We have heard it all since the Black Lives Matter movement caught our country’s attention a few years ago. We have heard that “this isn’t the right time for this message.” and that “All lives matter, regardless of the person’s skin color” or my favorite “Blue Lives Matter” when referring to police officers. None of those messages and responses to Black Lives Matter make any sense or serve any purpose and miss the point beyond anything else. The phrase “Black Lives Matter” isn’t an anti-white slogan that is meant to propel black Americans above white Americans, it’s meant to equalize all Americans.
The activists and supporters who are involved in the Black Lives Matter movement would love nothing more than for all lives to matter, but the hard truth is that they don’t. Not all lives matter in certain parts of our country as well as within certain aspects of law enforcement. The fight for equality has not been achieved and is still being fought for today on the streets of every major American city. No one who supports the Black Lives Matter movement has hate toward police officers. Supporters and activists hate how police departments police neighborhoods and do little to reach out to the community so that they can police the neighborhood better and keep it more secure. A police department that knows its citizens and knows the leaders of the community will better understand a community when trying to keep it safe.
A lot of people in this country who are opposing Black Lives Matter like to either cite the victories of ’65, the desegregation of schools or the election of our first African-American President, Barack Obama. But the truth is, the fight has only become more difficult, as many people would rather ignore the plight of Black America than acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that too many of our black youth are being killed and jailed. The uncomfortable truth is that we have put a price on a black youth’s life that we don’t dare to put on that of white youth. We don’t discuss school shootings until they hit middle-class neighborhoods, all while we continue to ignore the gun crisis that afflicts many inner city schools in our cities. Until we acknowledge this reality, yes, Black Lives Matter.
Part of the issue when it comes to people not understanding what the movement means stems from the simple fact that most white Americans don’t live with the fear of walking down the street or being pulled over by a police officer. The fear does not stem from hysteria or disrespect toward authority but in the fact that an unarmed, dark-skinned male is more likely to be shot by law enforcement than a Caucasian, who has a weapon. That is the reality that is driving the fight for equality and until then, yes, Black Lives Matter.
This issue is more than just police brutality and gun violence in poorer minority neighborhoods. It’s rooted in our unfair justice system that sees 40% of America’s prison population made up of African Americans, despite the fact that African Americans make up only 14% of the overall population. It’s rooted in the inequality that exists within our public school system that is better at being a pipeline to prison rather than it is a pipeline to colleges. Until we address these issues and even the system, then yes, Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter is more than a slogan or a catchy phrase. The time to sit down and wait your turn is over. We must all stand up as Americans and demand equal rights for all Americans. It’s a fight for equality so that just maybe one day we can say “All Lives Matter” and mean it.
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