Make It Make Sense: All Lives Matter

Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and Tamir Rice. These are the names of victims of police brutality or the mistreatment by police. One of these victims was only 12 years of age. Out of these six victims, only one of them survived police brutality to tell their story. 

The Black Lives Matter social movement and organization has been around since 2013, a little time after the death of Trayvon Martin. Martin was a young 17 year old who was brutely shot and killed by a neighborhood watchmen. Since then and 2019, more than 1,500 black people have died in the hands of police officers for unjustified reasons. The movement grows larger each year, and the number of deaths of black people also increases. As the movement grew, the opposing argument grew out of anger and disagreement, “All Lives Matter”. 

The Black Lives Matter movement is about fighting against police brutality, and other mistreats of Black People solely based on the color of their skin. People who agree with All Lives Matter say that they feel as though the term “Black Lives Matter” means that black lives are more important compared to other experiences, which if anyone who truly gets the point of the movement understands that this is not the case. Suppose the world would recognize that all lives matter, then there would be no need for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The point is to acknowledge these racial issues, not enhance them. One example is understanding why it is wrong to say the slogan “All Lives Matter” is thinking about if you got injured and are bleeding. In order to stop the bleeding and prevent infection, the wound would need to be looked at, cleaned, and bandaged. Now, in this situation, there is another person, but they are not injured in any way. Do they need to be looked at and bandaged? No. In this situation, the immediate issue is the person who has been injured and needs to be looked after; this does not mean that the other in this scenario does not matter. 

There are numerous other scenarios that can help us understand why the slogan does not help anyone. Words can say and do a lot. The “All Lives Matter” slogan has also caused a lot of damage to people’s lives. Blatantly ignoring racism in our society causes more harm than some people may think; it just means that you are okay with what is going on and refuse to make a change. For all lives to matter we ALL need to stand up and recognize these issues and fight against it but until then all lives can’t matter until black lives are included. 

won’t you celebrate with me

what I have shaped into

a kind of life? I had no model.

born in Babylon

both nonwhite and woman

what did I see to be except myself?

I made it up here on this bridge between

starshine and clay,

my one hand holding tight

my other hand; come celebrate

with me that every day

something has tried to kill me

and has failed. 

– Lucille Clifton (Won’t You Celebrate with Me)

• all lives matter
• black lives matter
• culture