A couple of years ago, and in the aftermath of a different murder of a black man by police under the color or law, I was asked by an African American co-worker about Black Lives Matter. Actually, the way he phrased the question was: “Do you think black lives matter or all lives matter?”
This was an excellent question and a perfect opportunity for me to answer the question honestly and with clarity.
I told him my answer is yes, but the explanation is important.
You see, it is all about context.
If you’re in a conversation about the death penalty, health insurance, sending people to war, or what have you; and someone asks if all lives matter, the answer is yes, of course they do. But Black Lives Matter is a movement in direct response to the epidemic of extrajudicial killing of African American men in this country, and a statement that these people are just as worthy of their life and liberty as all the white people who are not being murdered by police. So when someone asks if you think black lives matter, and you respond that all lives matter, you are exposing racism. What you are saying, whether you mean to or not, is that you don’t think there is something unjust and tragic happening, and that we shouldn’t single out black people as worthy of life. You are dismissing the response to the police killing African American men and the national response, protests, and demands that this change. You are responding as if instead of hearing “Black Lives Matter,” you are hearing “Only Black Lives Matter.” This is not the message, and it requires racism (though perhaps subtle racism) to hear that. Because the statement that black lives matter is to draw attention to the killing of black men, not to make some milk toast aphorism about life.
All Lives Matter, as a statement in response is inherently racist. It is racist because it is meant to dismiss the complaint that people have about what is going on, and to replace it with a statement that denies the very truth BLM protests.
The same can be said for Blue Lives Matter. And here it isn’t because the lives of police don’t, but because it is the police who are killing black men. To say that blue lives matter is an equivocation fallacy. It makes it out that it is the police who are at risk in these situations. You may be a supporter of law enforcement, but you should pick a different phrase if you want to announce your support of them. BLM is taken, and to use it to support those who are doing the killing is endorsing those killings.
The Blue Lives Matter movement is in response to Black Lives Matter. It is a challenge to the legitimacy of the complaint about the police murdering African American citizens. It is couched in support of police, but it is a poor attempt to deny the wrong doing they are guilty of.
I happen to think that law enforcement, criminal investigations, and emergency response by police are a good thing. I am grateful when the police are there to serve and protect. But turning our cities into police states, where anything other than immediate compliance to police orders when no such orders appear necessary is not acceptable. We are in need of justice reform in this country as a whole, and a complete review and rewrite of how our police and our citizenry interact.
I keep reading and hearing that it isn’t all police, just a few bad apples. I would love to believe that this is true. And while I’m certain that there are many who are not racist psychopaths willing to murder, I am less certain whether they are even a majority. The numbers of killings by police that not only go unpunished, but that get the protection and cover by fellow police and departments suggests that the “good guy” cops are unable to stop them. All too often they don’t. It is either that they are unable or they are unwilling. Either way, it speaks not of police departments that are mostly good, but with a few bad apples, but of departments where the bad apples hold sway, protected by a system that supports and maybe encourages their actions. Where the good guys are powerless to speak out or stop it.
Last week we saw the video of a police officer calmly crush the life out of a man with his knee while several other police stood by and did nothing. Was this one bad apple? Were the other three cops in agreement with this murder? Or were they just indifferent? And is there really any difference?
If good cops can’t or won’t stop the bad cops, then we might as well concede that there really aren’t any good cops, for all practical purposes.
America needs to regroup and address equality and inequality. We need to take off the rose-colored glasses and see how it is, and work to make things right. And it is more than just our leadership, all though the failings of our President in these matters are horrible and he needs to go away. But this needs to begin with each of us starting with the simple act of acknowledging that there is deep injustice in our country. We need all of the American people to say that Black Lives Matter. Full stop.
No caveats, no all lives, blue lives, or other lives. Just stop it.
Acknowledge the problem.