So, maybe I was fishing a little with the title. But you're already here, so you might as well hang around for a few paragraphs and see if I have a point.
Black lives matter. It seems like such a harmless, obvious sentence. A statement that most everyone would agree with. Of course Black lives matter. Everyone's lives matter. The truth, however, is that historically, Black lives have not mattered. Black people were counted as 3/5 of a human being (ultimately for the purpose of promoting slavery, treated as property, and generally dehumanized for years. I know what you're thinking, "but that's in the past. Racism isn't really an issue anymore. Everyone is equal." As much as I wish we were at the point where we could all hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" around a campfire, we're just not there.
Not only does direct racism still exist today (look up your friendly neighborhood KKK chapter if you don't believe me), the effects of historical racism also continue affect black people. White men with criminal records are more likely to be hired than Black men with no criminal history. Black people are more likely to be convicted of crimes and receive harsher sentences than their white counterparts. Gentrification, environmental racism, redlining, and white flight are just a few more of the racist practices that continue to plague African Americans.
Alright, so maybe racism does still exist, but doesn't singling out one race (i.e. the Black Lives Matter movement) just continue to build barriers between races? Doesn't that just perpetuate racism? The short answer is no. 'Colorblind ideology,' or the idea that we do not see the color of anyone's skin, seems (at first glance) to be the perfect remedy for racism. If we don't see white or Black or any other race, how can we treat people differently or unequally? This started out as the goal of the civil rights movement. It quickly became apparent, however, that colorblindness was not an effective solution for the years of discrimination and disadvantage that Black people had endured. Because of current and past racist practices (see above paragraph for examples), Blacks were still at a disadvantage under a colorblind ideology. This way of thinking simply ignored the effects of systematic racism and left African Americans to struggle to find equal playing fields. Think of it as a race. The average Black person's run begins miles before the white person's does, but they're still expected to reach the finish line without any extra help. They had to fight just to get to the point where the white person's privilege placed them as the starting line.
You can see how this colorblind way of lawmaking is unfair. Instead, civil rights movements have found that the best way to battle systematic racism is to acknowledge the effects that race has on a person's life and to put practices (like affirmative action programs) in place to balance those injustices. This is the reason that Black Lives Matter is not called "All Lives Matter." The movement seeks to fight against racial injustice/violence directed towards Black people.
The fact the BLM singles out Black lives makes many people uncomfortable, and this stems from the fact that colorblind ideology preaches that the express mention of any race is inherently racist. As I explained before, talking about race does not make you racist because the effects of race are real and significant. BLM is not trying to say that Black people are more important than any other race. They are saying that Black lives matter TOO. They are fighting against a culture that automatically seeks to justify the deaths of unarmed black people at the hands of police with any past wrongs. "He was no angel," they say. The fact that people continue to excuse or justify these deaths shows that we as a society still do not place the same value on Black lives as we do white ones.
This is why Black Lives Matter is so important. It is not built on a superiority complex or on a hatred of white people or of cops or anyone else. This is a group of people that just want society to prove that they matter by treating them equally for the first time in our history as a nation. Saying "All Lives Matter" is like the Fire Department spraying water on every house on the block when only one is on fire. (x) It only draws attention away from the real problem.
So, the next time that you see an "All Lives Matter" post or a "Blue Lives Matter" t-shirt, remember that the value of these lives was never in question to begin with. It is not hateful or wrong to stand up for a group that has to deal with so much prejudice and discrimination. It is wrong to invalidate their movement, their feelings, their experiences, their history, and their cause by saying "All Lives Matter." All lives will matter when black lives matter.
Here's a link to that probably explains the whole thing much better than I do if you aren't convinced
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-halstead/dear-f...
The story of the United States has been one of light skin and privilege up until this point, conveniently covering up the issues we don't want to see with a nice coat of white-wash. It's time that we start listening for a change.
#BlackLivesMatter
