'All Lives Matter' Shouldn't Be An Argument Ever | The Odyssey Online
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'All Lives Matter' Shouldn't Be An Argument Right Now — Or, Ever

Just my two cents on the issue. If you don't want to read it, please just watch the video I attached below. It is more useful than anything I have ever read.

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'All Lives Matter' Shouldn't Be An Argument Right Now — Or, Ever


1. BLM Recognizes Current Inequality, Which ALM Doesn't

Black Lives Matter was created six years ago, as a movement against police brutality against African Americans in the United States following the acquittal of George Zimmerman following the shooting death of Black teen Trayvon Martin.

Since then, the disproportionate number of African Americans, especially men and boys, who have been seriously injured or killed for crimes that didn't warrant such drastic measures has risen, as has the movement.

The Black Lives Matter seeks to bring justice to an entire race who have been persecuted not only historically, but also in the present day through unconscious systematic racism that prevails, and bring African Americans on par with how every other race is treated in this country.

"All Lives Matter" doesn't address any inequality; in fact saying it makes it sound like no inequality did or does exist for any one group of lives. Which is why it doesn't even pertain to the issue at hand.

2. ALM is not relevant, at all, whatsoever.

Why? Because it implies something that we as a society should already believe in. Sure you, may believe that all lives matter, I may believe that all lives matter, but a certain police officer out there doesn't. Or maybe a certain "Karen" as we so graciously put it, doesn't either.

But simply yelling all lives matter isn't going to solve the problem. Because it isn't "all lives" that are at stake here, that are constantly watched, trailed, and subordinate to the rest, it's only one: and that's African Americans.

If everyone believed that all lives matter, we wouldn't be here right now, signing petitions, attending marches, or standing up for an entire race of people's rights.

3. ALM compares the tremendous hardships of Black people to every other race.

This one is hard to explain, because it has to be felt. Many advocates of the All Lives Matter movement have suggested that police kill more white people than Black people, white privilege does not exist, and many more statements of fact and fiction that I will gladly explain.

First of all, Caucasians make up 76.3 percent of the population, while African Americans only 13.4 percent, according to the most recent census data. So it makes sense that there are more white police deaths than Black. However, even with that figure, white police deaths are only 36.9 percent, while Black deaths are at 23.4 percent, a much closer figure than their demographic statistics.

But how can someone really understand what it feels like to be another race? Well, let me ask you: Would you mind, if tomorrow you woke up and you and your entire family were African American? You had to live every day, for the rest of your life as someone with Black skin?

I'm assuming a lot of you, honestly, said no, even if it wasn't out loud. And there's a reason for that. No matter the struggles you have gone through as a white, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Hispanic, or any other race, it doesn't compare to the history of slavery, segregation, and oppression that Black people have had to endure since the beginning of this country.

Even after emancipation, they were not treated as equals, and that ancestry of inequality still affects their descendants today. Why do you think there is a disproportionate amount of African Americans in poorer neighborhoods? It's because they never started out on an equal foot to begin with, never given the same opportunities.

So, even if you are portrayed with a stereotype, insult, or prejudiced statement, fight back, but don't compare it to the African American struggle.

4. ALM is referring to the deaths of all lives, while BLM includes the quality of life

Imagine you are a Black person, and you are a good, law-abiding citizen, who is driving back from work one day. Let's say a police officer stops you. You are 2.8 times more likely to die right there than a white person.

Another circumstance: You are a Black teenager jogging down your street, and a woman calls the police because she is suspicious. Don't you think you are more likely to be interrogated and investigated than a white person, an Asian person, virtually any other race?

I've seen white school shooters being caught, safely detained, and their actions attributed to mental instability. I've also seen African American men, with simply the possession of a gun, being killed over it due to "suspicion".

If you support the Second Amendment for guns, you should be enraged, because it is entirely legal to own one, isn't it? So why isn't the entire country angry?

Because it's about race, and it always will be. All Lives Matter simply places anyone's unfair death in a box, while Black Lives Matter epitomizes the unfair life that 13.4 percent of the population leads.

All lives should matter, but they don't.

Or in other words, Black Lives Matter too.

If you're still having trouble understanding the extent of racism and deep-rooted hatred in this country, watch the below video. I hope they help you understand what the Black people in this nation endure every day.



A Class Divided full film  FRONTLINEwww.youtube.com

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