On Friday January 27, 2017 President Trump signed yet another Executive Order, this one effectively banned entry to persons from seven Muslim majority countries for 90 days. These countries are Libya, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia. In the days following, airports scrambled to fulfil the order, deporting thousands of people. Protests ensued at major international airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (JFK), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
In the last five or so years, beginning really with the Black Lives Matter movement, came the lovely All Lives Matter crowd. You know these people. People like Tomi Lahren who call these protesters “cry babies with nothing better to do than meander with their participation trophies and false sense of purpose.” (Granted, this statement was made in reference to people who were protesting Trump winning the presidential election, but essentially applies to her thoughts on protesters in general). The All Lives Matter crowd has been throwing this statement around much more recently due to the presidential election when then candidate Donald Trump proposed this Muslim ban.
They claim all lives matter and that Donald Trump would never all-out ban Muslims. But he did. All Lives Matter advocates preach their slogan, but do all lives really matter? Because to me, it doesn’t seem like they do. Not to them. If that were the case, why haven’t we seen All Lives Matter proponents out protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock? Why weren’t they marching in the Women’s Marches across the country and around the world? Why weren’t they at the airports last weekend protesting this ban that not only affects refugees, but green card holders?
Trump claims that this ban is protecting Americans from terrorists, but what is protecting us Americans from the homegrown terrorists who get access to semi-automatic weapons because of our warped gun laws? This ban is affecting refugees who are trying to come to America because they are fleeing terrorism. So if these refugees’ lives don’t matter and indigenous peoples’, women’s, and black and brown folks’ lives don’t matter, then whose lives matter? Because it most certainly isn’t everyone, as the all-encompassing All Lives Matter would like you to believe.
To answer my own question, no. All lives do not matter. At least not equally in this country. It’s the way it’s always been since the beginning of colonialism. If you aren’t “The White Man,” your life doesn’t matter that much. And that’s despicable in 2017. We should be at a place where no one person is more important than another based off their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality, but unfortunately we are. But to everyone reading this, your life matters to me, and I will be on your side as you fight any injustice you face.
