Some Clark County citizens recently demonstrated at Ridgefield to thank the police (August 8, 2020), an edition of Blue Lives Matter.Why now? Others had probably recently manifested themselves there for Black Lives Matter.
What are the messages from these groups?Why are Blue Lives Matter and even All Lives Matter offensive to black people?
Black Lives Matter was born in 2013 from an observation through Alicia Garza after George Zimmerman’s acquittal over the death of Trayvon Martin.Garza’s Facebook was an undeniable statement: “I remain surprised at how little black lives matter…Our lives matter.”
As described in the July 31 Clark County listening session (https://www.cvtv.org/) and in many sources, the United States has a long history of systemic racism.
In 1526, 500 Spaniards came to what is now South Carolina with a hundred black slaves (Loewen, “Lies My Teacher Told Me”, p.131).Whites from the south and north. This continues into the jim crow era with kkk.and lynchings specially designed to terrorize and repress black people.After World War II, the bill did not allow black infantrymen to obtain loans or school benefits comparable to those of whites.In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States created law and order “with the war on drugs designed to criminalize drug use and create mass incarceration, disproportionately for blacks.
As a result, blacks in the United States are now denied many benefits of education, home ownership, well-paid jobs, justice, and the freedom to have the same quality of life as maximum targets.
So when Opel Tometi, Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza founded the Black Lives Matter motion in 2013, it was a voice to recognize and address all those inequalities and, in particular, violence and injustice against blacks.Keep in mind that the trigger was not a police killing.Search online to be more informed about the many dimensions of this motion.
When Black Lives Matter is a national movement, many white people who had enjoyed the old privilege of whites for centuries felt uncomfortable.They said, “All lives matter!”
At first glance, it’s a genuine statement. But because of the context in which this is said, white people genuinely want black people to see it as the same old message that black people’s lives deserve no special attention.
Note that I am not referring to the lifestyles of other black people who are or have been American leaders, scientists, artists, movie stars, etc., but that, in general, the lives of the vast majority of blacks it is not medical, educational or professional. ., ecologically, judicially or economically at the same point as the maximum targets. Furthermore, they do not have the same percentage of safety in the public sphere as whites.
We have all noted the disproportionate number of police incidents that opposed them, adding to the loss of life The egregious peak at the local point is that in the winter of 2019, the Vancouver police killed 3 other people, two of whom they were other people of color.
Similarly, Blue Lives Matter is another form of backlash.No one is suggesting that the lives of officials don’t matter.Therefore, it should not be said that Blue Lives Matter.What this slogan does is decrease the message that echoes.Sheriff Chuck Atkins recently identified the concept and, the meaning was not exactly the same, he saw the false impression and got rid of the thin Blue Line stickers of the sheriff’s branch vehicles.
The recorded death of George Floyd and public opinion have put our country at a crucial time.We have the opportunity to better perceive our racist history and its consequences in life.Now is an opportunity to focus on equity on stage and build a fairer society.Saying “Blue Lives Matter” or “All Lives Matter” hijacks and diminishes this critical moment.