The All Lives Matter (ALM) movement is a direct rebuttal to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. It’s not only downplaying the BLM movement, but ineffectively trying to move people’s attention away from the matter at hand. A user on the popular website Reddit does a very effective job of describing the problem with the ALM movement in respect to the BLM movement.
Imagine you are at a cure for cancer rally. Then someone bursts in saying "hey what about diabetes". You would think they are ridiculous right? Not because one affliction is not worse than another, it's just that is not the time to talk about it. It's not that all lives don't matter ... It's just that's not what we are talking about right now and you butting in trying to empathize or change the narrative doesn't help at all.
This quote is extremely relevant, and does a very good making this issue relevant to everyone. The reality is, if a person was at a Breast Cancer Awareness convention, no one would stand up and shout, ” What about diabetes?” The common thought would be that a Breast Cancer convention isn’t the best place to try and make a bid for people to talk about diabetes. It would not only be disrespectful, but immature. The same thing goes for ALM supporters trying to motivate people to not endorse the BLM movement. Although the intent of the ALM movement might not be to dissuade people from the BLM movement, it has the same effect.
The ALM movement gains a lot of support when statistics come out that seemingly disprove the fact that black lives don’t matter. An article in the Washington Times attempts to make the point that whites actually are killed more by police than blacks. This statistic seems like a very concrete disapproval of the Black Lives Matter movement. The author of the article points to a quote from Toni Morrison, a Novel Prize winning novelist, to base the importance of this statistic off of.
This is the conversation. I want to see a cop shoot a white unarmed teenager in the back,” said Ms. Morrison, who also has won the Pulitzer Prize for her work, which includes the bestsellers “Beloved” and “Song of Solomon.” “And I want to see a white man convicted for raping a black woman. Then when you ask me, ‘Is it over?’, I will say yes.
Naturally the others next point is that many people think that blacks are targeted more by whites, but in reality whites die more. Fair point right? No. People don’t just believe that blacks are targeted, but also that they’re being killed for false reasons. Reasons with little basis besides their skin color. Reasons that are not only arbitrary, but unimportant. Blacks aren’t being killed because they’re brandishing weapons at cops, or beating up cops, but because they’ve got a plastic gun in their hands. Because they’re large and resisting the restraint of overly physical cops. Blacks don’t get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to analysis by the cops. Black LIVES don’t matter. Cops don’t see a kid with playing around with a gun. They don’t see a man fighting for every breath. Cops see opponents. Challenges. Offenders. They don’t see the LIVES of the PEOPLE they kill.
The Black Lives Matter movement, like many movements, has no defined date of inception. Many people attribute the creation of this movement to the Acquittal of George Zimmerman , but the true date of birth for this movement is unknown. The movement started on one of the most powerful mediums of the current era, social media. The hashtag (written as #BlackLivesMatter) was used to voice the frustration of many individuals about the seemingly ignored African American race. People were fed up with constant police brutality on African American lives. Cops were beginning to show a lack of respect for Black Lives, a disturbing idea reinforced by the constant murder of African American citizens. From Malice Green to Trayvon. From Oscar Grant to Tamir Rice. From Michael Brown to Eric Garner. People were tired of hearing about the constant murder of Black people. It seemed that we had been thrown into a time were Black Lives no longer meant anything to society. A time were killing an African American boy in cold blood would result on you getting a “slap on the wrist” rather than serving life in prison. A time were Black Lives did not matter.
There’s no way that anyone can argue that the world is perfect. There are many innate flaws to the world that people constantly attempt to fix. Problems like World Hunger and Violence span across the globe, and it is fairly safe to say that there will never be an end to these problems. The ALM movement attempts to focus on the fact that Black people aren’t the only ones suffering. Although this statement is obviously true, it’s much deeper than this. The truth is, African American people are being targeted in a way that everyone else isn’t. There aren’t cops killing White Americans for questionable activity that are sequentially acquitted. Those cops end up in jail, serving the time they deserve for their actions. Why is it that when African American citizens are murdered for questionable activity, cops seem to be impervious to the same laws that others are restricted by? Why is this Johannes Mehserle was able to murder Oscar Grant with the excuse that he was feeling for his tazer? Why was Mehserle only sentenced to two years in prison, only serving 11 months in jail? It’s questions like these that place Black Lives in the limelight, rather than focusing on the betterment of All Lives.
Back in 2010 Lupe Fiasco’s album began with a intro song describing the black struggle. Popular current day artist Jermaine Cole (J. Cole) wrote a song entitled Be Free, a plea for freedom for the African American people.
All we want to do is take the chains off/ All we want to is break the chains off/ All we want do is be free/ All we want do is be free
J Cole’s pleas are shared by many African American people, and his words were important for the movement.
Kendrick Lamar indirectly spoke out with his song “Alright“. The music video to his song shows a man who resist arrests, and then has a cop point a gun at him.
It also shows Kendrick Lamar and others dancing on top of cop cars.
These clips voice the frustration of the black race in seeing a man who is potentially about to be shot and killed for what seems like a routine arrest. The clips expresses the power blacks as a race have when the kids dance on top the police car.
The Black Lives Matter movement is about more than just stating that Black Lives Matter. The belief that this is the goal of the movement is false. With the understanding that this movement is about gaining respect for the black race from the authority of America , the Police, you can see how important this movement is. You can see the reasons why this movement needs to be supported.
So what can you to do support? Well that’s up to you. Something as simple as a tweet can be helpful. An Instagram post can be influential. A Facebook post can really open up the doors for people to learn more about this movement. You can also go so far as to donate to the BLM movement on the webpage.
Always remember, All Lives do Matter, but Black Lives NEED to matter.
Drew Hall Bison 