Most people who have criticized the Black Lives Matter Movement have taken the stance that it should be “all lives matter.” However, the purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement is not to take away from any other group, but as a reminder that black lives matter too. This community of protestors feels that injustices are happening against African Americans, particularly by police, and is using that frustration to create change. Twitter user Bdell1014 has my favorite explanation for why the movement is Black Lives Matter, not “all lives matter”:
I love this explanation. The ideology behind the Black Lives Matter protests are not to bring another group down, but to fix the problems of their current situation. A person can be pro-Black Lives Matter and pro-cop; these two do not have to stand at odds. Trevor Noah from The Daily Show has a segment I highly recommend watching if you’re curious to know more about how someone can be pro-Black Lives Matter and pro-cop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP0awqth0XI.)
One thing I think we’ve neglected to consider is that Black Lives Matter is important for every American citizen. The ability to protest and speak up on behalf of concerns or injustices anyone may have experienced is a wonderful right that we often taken for granted. As with any social-political movement, people coming together to protest for the rights of African American citizens can act to inspire others to stand up against injustices that they notice in their own lives.
One example of this is with the Civil Rights Movement. African Americans overall were protesting for their rights, but women were able to build off that momentum and fight for rights specifically unavailable to women of color. For myself, I hope that the Black Lives Matter movement achieves its goal. But I also hope that other groups who feel they are unfairly treated can learn from this example. This doesn’t necessarily mean they will protest in the same way, but simply that they will be inspired to stand against injustice.
It seems that it often takes great numbers to bring about public change. The voices of the oppressed have to be loud enough for those who can enforce change to make a difference. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the following in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”:
“Lamentably, it is an historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily. Individuals may see the moral light and voluntarily give up their unjust posture; but as Reinhold Niebuhr has reminded us, groups tend to be more immoral than individuals. We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
I don’t pretend to know the solution to the police brutality experienced at the costs of African American lives, but I find it extremely important that in a time when people may berate the movement and its participants that we remember our rights as Americans, and the beauty our country is capable of because of those rights.