Black Lives Matter vs. All/Blue Lives Matter
I know you don’t mean it this way when you see “Black Lives Matter” in a post and respond with “all lives matter,” I know you mean “Of course, all lives matter,” that’s your intent. Did you know, though, that it actually comes across as “My life matters too, don’t forget about white people.” Intent vs. impact. It’s time we stop thinking about what we intend to say, and start thinking about how it is received.
Remember how white is the default in this country? Everybody knows that white lives matter. The point of the phrase “Black lives matter,” is to point out how white is the default, and it shouldn’t be that way. Because Black lives matter…too. The “too/also” is silent, but that’s what the statement means.
This is another kneejerk response we need to train ourselves out of. We have to do a lot of stopping and thinking before responding.
And the statement “Blue lives matter,” is absurd because there are no blue people. Blue refers to a voluntary job some people hold. All jobs matter, right? What about ER doctors? They’re in a dangerous job too. This is just something we have to stop doing. The police uphold our white supremacist system and are therefore part of whiteness, in general, and as you already know and demand, white lives matter most in this country. They’re covered.
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