#BlackLivesMatter is more than a movement. It is a message. It is a message to a nation that has continued to disregard the concerns, rights, and lives of Black Americans. It is a message to a nation that has always chosen to see color when it is convenient and ignore it when it is not. I am talking about the America that once forced us to see color when it hung signs labeled “Whites and “Colored,” but then denounces a hashtag that seeks to draw attention to the plight of the Black community.
As a Black woman, these issues touch home. I have listened to the stories of family and friends as they have detailed their encounters with police who have disturbingly violated their civil rights and abused police discretion. The facts and statistics are clear. For example, arrest rates for Blacks are 2.5 times higher than for Whites. Blacks are more likely to be stopped and pulled over by the police and are less likely to be provided with reasoning for the stop and are three times more likely to have police search their cars than Whites. Blacks are also far more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, prosecuted, and convicted for drug crimes, although statistics reveal that Whites use and sell drugs at comparable and even higher rates than Blacks. Young Black and Latino men receive harsher sentences and are particularly disadvantaged in the legal process. Blacks are also more likely to serve longer prison and jail terms than Whites for the same crimes committed.
#All Lives Matter, the most popular response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, ignores this history of discriminatory treatment and the racial disparities that exist in our criminal justice system. While all lives do matter, the #AllLivesMatter response draws attention away from the racially discriminatory practices that have pervaded every level of our criminal justice system. It also trivializes the Black community’s struggle against this oppressive system.
#BlackLivesMatter is not an anti-White campaign meant to incite a race war or a war against #bluelives. It is a response to a system of oppression, social harms and injustices that stigmatize the Black community. It is a response to the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and numerous other Black men and women at the hands of police due to police misconduct and brutality. #BlackLivesMatter does not negate the obvious truth that #AllLivesMatter, but Black lives deserve to be protected just the same as all other lives, and they are not.
In addition, the #BlackLivesMatter movement advances an agenda. It is a call to action that demands greater police accountability, decriminalization, an end to state violence against Blacks, and a shift in policy that advances the social, economic, and political interests of Black communities. #AllLivesMatter, on the other hand, does not have an agenda to advance because it is not a movement. It does not attempt to educate or enlighten, but instead simply responds to what it perceives as reverse racism.
Some have also argued that the issue of Black-on-Black crime must be addressed in our own communities if we want to protect Black lives. But those who advance that perspective miss the point. First, Black-on-Black crime is in many ways a byproduct of pervasive inequities and discrimination. It is exacerbated by poverty, failing educational systems, lack of economic resources, poor employment prospects, and an oppressive criminal justice system that has disadvantaged Black communities. If we are to address Black-on-Black crime, then we need to address the systems that reinforce it, especially discrimination by the government.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement is forcing us to have difficult conversations that we’ve long tried to ignore. It is forcing us to address the racial disparities and divisions that exist in our institutions. Yes, all lives matter, but Black lives have never mattered as much. If it takes a movement that furthers the Black agenda to ensure that Black lives are better protected, then I stand by it. It’s time for people to stop sweating the name, and instead, focus on the message behind it.
--Tangiah Royster