BlackLivesMatter with #alllivesmatter.
Mark Zuckerberg told his employees:
Fine words – but only 2% of Facebook employees are Black.
More:
http://httpjournalsaolcomjenjer6steph.blogspot.com/2016/02/Zuck-Warns-Facebook-workers-to-not-troll.html
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Good for Mr. Zuckerberg but it’s my belief that most of the people who work in technology are East Asian and white and many East Asians tend to be anti-black and are brainwashed especially the ones who immigrate to this country. I do applaud Mr. Zuckerberg for admonishing his people at Facebook. Maybe those fools will listen to him as he explains what is wrong with hashtag All Lives Matter b.s..
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The dominant culture getting angry of the BLM lets me know how they feel about black lives and the sad thing to me are many black people who buy into All Lives Matter as well.
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The dominant White society have always exerted energy to counter Black people’s movements. Personally, I don’t agree with some of BLM’s tactics, but I definitely commend BLM for standing up to our society’s overt racism.
The ‘All Lives Matter’ phrase is very laughable. As a native Californian, I have every right to say ALM is to counter BLM and is an obvious joke in doing so. What happened in San Bernardino (CA) was horrific and tragic. My condolences go out to the victims’ families. But my question is where were the “All Lives Matter” people? The S.B. victims were of different ethnic groups. I did NOT see or hear one person say all lives matter. I did NOT see one sign with the written words of all lives matter. Many people would say the mass killing in San Bernardino was the result of terrorism. Whether one agrees or not, let’s keep it 100. The people who love to shout “all lives matter” are people who don’t have Black people’s best interest at heart. It is no different than when Time Magazine (in 1960) came out with an article titled “Success Story: Japanese American Style.” William Peterson’s article was to counter the Civil Rights movement in 1950s and 1960s.
@ Mary Burrell
I agree. It is a sad thing when the victims (c**ns included) are buying into the counter phrase – All Lives Matter.
http://content-img.newsinc.com/jpg/696/28295964/18085627.jpg?t=1419788460
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I saw today a curious article about Mark Zuckerberg and his standing vis-a-vis the watchword “Black lives matter” and its similar “All lives matter”.
Zuckerberg is White and married to an Asian American young woman.
Despite this background – which, for many commentators in this blog implies oft being a White racist male – he has a flawlessly position regarding the controversy “Black lives matter” / “All lives matter”. Namely he said:
See the link:
(http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/25/technology/mark-zuckerberg-black-lives-matter/index.html?iid=ob_video_footer&iid=obnetwork)
Good news… before we return to business as usual!
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The next time some white person says ‘All Lives Matter’; ask them if this includes animals and plants. That will shut them up as it indicates the level of concern you afford their arseholery and opinions(usually not solicited).
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@Michael Cooper: Yeah, Allen West has been riding the c**n train for a long time.
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@Michael Cooper:
Agreed. I have seen this too. What about when a kid dies of cancer because someone couldn’t afford treatment due to government policy/big corporations/etc.? What about if there’s a huge disease outbreak or something that kills lots of people and they’re not getting aid? Etc. etc. etc. Where is “all lives matter” THEN? If ALL lives matter then that means those incidents need to be addressed too.
Going simply by the words themselves, on their own, with nothing else considered, the phrase “All Lives Matter” as a name for a movement suggests a vast, majestic project to reach out to everyone in pain and harm’s way and do something for them, no matter who, what, where, or why they are. A gigantic, unifying, global and cooperative movement dedicated to eliminating tragedy, pain, and misery throughout the world. And if that’s what it was, I’d have no problem with it, and I’d suspect that nobody else here would have any problem with it, either.
But that’s NOT what it is. Instead, the ONLY time you see the “All Lives Matter” signs trotted out is when ONE and only ONE specific group of people tries to proclaim that THEIR lives matter: BLACK people. As though to say that they shouldn’t be saying that. As though to say that their lives DON’T matter — under, ridiculously enough, a slogan that would imply their lives DO matter! It’s so bad it might as well be a joke, if only it weren’t so serious. It’s actually a very targeted attack against a very specific group of people, and it’s done in a very brazen fashion because of the inherent hypocrisy in the slogan when it’s used this way.
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@Michael Cooper @mike4ty4
You both knocked it out of the park. Thank you!
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@Afrofem: You’re welcome. I just thought I should add one more thing. People who say “all lives matter” sometimes claim that “Black Lives Matter” is “divisive”, implying they want “unity”. But what they fail to realize is that the first step toward unity is making the voices of those who are not heard, heard. Thus it behooves anyone who believes in unity to lend an ear and listen sincerely to their voices with an open and kindly heart containing a spirit of goodwill. Black Lives Matter is an attempt to make such voices heard, and thus is pro-unity, not pro-division. In other words, Black Lives Matter is what “All Lives Matter” CLAIMS to be, but fails to actually be. Funny, isn’t it?
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Black lives matter more than white feelings.
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I love this quote by Jane Elliott: “There wouldn’t be a need for Black Lives Matter if there hadn’t been 300 years of Black Lives don’t matter.”
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@ Mary
I will have to remember that one.
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@Abagond: I have respect for Jane Elliott
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#AllBuildingsMatter was trending #2 on twitter on the morning of September 11. As you can well imagine, a lot of people were VERY triggered … though completely incapable of introspection, as usual.
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@Origin
Copied and pasted this:
9/11. The day that we remember that #AllBuildingsMatter
Anyone ever notice that Planes don’t bother your building if you don’t give them a reason too. My house has seen planes fly by PLENTY of times.
Don’t let a few bad apples…
First responders weren’t the only people working in NY on that day, so please stop acting as though they were the only ones that exist. #AllJobsMatter
This country will never move forward if we keep holding on to the past #GetOverIt
A building was crashed into yesterday by a drunk driver, but I don’t see none of these celebrities and media talking about THAT…oh but I guess it doesn’t fit their narrative #SayThatBuildingsName
I swear if any NFL, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, WNBA, MLB, MLS, or any other league full of these overpaid thugs say anything about what happened SOOOO LONG AGO, I’m definitely boycotting. I refuse to spend another second supporting them. Leave the politics out of my sports!!
I really don’t get why everyone is so sensitive about everything these days.
What about the buildings in Chicago?
What about #BuildingOnBuilding Crime??
If you have a problem with planes, then unfriend me because I’m #PlaneFamily
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When the Black athletes are done entertaining running, and sweating, and making a touchdown or dribbling a basketball, when they take off their jerseys and go out into the world, as just Black men, they too can be shot or killed by cops. The dominant culture doesn’t care about Black men unless they are being entertained. A large number of white Americans don’t care about the lives of Black people.
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