All Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter.
It's good to understand exactly what each side entails and represents before going into detail.
Black Lives Matter began after George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator, open fire on unarmed Trayvon Martin, a young black high schooler. Zimmerman was tried in court for Trayvon's murder, and was declared not guilty.
The Black Lives Matter movement was created by three women named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi. The creation of this movement was a direct response to the reoccurring shootings of unarmed black people and injustices towards POC (People of color) overall.
These instances of unarmed killing happen often, some notable ones most people know by name are the deaths of Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner. Eric Garner's death was not only completely filmed, but only shows resistance to his arrest when four to five police officers are strangling him to death. "I can't breathe" was said eleven times before he died. The fact that there's any remote discussion on whether or not this situation should or shouldn't have played out this way is mind boggling.
Black Lives Matter is the way our society is being called out for our constant injustices regarding the black community and how their comfort, well-being and lives are threatened daily.
What pounds the nail in is how black lives are borderline demonized when they commit a crime while white lives are gently forgiven when they commit the same crimes and worse.
When black people hold peaceful protests, they're "riots.” When white people's home team loses a sports game and them start flipping cars and lighting stuff on fire, it's "patriotism.”
When a black person commits a shooting, it's because they're a thug with a history of violence. When a white person shoots up an entire school full of kindergartners, it's because they're mentally handicapped, misunderstood, lone wolves whose crime shocks everyone they knew due to their inherently shy nature.
Again, black people are not the only people who have to deal with these prejudices. POC overall know the pain of being more harshly judged than the average white person.
So that's Black Lives Matter. The consistent awareness that this country has not yet reached full equality and needs to get there, ASAP.
Now what's All Lives Matter?
All Lives Matter is, what many believe to be, a call for the same thing. All Lives Matter is basically stating that we're already in a state of equality and that all lives are treated equality, or at the very least should be.
Unfortunately, many do not use it in this context, and proclaim "All Lives Matter" in an effort to defend the white community.
Black Lives Matter does not mean devaluing and attacking the white community just because we benefit from most, if not, all of society's biased points. Black Lives Matter is addressing the current inequality. All Lives Matter is, to some, a rush to defend a group of people who already have the most defenses on them. It's unnecessary. White people aren't being torn down, so please don't rush to build us up when Black Lives Matter is mentioned.
The issue between All Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter is that they're both, if ALM is being used genuinely, striving for the exact same thing. Equality.
By saying All Lives Matter, are you really addressing the violence, or the prejudice? Or are you ignoring it completely, shrouding yourself in the illusion that racism is gone and we're all already equal.
Rough news. We're not. Not yet.
We want to be able to reach a day and age where we can say "All Lives Matter" and have everyone agree and mean it. This day and age isn't that time yet. We need to get there, and Black Lives Matter sheds light on the hurdles we still need to overcome. All Lives Matter erases the notions of any problems.
As a white person, it's hard to understand exactly how to stand in solidarity with these issues. It's a tricky road, since we don't want to steal the visibility of the movement, don't want to make it about ourselves and don't want to offend anyone. It can be overwhelming to address all of these issues without having any inside experience within them. It's hard to fight against racism when you've never experienced it yourself. Being an ally in these movements’ calls for embracing one's privilege and having an understanding of who benefits from society's prejudices and where you stand on that scale. Sometimes, it can become so difficult to wrap our minds around, that we'll disassociate ourselves from the movements and either ignore the problems or turn against them completely.
Don't turn confusion into defensiveness or anger. Let confusion become what it's always meant to become. Curiosity. Let Black Lives Matter raise questions. Seek answers. Work to understand. When that's all done, be open to solutions!
#BlackLivesMatter
