#BlackLivesMatter

The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and too many others have sparked and operated a nationwide outrage that has brought the concern of the destruction of black bodies to more American living rooms than perhaps any time since the civil-rights movement. But while white Americans may be more attentive than ever of the central issues underlying the Black Lives Matter movement, many are still confused about what “black lives matter” actually means.


That misunderstanding often turns into resentment, much of which is a result of the movement. “So black lives matter and other lives don’t?!” a skeptical white person might ask, “That’s reverse racism! ALL lives matter!”

This way of thinking is extremely flawed and it shows an ultimate confusion of all things racial, a faux pas that is understandable when one makes especially if they grew up in a predominately white community without any black people to show them the view from the other side. Reverse racism for white people is basically the racist stuff that white people do to black people, except it is reversed. For example, if someone were to start a “White Lives Matter” movement, in my opinion, that would be labeled as racist. So isn’t Black Lives Matter racist, too? The answer is no, and that is because reverse racism is not a real thing. It does not exist.Black Lives Matters is not racist, but that does not mean that it is not exclusive. Certainly, it is not as inclusive as the #AllLivesMatter hashtag that is used by some to mock and challenge the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Why don’t people go around saying “White Lives Matter?” There’s only one reason for this. It is because we already know it. From the way they are portrayed on TV, to people’s reaction when a white life is taken away, it is evident that it matters… more than most. 
That is certainly not the case when it comes to black lives. When the life of a black person is taken away, it is ignored because of the assumption that they were involved in the “gangster” or “thug” life. Black people are also more likely to live in poverty, receive a poor education and go to jail. Alive or dead, black lives continue to be belittled compare to those of whites. 

President Obama took it upon himself to explain why “black lives matter” is an important statement. “I think the reason that the organizers used the phrase “black lives matter” was not because they were suggesting nobody else’s lives matter,” he said. “What they were suggesting was, there is a specific problem that is happening in the African-American community that’s not happening in other communities. And that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.” 


Indeed, this is what the black lives movement is fighting. It is not here to undermine the lives of white people and say that their lives don't matter. Instead, the black lives matter movement is here to try to gain the same privileges of respect and dignity that many whites in the white community take advantage of. When a black person dies from poverty-related causes, the movement wants people to care. When a black person is unfairly gunned down in the street, it wants people to get angry. It literally just wants black lives to matter. That’s what it means. Nothing more.

So the next time you hear someone say that they are against the “Black Lives Matter” movement, do not be angry. Simply try to educate them on how the movement is only trying to point out that in order for all lives to matter, black lives have to matter too.