For those of you who don’t know, according to their official website, the #BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was post-humously placed on trial for his own murder.
Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.”
So what about #AllLivesMatter? #AllLivesMatter was seen (predominantly) as the comment/reply section of (mostly) white people as a reaction to #AllLivesMatter. These individuals believe that for the sake of inclusiveness, we should not focus on just Black people problem, but rather, all people problem. While that’s cute and all, here are the many reasons why that reply is just another trick to invalidate black people’s problem.
Reason 1: It takes away the focus from the real problem.
Just like they stated in “Now You See Me” (great movie by the way), the things that you see on the stage is just an illusion, a trick to divert the audience’s attention. “All lives matter,” is but a mere “Abracadabra” to shift the attention from black people’s suffering. Think I’m making this of? Then answer me these following questions:
“Whose lives were taken by police brutality recently?”
“What were the victims’ skin color?”
“Surely, it shouldn’t be a coincidence that most of them shared the same skin color, right?”
“Then why on earth do you feel like taking care of Asian’s invisibility on media right now?”
#BlackLivesMatter was born to raise attention to black suffering. It wasn’t created to invalidate others’ experiences. It certainly does not mean #BlackLivesAboveAllLives. It’s a cry for help. And answering, “Well, but your suffer is just like other suffer,” won’t provide any support.
Reason 2: This “movement” doesn’t do anything
Alright, so all lives matter. And then? That’s right, nothing come after that #AllLivesMatter. If you truly believe in your statement, then you would show your support to the black community in the peak of these recent events, but you did nothing. Where are these people after tragedies like the Orlando shooting? They didn’t stand up for women’s lives when planned parenthood is threatened (actually, women and men because planned parenthood protect just about anyone). They also weren’t there when a certain presidential candidate threatened the lives of many Mexican and Islamic. And refugee’s lives, well, these people couldn’t careless.
So where are them? That’s right, they can only be found under the comment section, basically telling black people to "shut up” when #BlackLivesMatter tried to raise awareness. I think the dictionary have a pretty good word for these #AllLivesMatter: “hypocrite.”
Yes, I want people to know that all lives matter. That we’re all equal and should all be treated with respect. But I won’t say that to a dying black person. #BlackLivesMatter.
