Stop Saying “All Lives Matter” Please
As someone that is very involved in social justice movements I spend a lot of time on social media and news sites, and I see so many people responding to the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag with comments proclaiming that “All Lives Matter!” and I can’t help but notice that these people seem to have completely missed the point. Yes, of course all lives matter. We are living creatures and as such we all deserve respect, compassion, and a chance to live our lives in peace. No one is refuting that fact, most especially the Black Lives Matter movement.
What people who constantly jump into conversations to attempt to ‘correct’ the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag are failing to understand is that this particular movement and the hashtag that represents it are not making a statement you need to reply to to begin with, they are rebutting a prior statement. They are replying to 400 years of societal devaluing of black lives. They are replying to the constant, insidious narrative aimed at blacks that tell them and show them daily that they are not valued in this culture. They are standing up to reject the statement they hear all their lives that violence and injustice against blacks by government is acceptable. They are already commenting on that statement to say exactly what you are spouting back at them; that ALL lives matter, even black lives. Because all they ever hear in society is that no, not all lives matter, only white lives matter.
Have you ever been in a long, deep conversation only to have someone who was not present for 90% of the discussion walk up and make a comment that totally takes what is being talked about out of context? Remember how annoying that is? Well, that is what people who jump into the Black Lives Matter conversation screaming “Hey, ALL lives matter!” are doing, and yes it is fucking annoying. Dude, shut up, you missed the point. Of course all lives matter, that is what we are saying. You just weren't present for the last 400 years of the conversation where everyone has been screaming at us that “Only white lives matter!” Get with the program and start listening first before you say stupid shite like that, okay?
So much of the division and arguing over the Black Lives Matter movement and it’s slogan isn't even fueled by overt racism, but rather a deeply ingrained rejection of any viewpoint but the dominant social narrative in America. It is an institutionalized blindness that makes the lived experiences and narrative viewpoints of blacks and people of color in our society invisible to the white eye. White privilege allows so many people to never even question that their own viewpoint, which aligns to the dominant narrative, may not be the whole picture. But instead of listening to what protesters are actually saying, there is a reactionary, knee-jerk response; ‘All Lives Matter!’
If white people would stop talking for 10 damned seconds and look at themselves and examine their privilege, they might see why the Black Lives Matter movement is long overdue and much needed. They would maybe also see that the Black Lives Matter movement is not denying that your life matters too; quite the opposite, they already know that society values white lives — they have it demonstrated to them every damned day in a million oppressive ways. Just maybe these people would come to see that what is actually being said is nothing more than ‘please stop telling us that black lives don’t matter, because we are done with that shite and know better.’ And just maybe they would then shut their mouths and let blacks actually speak — and be heard — for a change. Wouldn't that be a novel idea?
© 2015 by Zoé Grey
Photo Credits:
Top Banner- Black Lives matter: scottlum / Foter / CC BY-NC
Hand Up Don’t Shoot: Chris Wieland / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
Originally published at cherokeedoll.wordpress.com on April 13, 2015.
