Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley got booed when he responded to a group of #BlackLivesMatter activist with the statement, “All Lives Matter.” Frankly it appears a multitude of people fail to understand why the statement #AllLivesMatter is erroneous and makes many who understand its true meaning cringe. In order to fully understand the gravity of the situation I will present an analogy I found from a Reddit thread called “Explain Like I’m 5” from the user GreekAesthete.
The user explains:
Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say "I should get my fair share." And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, "everyone should get their fair share." Now, that's a wonderful sentiment -- indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However, dad's smart-ass comment just dismissed you and didn't solve the problem that you still haven't gotten any! The problem is that the statement "I should get my fair share" had an implicit "too" at the end: "I should get my fair share, too, just like everyone else." But your dad's response treated your statement as though you meant "only I should get my fair share," which clearly was not your intention. As a result, his statement that "everyone should get their fair share," while true, only served to ignore the problem you were trying to point out.
The statement #BlackLivesMatter is not saying that only black lives matter, but trying to draw attention to the problem that society is refusing to face. And this issue deals with the fact that liberty and justice is being served to some not all. Saying #AllLivesMatter only serves to ignore the problem of the systematic and racial injustice being served to African Americans and minorities in the Unites States. This directly contributes to the undermining of the the pain, suffering and humiliation African Americans and many other groups face today.
How dare a society proclaim #AllLivesMatter when videos and classes are available to teach African American safe interaction with the police to avoid being killed? How dare a society proclaim #AllLivesMatter when the judicial system is influenced by the stereotypes of African Americans, responding differently than they would a caucasian? How dare a society proclaim #AllLivesMatter when the proof of birth certificate for a black president was requested, but not for the past white presidents?
It is time we pull the wool from our eyes and see that United States does not believe #AllLiveMatters, which is why African Americans and other minorities need to band together to request fairness and equality, our God-given right.
