The Real Reason White People Say ‘All Lives Matter’

[sheshe2]

wgmbh via Getty Images


Why “Black” Makes Us Uncomfortable


Dear fellow white people, let’s have an honest talk about why we say “All Lives Matter.” First of all, notice that no one was saying “All Lives Matter” before people started saying “Black Lives Matter.” So “All Lives Matter” is a response to “Black Lives Matter.” Apparently, something about the statement “Black Lives Matter” makes us uncomfortable. Why is that?


Now some white people might say that singling out Black people’s lives as mattering somehow means that white lives don’t matter. Of course, that’s silly. If you went to a Breast Cancer Awareness event, you wouldn’t think that they were saying that other types of cancer don’t matter. And you’d be shocked if someone showed up with a sign saying “Colon Cancer Matters” or chanting “All Cancer Patients Matter.” So clearly, something else is prompting people to say “All Lives Matter” in response to “Black Lives Matter.”


Many of the people saying “All Lives Matter” also are fond of saying “Blue Lives Matter.” If you find that the statement “Black Lives Matter” bothers you, but not “Blue Lives Matter,” then the operative word is “Black”. That should tell us something. There’s something deeply discomfiting about the word “Black.” I think it’s because it reminds us of our whiteness and challenges our notion that race doesn’t matter.

snip//


We need to say “Black Lives Matter,” because we’re not living it. No one is questioning whether white lives matter or whether police lives matter. But the question of whether Black lives really matter is an open question in this country. Our institutions act like Black lives do not matter. The police act like Black lives do not matter when they shoot unarmed Black people with their arms in the air and when Blacks are shot at two and a half times the rate of whites, even when whites are armed. The judicial system acts like Black lives don’t matter when Blacks are given more severe sentences than whites who commit the same crimes and are turned into chattel in a for-profit prison-industrial complex.


And white people act like Black lives do not matter when we fail to raise the appropriate level of outrage at unjustified killings of Blacks or when we respond with platitudes like “All Lives Matter.”


Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-halstead/dear-fellow-white-people-_b_11109842.html

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I am so very white.

My parents, well they had their issues and it was not always pretty. However, difference was never an issue in our house. Their was always acceptance. I never knew anything else. I was not brought up to hate a person for color. Or anyone else.

[underpants]

1. Very good read

Thanks

[sheshe2]

2. Thanks for responding.

[sheshe2]

3. K.

It doesn't really matter.

[brer cat]

4. This is a great read, sheshe.

I am dealing with an "all lives matter" issue in the antique mall I manage, and this article states the issue much better than I would have done. Thanks for posting!

[AwakeAtLast]

5. I come from a very white part of So. IL

Even though my parents are conservative, the best thing they did was teach me to be tolerant of others. I lived around so many racist people, hell, some of them are relatives!

I have never heard my parents use racist speech, and have never seen them treat someone differently because if their race. For that I am grateful.

[GeoWilliam750]

6. I forget who said it here, but something like this:

When one has only known privilege, equality can feel like oppression

[sheshe2]

10. So true.

Good to see you, Geo.

[GeoWilliam750]

11. Interesting in an odd sort of way

Not everyone can easily understand that the phrase, "Black Lives Matter", can be thought of as the response to a ceaseless drumbeat that society has projected on us that, "Black Lives Don't Matter".

Keep up the good fight, sheshe. Very nearly everything that very nearly everyone does, ultimately makes a difference.

[aikoaiko]

7. When it comes to saying All Lives Matter there are 2 groups: the educable and the noneducable, IMO

I think there are well-intentioned white folks who say All Lives Matter because they are trying to communicate that black lives and other POC lives should all be treated just as well as white lives. I don't think they appreciated the importance of saying Black Lives Matter and how All Lives Matter would be received by POC. Much of this was due to ignorance and a layer of subtle racism that most white people don't ever examine. This group is growing smaller as BLM is discussed more. I probably would have said All Lives Matter if I were speaking publicly about Ferguson and BLM in those early days.

These folks are generally educable such as:
Hillary Clinton: http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/24/417112956/hillary-clintons-three-word-gaffe-all-lives-matter
Martin O'Malley - http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/martin-omalley-all-lives-matter/
Pres. of Smith College - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/9/smith-college-president-apologizes-for-email-sayin/

And then there are the noneducable folks (at least in the short term) who are using it as a retaliation to Black Lives Matter. When they hear explanations about the importance of saying Black Lives Matter, they remain resistant or even get angry. Some are purposefully being antagonistic.

My family was the type that found overt, discriminatory racism offensive, but supported the less obvious types such as choosing to not live near Black people. We lived in a small (6000 pop) NYC bedroom community of mostly upper middle class, professional class, white people. To this day, there is less than 1% African American living in the community. It was much like and nearby where Corey Booker grew up. We participated in high school track meets together. There were fewer Black folk 30-40 years ago.

[heaven05]

8. thank you

[sheshe2]

9. Luv ya heaven.