Misconceptions About the Black Lives Matter Movement

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St. Marcellinus Social Justice League

3 min readNov 10, 2020

The killing of George Floyd and several other black individuals resulted in unprecedented support of the Black Lives Matter movement. An eight-minute video captured a white police officer named, Derek Chauvin kneeling on the African Americans neck, ignoring the cries from bystanders and Floyd himself to stop. The death of the 46-year-old set off a wave of global protests calling for change. While more individuals than ever now support Black Lives Matter, that has not always been the case. In fact, misconceptions about the movement have abounded and the killing of myriad black individuals has not erased criticisms about the group.

All lives matter

Racism is the belief that one group is naturally superior to another and the institutions that function as such. The statement “black lives matter” is not an anti-white movement. Contained within the statement is an unspoken, but implied “too”, as in “black lives matter, too”. This “too” suggests the statement is one of inclusion rather than exclusion. Nevertheless, those white people who continue to characterize the statement “black lives matter” as anti-white are suggesting that in order for white lives to matter, black lives cannot. That is a foundational premise of white supremacy. This immense movement demands the world establish the value of black lives. Nothing about the Black Lives Matter movement is about hatred for white lives. Instead, it is about recognizing that the system already treats white individuals as if they have more value and are worthy of protection, safety and good quality of life, in comparison to black lives.

People of colour are not racially profiled

Detractors of the Black Lives Matter movement argue that the police do not target black individuals, ignoring substantial amounts of research that demonstrate racism as a significant concern in communities of colour. They argue that the police targets black neighbourhoods because “black individuals commit more crimes”. In contrast, police officers disproportionately target black individuals, which does not mean they commit more crimes, in comparison to white individuals. For example, approximately 87% of the individuals the New York Police Department targeted young black and Latino men. Police officers even targeted Blacks and Latinos in areas where people of colour made up 14% or less of the population, indicating the authorities were not drawn to a particular neighbourhood but to residents of a particular skin tone.

The movement hates police officers

Police officers are human beings and thus their lives have value. The Black Lives Matter movement is not an anti-people movement and as a result, not an anti-police-officer movement. To the public eye, police officers are just your everyday individuals trying to do their jobs and make a living for their families. With that said, this does not mean police officers are not involved in a system that criminalizes black individuals because they are viewed as dangerous or harmful. Therefore, this massive movement is not trying to make the world more perilous for police officers but strives to make them less of a threat to individuals of colour. We should reject the faulty theory that black individuals should be civil when manhandled or brought up on ridiculous charges. Unfortunately, it is proven that the presence of police officers makes coloured individuals feel less safe than they should and that has to do with the antagonistic ways in which officers interact with black citizens. Hence, police officers should start to rebuild trust with communities of colour, not the other way around.

Conclusion

The nature of the movement has understandably caused some confusion about what the movement stands for, but what unites each of these separate groups and individuals is their drive to end systemic racism and police brutality against Black people. The Black Lives Matter movement is a call to action in response to the legacy of violence and mistreatment of black people by the police, the criminal justice system, and our political and social institutions.

Sources

Misconceptions About the Black Lives Matter Movement

Written by Arpan Thind