Did my offensive headline get your attention? Do you think "all lives matter"? Then this article is for you, my friend. Let's start off by saying obviously, all lives matter but the All Lives Matter movement is bull honkey. It's like people wake up in the morning and sniff the air and say, "time to make this about me." Like, no! It isn't about you!
Black Lives Matter is in incredible movement using a drastic slogan to rattle people. The statement gets under people's skin, it makes them uncomfortable and it smacks you in the face. That's the point. If the slogan was "all lives matter but can we just have your attention for a moment," no one would even read it. Imagine if the women's rights movement slogan was, "hey there sir, could I bother you for a minute?" No, of course not. It was "We Can Do It" with a woman flexing. To be short and to the point, knock something loose.
When someone says "all lives matter," all I can think of is that one annoying kid in class who calls out "boys get raped, too" when the class discussion gets too "female". No one is saying they don't. No one is denying that is true. But it isn't a competition. No one is saying other lives do not matter—they are just saying black ones do. When people throw in the whole "us, too" thing they are actually demeaning the original statements.
Imagine being at a friends house and asking for something to eat and their response is "I've been hungry before, too"? Sure, everyone's been hungry before. Heck, even I've been hungry before. But this person is asking for food right now so let's focus on him. Does that break this down for you? Everyone's life matters but we're talking about one in particular, right now.
I can see how this makes people uncomfortable. For a moment, something is not about them. For a moment, we have to focus on something that we don't like to talk about. It isn't fun to look racism in the eye in 2016 but we have to. There is an issue. Look the problem dead in the eyes. Have the courage to do that.
Learn to have the confidence to say Black Lives Matter without the discouragement of your own. Learn to open your mind enough to understand there is a problem that needs to be taken care of and you might not be included. Do not make this about you. Black lives matter night or day, winter or summer. They matter. Do not belittle a movement because you are not included. Support it or get out of the way.
When I say I like coffee, it doesn't mean I don't like water. When people say merry Christmas, it doesn't mean they hate Hanukkah. When someone says, Black Lives Matter, it doesn't mean yours doesn't. So this isn't about you right now? So what? Does everything need to be? When I say his life matters, why do you interpret that as "but yours doesn't"? What does that say about you?
There is something going on in America that we need to address. I have not mentioned it once but you know what I'm talking about. There is a reason Black Lives Matter exists. There is a reason we decided All Lives Matter is an afterthought. We didn't need to prove all lives matter until we heard black ones do. I know all lives matter, I'm just not convinced about the All Lives Matter movement. This just isn't about us right now. Don't make it about us.