This is a good explanation of why saying black lives matter is not an exclusionary statement some make it out to be.
Here’s another explanation:
It’s like being in a relationship and one person saying, “I am important.” The other person doesn’t respond with, “Well, so is the lady down the street, my sister, my mother and so forth.” In much the same way, responding with “I am important, too,” takes the attention away from the person who apparently feels they are not being made a priority. If the one person truly cared about the other, they would respond with, “Yes, you are correct.”
That’s what is meant by black lives matter. The movement is about getting people to understand that blacks in America find themselves facing a set of situations and circumstances that are detrimental to their health and livelihood.
As a society that cares about a part of our whole, our response should be, “Yes, black lives matter.” It’s all about acknowledging a problem exists within our society. It’s not to say one is more important than the other.
My hope is that the Black Lives Matter movement will continue to build momentum in becoming the modern day civil rights movement that is so desperately needed to change the outlook and outcomes for blacks in America.
I also liked what Marc Lamont Hill said on CNN when he said, “If there are two houses on a hill, one is on fire, I’m not going to scream out, ‘All houses matter!’ I’m going to put out the fire in the one that’s on fire. Right now, there’s a fire in the black community.”
Thanks for making the “black lives matter” statement easy to understand. Not to say I did not think black lives matter but, like many people I did not quite get it to this extent before.
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I love everything about this post and this is a concept that I really believe everyone should acknowledge. By saying all lives matter, it seems to erase the conditions that a certain group is facing, and it completely diminishes their reality.
I wanted to share this video that I recently saw with you. I like the play on words (just ice, justice) and I feel like for some very interesting reason, taking race out of the statement makes it easier for people to understand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtAAeyswlHM
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Taking your class, was the first time the Black Lives Matter was brought to my attention. Because I don’t particularly face racism everyday, it places me in a more privileged position. Although the color of my skin may be a privilege. I can certainly use my privilege to speak up for the Black Lives Matter movement in support of it. I hope this movement continues to gain supporters just like me and they continue to grow.
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I love this post! I have seen many people post or share posts on Facebook where people are holding up signs saying “ALL LIVES MATTER”. I’ve responded to some people and say “This isn’t the point!!” I wasn’t able to put into words exactly what I meant but this post describes it perfectly. I do understand the “Black lives matter” movement but I’ve gotta say it is extremely frustrating when people who clearly don’t, protest and say “ALL lives matter”.
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I hope that the Black Lives Matter movement also continues to build momentum. It is difficult for other ethnicities/race to acknowledge the problem in our society. I say this because I have mention this to my family (Mexicans) in order to get them to understand that African Americans find themselves in difficult situations in society. Every time their is an opportunity I try to raise awareness within my family.
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I really enjoyed reading your post and I couldn’t agree more with you. I believe it’s important to recognize that this issue is important and as a society we should be able to work together to not only solve this issue but just recognize that it does exist.
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I love this statement! You are 100 percent right. This just shows how statements can get out of proportion. I already knew that “Black Lives Matter'” really meant, but I hear others trying to argue the statement, but the way you stated it makes perfect sense to everyone. i will definitely show this to people!
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I absolutely love this! I am Hispanic and at one point I thought to myself, all lives matter. This definitely changes my perspective and I am all for Black Lives Matter. I am starting to understand the movement and yes I feel that it is a great movement, Black Lives Matter and we should all support this. If we do not, it is like staying shut and agreeing with all the injustices going on right in front of our eyes! When we do not take part of an injustice, it makes us part of the problem. Even though it is good to mind out own business, it is not for this. This is why we are educating ourselves to speak up and advocate for all that are going through some type of injustice.
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YAAAAASSSSSS Roxanna! If this society is going to move forward, we need all hands of deck. Everyone needs to be involved in ensuring people are treated fairly and justly.
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