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Black Lives Matter
Jul. 9th, 2016 02:38 pm"Black Lives Matter" you hear.
No, wait, I just started, and I already have it wrong.
That's not what you hear. "Black Lives Matter" is what is said.
What you hear is "Only Black Lives Matter."
This is a patently false statement, and kinda racist to boot. So you say so.
"No, All lives matter," you reply.
"Yes," they reply. "That is also a true statement. And certainly we don't mean to imply otherwise. The complete statement that isn't said isn't "Only Black Lives Matter", it's "Because there have been widespread actions indicating that many people believe otherwise, we feel the need to point out that Black Lives Matter, too."
And then they explain it using metaphors involving broken bones, or burning houses, or a dozen other things, and some people write huge essays with all this historical context and all the examples and the data and the statistics and other people write cartoons, or make videos, and millions of words are written about it and half your friends point to them every time you say "All Lives Matter" and at the end of all of this, you can't claim ignorance, you can't claim that anybody is trying to say "Only Black Lives Matter", and you can't claim they're saying one thing, or you think they're saying another thing. So maybe you learn, and you understand, and maybe you change your opinion or maybe you don't.
But if, finally, after all that, you still respond with "No, ALL lives matter", then you're not accidentally misinterpreting what's being said. At this point, after all the responses, the misinterpretation can only be on purpose.
And, if you're saying it, you don't have to answer here, in fact it's best if you don't, but you should take a look deep down inside yourself and ask yourself why.
No, wait, I just started, and I already have it wrong.
That's not what you hear. "Black Lives Matter" is what is said.
What you hear is "Only Black Lives Matter."
This is a patently false statement, and kinda racist to boot. So you say so.
"No, All lives matter," you reply.
"Yes," they reply. "That is also a true statement. And certainly we don't mean to imply otherwise. The complete statement that isn't said isn't "Only Black Lives Matter", it's "Because there have been widespread actions indicating that many people believe otherwise, we feel the need to point out that Black Lives Matter, too."
And then they explain it using metaphors involving broken bones, or burning houses, or a dozen other things, and some people write huge essays with all this historical context and all the examples and the data and the statistics and other people write cartoons, or make videos, and millions of words are written about it and half your friends point to them every time you say "All Lives Matter" and at the end of all of this, you can't claim ignorance, you can't claim that anybody is trying to say "Only Black Lives Matter", and you can't claim they're saying one thing, or you think they're saying another thing. So maybe you learn, and you understand, and maybe you change your opinion or maybe you don't.
But if, finally, after all that, you still respond with "No, ALL lives matter", then you're not accidentally misinterpreting what's being said. At this point, after all the responses, the misinterpretation can only be on purpose.
And, if you're saying it, you don't have to answer here, in fact it's best if you don't, but you should take a look deep down inside yourself and ask yourself why.
