The recent uproar in the “Black Lives Matter” movement, has made a lot of people very vocal. Many argue that the slogan should be “all lives matter”. Some white Americans feel as though they are being neglected and ignored, but what they fail to realize is that this is the way that black lives have felt all throughout history.
The problem is that the establishment already acknowledges that “white lives matter”. Since the inception of the United States of America our judicial system has always put white lives before black lives. It’s the reason that a white man convicted of raping an unconscious woman can get a 6 month jail sentence, but young black children are shot in the street by police without consequence. It’s the same trend of violence and oppression that can be traced back centuries. There is still an ongoing struggle for equal treatment under the law.
White privilege is a very real, but often misunderstood. Being a white American gives you certain advantages that the black community does not have. Statistically speaking whites are more likely to get a call back from work interviews, more likely to get accepted into college, less likely to be arrested, and more likely to find adequate housing. People who claim that white privilege is a myth will argue that “some people aren’t driven enough to get ahead.” That’s not the case, they aren’t given the CHANCE to get ahead. From the viewpoint of social mobility the Boston Federal Reserve found that only 23 percent of white children born into poverty will remain in the lowest social bracket by the time they turn 40, whereas 51 percent of blacks will remain poor by age 40. That’s almost a 30 percent difference which can’t be explained simply by “laziness”.
White privilege was demonstrated clearly when the first photograph released of Brock Turner (accused and convicted of rape) shows him dressed nicely in a tux, as opposed to his actual mugshot. When Brian Banks, a black man, was accused of rape, his mug shot appeared everywhere. Not only did their released photos show that the media blatantly tried to skew our understanding of the story, but Brian Banks was sentenced to five years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Turner was sentenced to 6 months although there were witnesses and he even admitted to raping a women while she was unconscious. Turner was only given 6 months on account of his “promising future”. What made Turners future seem any brighter than Banks? Some argue that Turner had a favorable future as a Stanford swimmer, but Banks was also a student athlete. After Banks’ release he earned an NFL contract. Banks, whose case did not have the proper evidence, who was only in high school at the time of conviction, and who was a student athlete, was deemed by the courts to have a less prosperous future than a known white, male rapist.
White privilege is the fact that parents don’t have to worry about their white kids roaming the street, but parents of black kids sleep fully clothed in fear that their sons and daughters will be wrongfully treated in the middle of the night. In a recent interview with CNN DL Hughley brought this fear to life. He broke down on camera describing the violence associated with police brutality. “Every black or brown parent has a conversation with their kid about how to act around police” he said. This is a conversation white parents do not have to have. White kids are encouraged to approach the police as their peers, but black kids must be wary.
If you’re still not convinced that the “Black Lives Matter” movement is a necessary movement; three countries have already issued travel warnings to the US in response to the recent police shootings. The Bahamas foreign ministry (whose population is mostly black) advised young males specifically to be cautious of police. The United Arab Emirates, and The U.S. embassy of Bahrain also asked its citizens that plan on visiting the United States to be careful in crowded areas, and to try and steer clear of protests.
The “Black Lives Matter” movement addresses that all lives matter, but black lives are being treated as if they don’t. No one needs to actually say that white lives matter, because white lives are not only being treated as though they matter, they are treated as superior. Instead of belittling the Black Lives Matter movement and their efforts for equal treatment, white citizens should accept their privilege and use it to diminish the racial divide. Starting counter-protests, and waving signs that say “all lives matter” isn't the solution. We should all be waving signs together, empowering ourselves as individuals, and making a unified effort to end the ignorance associated with the mistreatment of a whole race of human beings.
President Obama said it best during a town hall meeting hosted on July 14th:
“I know that there’s some who have criticized even the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ as if the notion is that other lives don’t matter. We get ‘All Lives Matter’ or ‘Blue Lives Matter.’ I understand the point they’re trying to make. I think it’s important for us to also understand that the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ refers to the notion that there’s a specific vulnerability for African-Americans that needs to be addressed. It’s not meant to suggest that other lives don’t matter. It’s to suggest that other folks aren’t experiencing this particular vulnerability, and so we shouldn’t get too caught up in this notion that somehow people who are asking for fair treatment are somehow automatically anti-police or trying to only look out for black lives as opposed to others. I think we have to be careful about playing that game just because that’s obviously not what is intended.”
