Dear Anonymous Yik-Yaker,
I would like to start off by saying that I believe all lives matter. I do. Every life is precious and should be protected. While I believe that all lives matter, I would never disrespect or undermine the entire movement by saying that “all lives matter,” especially in a time of unrest for the black community.
Are all lives targeted by the police? Are all lives targeted and stereotyped? Have all lives been followed around a store, or searched for looking suspicious? Have all lives been made fun of for the way they speak? Do all parents have to warn their children about how to act in the presence of police so that they don’t get murdered? Are all children perceived as older for the color of their skin? Are all lives as getting paid less for the color of their skin? Are all lives living in disproportionate poverty?
If you answered no to these questions, which you should have if you are aware of the societal constraints placed upon black and brown people, you would know that in this context we cannot say that all lives matter. All lives do not face a disproportional amount of violence and aggression based on racial identity.
And yes, you’re right: black people aren’t racist (your sarcasm was noted). Black people may be discriminatory and disrespectful, but never racist. Racism is based on a system of oppression embedded into societal norms and laws. Racism prevents black and brown people from being as successful as their white counterparts. Black people cannot oppress white people, because they have no societal power to do this. Think of it like this, when a white person says “all black people are violent and criminals,” it is applied to the race as a whole and creates negative stereotypes. It leads to things like police brutality and targeting black people. If a black person were to say “all white people are lazy and don’t like to work for anything,” it would have no weight in society, because there is an underlying consensus in America that white is best.
To claim that “all lives matter” and that “black people are racist” at such a pivotal time in the current Civil Rights movement does nothing but undermine its complexity. So I’ll say it again:
BLACK lives matter. BROWN lives matter.
And they matter because although you may not think so, society continues to say that they don’t.
Sincerely,