"The police must obey the law while enforcing the law." - Earl Warren
Over the past few weeks, there have been three high profile shootings between police and citizens.
As a result, the Black Lives Matter movement has been making headlines. Some positive, and yes, some negative.
What's sad is that the movement only gains national attention following shootings of African Americans or Blacks by the police. It becomes an issue of us vs. them, or "all lives matter" vs Black Lives Matter. Or "blue lives matter" vs Black Lives Matter. The reason that Black Lives Matter isn't in quotes is because it is an existing organization that is not just a justification brought up when tragedies occur.
Here's why "all lives matter" is offensive. Black Lives Matter was not created to imply that not all lives matter, in fact it was the opposite. But not all lives matter, until Black lives matter, just as much as White ones. To use an analogy, if you call the fire department because a house is on fire in your neighborhood, is the fire department going to spray water on all the houses because "all houses matter"? No, but they're going to spray the house that's burning because it's the one that needs help the most.
For those who disagree, there are some fairly common responses:
1. Protests are a disruption to the average citizen's life.
All I ask is that you take a step back and consider what you're saying here. Because what it sounds like is that the inconvenience of being late to work because of a blocked street, to have a longer commute from work, damages to property etc. is more disruptive to daily life than losing those that have been killed by police. While I don't condone violence, people are angry, rightfully so at the loss of so many lives, with little to no action from the government.
"A riot is the language of the unheard." - Martin Luther King Jr.
2. The victims were bad people.
We can't stand up for only the "perfect victim". If those who had never committed crimes, never made mistakes are the only people deserving of justice, then there would be very few people who we should stand up for, and there's something wrong with that.
3. Instead of protesting, people should go through official channels.
Here's the problem with that: The official channels are the reason the protest is happening. Going through the government, and even law enforcement directly, is unlikely to result in action or anything close to justice for victims.
Supporting Black Lives Matter does not make you anti-police. It makes you someone finally willing to stand up for injustice.
"You've watched hulking bullies with badges, robes and money brutalize, kill & cage human beings every year of your entire lives and said nothing." - Jesse Williams
This time, say something.
I stand with Black Lives Matter.
