All Lives Matter: Response To The Activist Movement

A necessary and common fight for equality has been one that has survived throughout all of man’s existence. Due to recent racial divide and the product of racial profiling, a movement has risen up to combat these common issues. The most recent and most well-covered is the Black Lives Matter Movement. Even though it has been lauded by some media sources and individuals as the next great movement to champion for civil rights, the Black Lives Matter movement is not the same as the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s nor is it likely to be as successful. If the Black Lives Matter Movement continues with discrepancies in ideology, lack of clear leadership, and trends of hate, the movement is doomed to fail.

“Black lives matter,””White lives matter,””All lives matter” are proclamations manufactured by numerous anti-racism organizations today. Failing to squander racism, the United States continues to make bounds towards racial equality. Preceding the American Revolution racism plagued the world and continues to corrupt the world today. Today activist comparable to Martin Luther King, Jr. continue to combat racism and seek an end, to all, racism. In effort to clear the obfuscated minds of the clergymen King stains Letter from a Birmingham Jail with pathos, allusion, and antithesis to explain the cruel, unjust , harsh reality of the world in the time.

Although there was significant progress made in the 60’s Civil Rights Movements, African American lives still find themselves the subjects of racial profiling and police brutality cases. Specific incidents have brought the controversies to the public eye through social media and backlash from social movements. The cases of Trayvon Martin and Sandra Bland led to the controversies and feelings of judicial injustice; these events and public outrage sparked and fueled the movement “Black Lives Matter”, which was established to challenge and combat racial discrimination and police brutality. Since then, the movement has gained momentum and continues to gain followers and validity. Social media has also been a main contributor to the cause, as the

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a loosely‐coordinated, nationwide movement dedicated to ending police brutality that rose to prominence in late 2014. It takes its name from a hashtag started by three Black feminist activists Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi but the movement and the hashtag are not identical (Freelon, McIlwain, & Clark, 2016). BLM has achieved national reputation through their online and offline organizing, obtaining extensive news media coverage and glowing references in music and entertainment television. Based on a horrendous incident that sparked a concern for a lot of Black people across the world, the sudden need for a social movement was born called BLM. Black Lives Matter is a national organization working for the validity of Black life and also working to rebuild the Black liberation movement. Black Lives Matter broadens the conversation and highlight the incidents around state violence to include the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. This referring to the ways in which Black lives are deprived of basic human rights and dignity. According to the article The Murder of Walter Scott, which talks about race and class, “African Americans are less than 13% of the U.S. population yet they are nearly 50% of those killed by the police. North Charleston has a population of 104,000, 47% Black and the police force is 80% white (Miah, 2015)”.

In a previous Inquisitr article, I wrote about the Twitter firestorm that erupted concerning the All Lives Matter movement after the incident in which a gunman shot and killed five police officers in Dallas, Texas, last Thursday. It angered many people and the question was raised as to why the All Lives Matter movement is so offensive right now. I decided to write another article to try to explain why the ALM movement is wrong at this time. In another day and time, the movement would be something we could all aspire to, but many don’t understand the reason why Black Lives Matter more right now. It is not to condemn other races, or say that any other lives don’t matter, but the BLM movement was born out of prejudice against people of color.

While driving down the road, I see a sign, “Black Lives Matter”, and I ponder on the question to myself, “what equality is there in humanity”. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”( Congress, 1776). I ask myself, at the time the Declaration of Independence was being written, did they forget to disclose the statement,” except for Black people.” The vast majority of social media sources, in 2016 have displayed the slogan, “Black Lives Matter”. I asked myself, have Black lives ever mattered in the United States of America, and what can citizens do to provide inclusion of membership for everyone. The history of the United States has shown racial disparities for over 200 years, and while the emancipation of slaves and the Civil Rights movement has shown some progression towards unity; the divide is apparent in everyday life.

For the past few years, racial tensions have been on the rise. Although many actions have been taken to prevent these conflicts from occurring, African Americans are still being undervalued by the state. As more African Americans are being turned away with little to no assistance from the American government, anger and the desire for change increased among them. When Trayvon Martin’s murderer George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime, a great number of Americans were furious at the outcome. Three African American women named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi expressed their view on a Facebook post titled “A Love Note to Black People” and it ends with “Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter” (“Black Lives Matter”). Thus, a new liberation movement for black people was born. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter rapidly spread throughout social media, bringing awareness of the struggles of African Americans. The Black Lives Matter movement is a call to action to eradicate the dehumanization of African Americans that exists in American society. With the constant targeting of African Americans by the police and the unfair treatment in the criminal justice system, the Black Lives Matter movement is a necessity to combat racism.

As a result, other organizations such as Blue Lives Matters, and All Lives Matters erupted too. The Blue Lives Matters Movement was created to protect police officers and their families. The All Lives Matters Movement was established to ensure that all lives matter and not just black lives. The argument between Black Lives Matter or All Lives Matter has been a heated discussion on social media for some time now. Indeed, all lives do matter, but the number of blacks killed from in the past five years says otherwise. Black Americans have a different experience than other races in the United States. Even though today, everyone in American are “supposedly” given the same opportunity to prosper, some hurdles are put into place for black Americans than any other race in the United States. Black Americans are more likely to get stopped by police than white Americans. Such acts as buying a house, car, or applying for a job position may be more difficult for an African American with the same credentials as a white American. People who do not understand how the Black Lives Matter Movement is an establishment to help aid the oppression of blacks without belittling other races are like that because they do not experience the “black experience” in America. Not to say that white people aren’t killed by policemen, but white Americans aren’t targeted by policemen. During the mass shooting of the church in Charleston, South Carolina committed by Dylann Roof, for example, he was labeled as “mentally ill”. When the shooting of the Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut happened, the shooter was also labeled as “mentally ill”. When blacks are killed wrongfully, usually a picture of an old mugshot appears as the cover face. Surveillances and voice recordings of murders of unarmed blacks on national television are displayed. Officers involved in such cases received little

“Black Lives Matter” —an intended progression in society without a hierarchy, merely marching forward by spur of the people. Started by three sisters who continue to keep the organization a chapter-based, left wing social justice operation, it can best be described as “Not a moment, but a movement” by those that follow it. The case that began this outcry involved a man —George Zimmerman— whom, according to Lizette Alvarez and Cara Buckley (2013), “was found not guilty [of] second-degree murder [and] was also acquitted of manslaughter, a lesser charge.” (para. 1). Since its initial start in 2013, the movement follows and protests against police brutality and civil injustice towards individuals of the Black minority; however, this is a prime example of hate breeding hate as the movement, has opened a new floodgate full of antipathy aimed towards the White-community and Law Enforcement Officials. In short, the initial idea of “Black Lives Matter” —which is to bring civil justice to the Black-community— is a good concept, but the execution by its adherents are, ironically, bigoted; the movement needs to either evolve its state of thought or disperse before it further segregates America.

In the article “The Problem with Saying All Lives Matter”, Tyler Huckabee (2015) states that it’s decreasing the relevant of “All Black Lives” and represents a complete misunderstanding of the phrase “Black lives Matter. He acknowledges the view that people are not decreasing the relevant truth of “All Black Lives Matter”, but the emphasis of his argument is to educate people who don’t see the flaw and what the outcome of this movement may be in result. He provides an example of, a 17-year-old boy named Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot while he was walking back from a convenience store. Due to this incident, three women named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi (Founders of BLM) began tweeting #blacklivesmatter, it had transformed

Originating in 2012, the political movement known under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has exploded in size and renown. This movement, which was initially inspired after a police officer was acquitted of all charges after fatally shooting an African American individual, seeks to diminish police brutality against African American individuals and systemic racism particularly in the United States. Sweeping the nation, Black Lives Matter has become an international movement and its influence has only increased with time. On the movement’s official website, the following was written regarding the history of the hashtag-inspired entourage, “#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.” (http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/). The #BlackLivesMatter movement asserts that racism is still prevalent in modern society and exists not only in passive forms. Instead, racism apparently can be both overt and implicit.

The Black Lives Matter movement has swept across America. It 's branched out with chapters in over 31 cities and held rallies and boycotts across the United States(Sidner). The Black Lives Matter movement started with the outrage of the death of a young man. It continues to take over headlines and raise awareness on police brutality and inequality. However, the movement has met resistance from the All Lives Matter group. This group thinks that Black Lives Matter is a movement to express hatred towards other races. However, statistics, the views of fellow citizens, and the overall purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement, can prove that the movement wasn 't meant to express hate on other races and that we need to support the movement instead of going against it.

Some folks say and support “Black Lives” and others, “All Lives”. As time go on, things take a turn ‘for the worse’. The ‘turn for the worse’ is due to the mindset of many people and the mass media. With time should come justice, peace and common ground on what is happening, but what if no one is supportive or have no knowledge of what is to come? The saying of “All Lives Matter” is deleterious and ruinous to the “Black Lives Matter” movement and support and to the black community by deteriorating their beliefs, livelihood, and mentality.

In 2013, a movement called Black Lives Matters was started after George Zimerman was found not guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Many Americans complain again the injustice and rallied together to form the Black lives matter movement. The Black lives matter movement though has many issues within their movement, but the main issue is that the people of the movement are segregating themselves from other races whenever they say the words “black lives matter”. That’s why the phrase “All lives matter” has come about. The term “All Lives matter” is stating that people of this movement care about all people instead of just one color, that the movement does not support the supremacy of a race & Radical Organization, and show that the police force is not discriminative towards any one race.

I strongly dislike when people lack understanding. When it comes to the “Black Lives Matter” movement, why are people quick to raise “All Lives Matter”? Instead of trying to understand the hardship and racism that African Americans face, people are quick to be defensive and assume that if Black lives matter then all of a sudden now no one elses’ lives matter. Saying “All Lives Matter” is a selfish sentiment showing that people lack a level of compassion when it comes to an issue that does not address them. I think that this an inhuman and wrong way of thinking. I believe that having abortions are wrong because that is destroying a life created by God. I think that there are natural ways to prevent pregnancy such as natural family planning where