Day in, day out I read: “___ shot last night” or “___ killed in shooting." Sometimes it’s black people. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s a classmate or someone we care about. Other times, it’s just a name on the news.
I don’t pretend to know the names of the two black men who were murdered by the policemen who swore to protect them because frankly, I’ve already read too much about these same types of people before and I don’t feel like ruining my already terrible day. Truth is, there’s so much outrage on social media, but no one can really change it.
Now before you crucify me, hear me out. Hispanics (Mexican in particular) and Asians are isolated just as much, if not more in our modern society, yet there is much, much less of an outcry. In fact, MORE white people have been killed by the police in 2015 than blacks. So before you cry to me about how “Black Lives Matter," which connotates that black lives are more important than any other life, I suggest otherwise.
Here’s the other nagging issue -- the reason I say black lives don’t matter is because no matter how much we cry out on social media that things have to change and that police should be punished, the fact is nothing has changed and nobody but the families of the deceased are being punished. Since Trayvon Martin, nothing has changed, except for the accelerated gun violence in the United States. Am I wrong?
I’m not a supporter of Black Lives Matter because I don’t have time for many hobbies (that’s a joke) and also because I’m a supporter of ALL Lives Matter. Because when you put a name on something, it makes it sound exclusive, when it really wasn’t designed to be.
I go to a gym that is predominantly Black and Asian. I once asked one of my white friends, “Why don’t you ever play basketball at the gym?” and he replied with “Because I never get picked up.” This surprised me, because he was quite good at basketball so I asked again, “Why not? Even I get picked up.” The answer I got was eye-opening.
“Because black people don’t like white people.”
That in itself is the problem. Do we have to hate each other so much? Hate breeds more hate and there’s only a matter of time before that hatred translates into violence. Honestly, we don’t even need tighter gun control laws. All we need to do is start loving each other.
Black Lives Don’t Matter, White Lives Don’t Matter, Hispanic Lives Don’t Matter, Asian Lives Don’t Matter. Stop putting a name on everything.
All Lives Matter.
