Dear "All Lives Matter" Protester,

First of all, I would like to say that I agree with you. All lives do matter. Each and every life is important and should be validated, and anything that comes in the way of that validation should be changed or removed. But let it be clear, that is just about where the agreement ends. Where you say All Lives Matter, I say Black Lives Matter.

This is not to say that black lives are superior, this is not to say that they matter more, this is not even to say that black lives are to be treated any differently than any other. Black Lives Matter is a movement to say that we matter just as much as everyone else. I would say that it serves as a reminder, but how could you remind someone of something when it never was?

Black lives in the eyes of society do not, and have not ever mattered. Ever since black lives were taken from Africa and put on this soil we have not mattered. Back then we were killed by overseers and now we are killed by police with just as much impunity. Back then we were enslaved openly and now we are enslaved in secret. The chains never left, they just changed shape. But you fail to recognize that. You fail to recognize the fear and frustration we feel when we see our brothers and sisters killed for no more than the color of their skin. And when we speak up against this, when we tell you that, Black Lives matter, all you have to say is, "All Lives Matter".

When a person sees a house on fire they don't pass by it claiming that "All Houses Matter". They attend to that fire and see that it is put out. This should be the case for black people in America. We as a race are burning, the flames of institutionalized racism are what fuel our suffering. Black Lives Matter hopes to put out this flame. But things like "All Lives Matter" exist to fan the flame.

Frustratingly,

Matthew Alexander