Of course, all lives matter, but…
If this country was a country that cared and treated everyone with respect, there would be no need for “Black Lives Matter”. And please don’t tell me respect is earned. Respect should be given until someone proves they don’t deserve it. And when someone doesn’t deserve it, then disrespect them if you must, but don’t lay that person’s ignorance on a whole race, culture or group of people. “Black Lives Matter” is important because right now in this country Black people are being killed for things we shouldn’t be killed for. For Black people this is real! For Black People this breaks our hearts. To be honest, Black people need to scream “Black Lives Matter” because we, ourselves, need to truly believe and understand that “Black Lives Matter”. Self- hate is prevalent in the subconscious of Black people. However every time Black people try to bring the matter to the forefront of society, which could help us deal with the hatred aimed at us and the hatred implanted in us, people want to water it down by coming up with something like, “all lives matter”. Only a heartless individual would not understand that all lives matter. Isn’t that exactly what “Black Lives Matter” is basically trying to say–‘Include’ us in all lives matters? Stop killing us like we don’t matter. Stop mistreating us like we don’t matter. Man, if we can’t be honest about the racism and hatred going on in this country, it’ll never get fixed. If you don’t know that Black people are treated badly in this country, then you’re ignoring the problem on purpose.
I had lunch last weekend with a friend of mine, I’ve known since college. He happens to be a Native Indian. He’s a lawyer who has argued in front of the United States Supreme Court. He was telling how important it is that we respect Mother Earth. He explained to me the Native perspective. I told him that I totally agreed with what he was saying, but I have no hope for it ever happening, because man can’t even respect his fellow man. Think about this if man can’t respect his fellow man, he ain’t gonna give a shit about the ozone layer, trees, recycling or anything else. As a Black man, I’ll start worry about recycling when I have don’t have to worry about my Black teenaged sons being stop for a tail-light and end up dead. I know there are other groups of people being mistreated in this country and they should scream out too.
Black people have had a history of having to scream, “What about us?” We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. The truth of the matter is Black people had to have a special amendment added because those great words of The Constitution didn’t include us. In fact, many of the men who wrote those great words went back to their plantations and slaves. In 2015, in America, and by virtue of being an American, Black people shouldn’t have to scream “Black Lives Matter”. But until this country changes how it treats Black people it needs to be said repeatedly, “Black Lives Matter”.
