I know you and you know me. You are many people and a unique individual all at once. Somehow, I understand you and totally disagree with you, but I’ll be the first to admit that I knew this day would come. I’ve known people like you since my birth. You were the people who told me that I should get rid of my “Balti-moron” accent, and when I learned to speak like you, you told me you were glad. You were the teachers that put me in front of donors and parents as the token, as if to say “look…they can be like us – they, too, can be civilized!” You were the people who said my hair was nice because it looked like “white and black people hair.” As I get older, you are the coworkers who talk about the habits of all black people, and said in a joking tone “well you know it’s true”, as if we all behave in the same manner. You told me that you didn’t see color when I brought up the injustices that appear before me, and people like me based on the color of our skin. It seemed like you wanted to decentralize my experience and my very real concerns at every step of the way, while placing your self right in the thick of it.

You debate with me on whether the lives of strange men should have been torn from their grips as they reach for hypothetical guns and concealed handgun permits. You present me with hypothetical analysis after hypothetical analysis until even I lose track of what has taken place and what hasn’t. “They conspired to do this…” and “he seemed to be…” You say over and over again that “We don’t know the whole story” when all we need to know is that someone lost their lives at the hands of those who have sworn to protect and serve them. “#AllLivesMatter, but he was a criminal soooo…” seems to be more in line with your reasoning.

As I say #LetUsLive, #Love and #BlackLivesMatter, you return with #AllLivesMatter. You tell me that if I want to be treated as a true American and join the ranks I shouldn’t be so concerned with my race and race relations, but did you ever stop to think that maybe we are not to blame for the prejudices that we face – that we are not to blame for the treatment that we face? Are you telling me that this could all go away if I acted like nothing is wrong? I can’t avoid the fact that you showcase how little you know about simple logic every time you utter these words. All lives do matter, so of course black lives matter as well, but if I ran around yelling “all lives matter” when addressing prejudice and racism against black people, I’d be indistinct – unclear. You have to admit to yourself that #BlackLivesMatter birthed your feeble-minded rebuttal. No one said #AllLivesMatter until someone proclaimed the intrinsic value of black lives.Your words are nothing but a diversion from the very things that I am fighting against. You have to face the fact that #AllLivesMatter was an outright condescending response to the concerns of black people, and is still viewed as such. Intent is key, and there is a big difference between saying “Black lives MATTER” and “ALL lives matter!” One is a clear response to the other, with ill informed intent. It looks more to me like you’ve taken #AllLivesMatter up on your spare time at work, while some struggle to matter in the eyes of others.

By your logic, if I went to the police and said “help I've just been robbed”, they, in return, would say “all robberies matter!” If I go to the police and say “help I've been raped” they would say “all rape victims matter!” At this point allegories just aren’t cutting it. The best part is…people like you wouldn’t do anything to help. Your scope is actually so broad that it’s immobilizing! Instead, you should try exercising your ability to listen. Exercise your reasoning skills and stop trying to drown out the voices of others. If we all matter, what are you doing to help?