We Need Black Lives Matter Because All Life Truly Doesn't Matter

Have you ever done something or made something or tried to make a point and someone turned it into something that it wasn’t meant to be? Many companies have a vision, and then another controlling interest comes in and tries to say they’re going to make it better. They want to take what is and make it into something, take it to a new level, and the original people start to fight it out with the new controlling interest because they know what works, they know the original blueprint and to take it down this road would dilute the brand. That is happening in another arena. Where people are asserting their humantiy, only to see others bastardize it.

After Michael Brown was killed by Darren Wilson, we saw outrage. Let it be known that this was a pattern happening in Ferguson, MO with police brutality and Michael Brown was just the final light that hit the powder keg there. This and many other stories like Freddy Gray,  Rekia Boyd, Trayvon Martin and recently Sandra Bland has made a lot of black and brown people feel as if their life doesn’t matter. So when I saw a trending hashtag Black Lives Matter, it connected to me in a deep personal way. Darren Wilson was not charged, neither was the officer who choked out Eric Garner and neither was the officer that shot Tamir Rice. The legal system didn’t think that we were—our lives and humanity were worth justice, the Grand Jury as a whole doesn’t like to indict cops and the Ferguson prosecutor sounded more like a defense attorney, but where was Brown’s?

I could see if this was an incident that just happened once in about 10 years and this was a rare occurrence. It wasn’t that long ago when Rodney King was brutally beaten and the cops that beat him acquitted that caused another riot in 1992. A riot is the voice of a people long ignored. Too many stories are repeating like this, too many families of unarmed black men & women have had  their family member was cruelly taken from them for little to nothing. Also in another video I chronicle at least 5 white people who’ve pointed guns at police and survived but back to my point. Too many lives lost, and there is no justice for them

Black Lives Matter is a simple phrase that seeks to claim our humanity from a system that wasn’t created to protect us, but all to willing to victimize us and level systemic racism at us. It’s not just a cop shooting an unarmed black kid, it’s also not getting a callback because your name sounds too “ethnic” or Joe getting a callback when he has the same qualifications as Jose, but for some reason he doesn’t get the callback…even though one letter seperates their names. It is a mantra for those of us feeling like we are under siege in our own country that we were born in, asserting our value and bestowing it upon ourselves. It is an affirmation that even if a cop doesn’t value my black life, I value it. That if a judge doesn’t value my black life, I value it. Black Lives Matter

Enter All Lives Matter. This was basically like going to a funeral and saying I too have felt loss or going to a cancer fundraiser saying “There are other diseases” Don’t worry about black lives because all lives matter. However, therein lies a problem. It negates that issues that black lives matter seek to address. Further, if All Lives truly do matter, Black Lives Matter is a scathing indictment to it, just like slavery and the need for a civil rights Act for black people is an indictment to our Constitution. Living in a country with many viewpoints and different experiences is tough, but this mantra is empty.

Exhibit A

Zachary Hammond was killed for a bag of marijuana, shot in the back. What is ironic is that those who are championing black lives matter are asking themselves: Where are all those people who said All Lives Matter? Where are they for Zachary Hammond? Are they going to speak up for him because his life matters?

Simply put, it was a reactive phrase to deny the experiences and the reason that we have for Black Lives Matter. I would love to be able to say truly All Lives Matter, but the real problem is even NEEDING to say Black Lives Matter because truly All Lives Don’t Matter. Sandra Bland wouldn’t have been pulled from her car, thrown on the hood and murdered if she were white. Cop defenders now have a dilemma on their hands. All Lives Matter have a similar dilemma…are you going to now admit that cops aren’t always right? If they do, especially whtie America now has to admit that fair treatment by police is not always guaranteed or applicable to all. Privilge isn’t just about money, it’s about the ability to deny that which is outside of your reality because you are uncomfortable with unpleasant experiences outside of it and think yours is universal. That is indeed white privilege in a nutshell

So All Lives Matter, where is your outrage on Zachary Hammond? Where are your speeches about how all lives matter and how we must hold the cop responsible for shooting him? It’s a shame that Black Lives Matter activists must taunt you into actually living up to your mantra…one you don’t even need, because if you’re a straight white Christian male, you’re the highest on the totem pole, and a white woman is right beneath you. Everyone else…is expendable and you most likely don’t care about police brutality because it never has made a home in your life