Just one day before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, he delivered the infamous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee. "[God has] allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!" -Martin Luther King Jr.
The speech concerns the Memphis Sanitation Strike, where Dr. King encourages unity, boycotting and nonviolent protests for the workers, as it is their constitutional right to protest. To those workers, enough was enough. The discrimination, dangerous working conditions, as well as the horrifying deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, fueled the rage of the workers to initiate the strike.
Nearly fifty years later, discrimination due to race still exists. Whether you decide to recognize it, or simply push it to the side, it's there. Think of some of the words and phrases that are said in everyday conversations. "I'm not a racist or anything, but..." or, "I don't hate [insert race] people, but..." But, what? Including the word 'but' does nothing to erase the intended racism.
However, those same people try to indulge in black culture, the culture of those they discriminate against. Rap, reggae, slurs, hairstyles, fashion, etc. are all toyed with and diverted within American culture, which can be a great thing, until it's not, because there is an undeniable hypocrisy in our streets.
People are being murdered due to the color of their skin. Where are you then, Becky from two houses down? I've heard you listening to Beyoncé's new album, "Lemonade," but what I don't hear is your voice fighting for those around you, and their right to live. Why is it that people are more afraid of being called racist, then they are with racism as a whole?
Why say #AllLivesMatter to take the spotlight away from the unjust cruelty an entire race of Americans has endured, and continues to endure?
Of course, all lives matter. Where would we be if they didn't?
There would be innocent, unarmed people dying in our streets, our justice department would favor one over the other. We wouldn't be free as Americans to walk our neighborhood on our phone, or play with a toy in the park, or even reach into our pocket to hand a police officer our identification. We wouldn't be able to sell CD's outside of a store in our town, or smoke a cigarette out of our car window.
Black Lives Matter is a movement that sheds light on racial inequality. All Lives Matter only began to counteract the conversation of black lives, as if saying a certain race matters automatically discourages every other race, when it shouldn't. The only reason #BlackLivesMatter has had such an uproar, is due to black lives being ignored and neglected. We must start there.
The first step to accepting that there is a race problem in America is addressing it. The next time you see the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, give it the time of day. There are real people protesting, real families who have struggled with racial profiling and discrimination. Real mothers and fathers, who don't know how to tell their child how to ensure their own safety, and why they are ten steps behind others due the pigmentation their skin holds.
Ignorance is a disease, and we need to overcome it. The more we ignore the issue of racial tensions, the worse it will evolve. All we have done is allow history to repeat itself, over and over again. Be the change you want to see, and love one another around you.
Before you fall asleep tonight, think of the innocent black lives who have been jeopardized. Think of the police officers in Dallas, who were protecting the movement and killed by a radical follower, who allowed our nation to split in the middle. Think of your neighbors, and try to think of how we can glue ourselves together, and coexist as one.
If we lift up one another, we can see the Promised Land together, it's just over the horizon.
