The unequivocal, unwavering, unmistakably clear message emanating from the Black Lives Matter movement is that in the United States the default setting in issues of justice and equality toward African Americans is skewed horribly toward mistreatment and abuse.
The facts bear this out.
Black mentally ill people killed by police are 11 times more likely than whites to be unarmed.
Black people in general who are killed by police are twice as likely as whites to be unarmed.
Black women represent an outrageously disproportionate percentage of police stops, arrests and cases of abuse by police.
Black teenagers are an astounding 21 times more likely to be killed by police than white teens.
Even though study after study shows that African Americans and whites use marijuana at the exact same rate, African Americans are up to 10 times more likely to be arrested for it.
These are facts—horrible, distinctly American facts—have caused a growing movement in America to swell from coast to coast.
Somehow, though, Elisabeth Hasslebeck has determined that the Black Lives Matter movement should be classified as a hate group.
Now, a Houston sheriff is outrageously blaming the Black Lives Matter movement for the awful death of one of his officers.
I am being attacked daily now with lies from conservatives. Even Rush Limbaugh is wading in to blast me and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Read below the told for more on this.
But, in all of this, the legitimate and pressing concerns we are expressing are being ignored and conservatives have clearly chosen to attack the messengers of the movement instead of even remotely addressing the message. It's despicable because our message is not partisan, our pain is not a political football, our problems are not petty. But the attacks on us are.
If anything, this response to our protests, to our tears, to our pleas for a better, more equitable America, only confirms what they really think about us.
