The Real Reason White People Say All Lives Matter

[sheshe2]

Repost. It fits in with some of the dialogue tonight. There is always a discussion about black lives and do they matter than more? Taking away from the a system of mass incarceration and out right murder of black men. Relates to the cancer discussions tonight and expressed well in this article.

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.”
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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

[Ken Burch]

1. Absolutely.

n/t.

[sheshe2]

5. Thank you.

[Ken Burch]

7. Just trying to be part of getting the right thing done.

n/t.

[fleabiscuit]

2. K&R nt

[Takket]

3. i saw a great cartoon on here a while back

Two houses, one is fine, the other is in flames. in the foreground is a white guy with a condescending smirk on his face as he uses a hose to spray the house that is "fine."

In the caption he says "ALL houses matter."

[brush]

4. K&R

[irisblue]

6. Well yeah. But Black Women are murdered too. That needs added I think.

Otherwise spot on she.

[sheshe2]

9. I am well aware of that, Iris.

One article at a time. Never meant one to be less important than the other.

[lovemydogs]

8. I think those that say All Lives Matter is because they

cannot bring themselves to agree and accept that a black life does matter

[Me.]

10. The Biggest Proponent Of This

Lives in the WH

[sheshe2]

12. I know Me.

The bullshit is upsetting me.

[treestar]

11. All the people who stay that stuff know

they know black lives have mattered less in the past to white people and they know what it means - they are just playing the victim.

[sheshe2]

25. Yes, treestar.

Love you.

[Iggo]

13. The problem is they're trying their damndest not to hear it.

I tell them it means "Black lives matter just as much as everyone else's."

What they've decided they're going to hear is "Black lives matter more than theirs or anybody else's."

I've had a version of this conversation more than a couple times...

Me: Black lives matter.
Him: All lives matter.
Me: Including black lives?
Him: Yes.
Me: Then say it.
Him: _________________

[sheshe2]

14. Blank..............

[Snake Plissken]

15. You won't catch them saying Black and White lives matter, because it still contains the word Black.

Saying "All Lives Matter" removes the word Black and allows them to slowly remove the thought to Black lives too.

[Solly Mack]

16. K&R

[Xipe Totec]

17. Black Lives Matter

[ismnotwasm]

18. K&R

[mountain grammy]

19. John Fuglesang says, if all lives mattered

we wouldn't need Black Lives Matter. I agree.

[Lithos]

20. Short answer you're correct

Long answer - the situation is more complicated and subtle - it depends.

Our nation is color blind and I mean that in the worst negative manner possible. We are very "tribal" and with a have this "lily-white" pure standard from which differences add up. You must conform. Stray too far, the intolerance builds and you do not matter anymore. To me when people say "All lives matter" they can either be saying it because they want to point out that anyone who is "different" matters, or because they don't want to acknowledge this bias.

I agree with the former, but the latter are, unfortunately, in the majority. Hence why I agree with the article given being Black in this country sets a person up for one of the starkest differences and a very harsh and unfair reality. If we didn't have to say "All Black Lives" matter, then we would likely not be saying "All lives" matter.

Things which make you different include Race other than White (and the greater the difference, the greater the bias), being Femaie, being LTGBQ, being poor, being an immigrant, having a disability to name a few. I half think having an education is also now being held against you.

[Iliyah]

21. And yet she, on this board, now, most I see is about Repugs sorta against t-rump.

Where is the Dems positives?????????

Love ya.

[sheshe2]

26. Many Democrats...

have been run off the board. I have been one for my entire life and will continue to be.

I love you too, Iliyah.

[MrScorpio]

22. Here's a retort from me.

Link to tweet

[delisen]

23. That is good.

[tblue37]

24. K&R for visibility. nt

[Eko]

27. Black lives matter.

Its 3 words. This shouldn't be a problem. That it is a problem is the absolute very least of why this is true. Dont give me that "America or you dont see color" bull, because by every metric we do see color and use it to make decisions that negatively effect black people.

[Wolf Frankula]

28. Because White Lives Don't Matter

Nobody's life matters unless you're rich. When was the last lime the peelers killed a rich white, black, Asian, Hispanic person?

Money matters.

Wolf

[Dave Starsky]

33. This is the correct answer.

As money, power, and influence are ever increasingly sucked up by the the uppermost 1%, everyone is feeling more and more left out. The poor white guy is seeing black people, gay people, women, etc., getting "special rights" (which is, of course, utter horseshit) and they can't stand it.

The privileged LOVE and foment these divides because it keeps all the rest of us fighting amongst each other instead of coming for them.

[Fed-Up Fed]

29. Black Lives Also Matter

The simplest way to explain this to people who are too obtuse to get it, is that the slogan is saying black lives ALSO matter. The point is that the loss of black lives has never been seen as a loss that's equivalent to the loss of a white life. They are met with indifference, ignored in the press, ignored by politicians and by the police.

[qwlauren35]

32. Yes.

I've tried that approach. Sadly, it's sometimes met by a hostile "so why don't they say that"?

I think the message is very on point. Some white people are threatened by the idea that black lives matter. And some people don't want black lives to matter, just as that don't want black people to be equal, or want the playing field to be equal. Because if the playing field is equal, sometimes black people will win. And some white people just can't accept that.

So, you can produce the statistics as well as the anecdotal stories, that show that America is not treating black people as though their lives matter, and you will still get people who are sure that "those black people did something wrong".

I hung out with some white people once and they talked about the crazy stuff they would do, illegal stuff, if they thought they could get away with it. I saw an article once in which white people talked about all of the illegal stuff they had done, and got away with. Or the police encounters they've had when they were CLEARLY in the wrong, but they were let go. Boys will be boys, they're just kids, sowing their wild oats, all slogans to excuse the behavior of white boys behaving badly.

Nobody is prepared for white males to be treated as harshly as black males. But whenever someone suggests that we make allowances for black male "sowing wild oats", it's not "tough on crime".

I truly believe that only if we treated white males as harshly as we treat black males would we start to see some changes in policing and the court system.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

30. Disappointing that people would need that explained to them.

I blame RW media for most of the insane bias many Americans have, but there is a certain amount of willful ignorance necessary to not recognize the blatant hypocrisy and outright lies of RW media over time.

Many Rs want to excuse their racism with a story of blacks as inferior and intrinsically violent and therefore deserving of getting gunned down for the slightest provocation. RW media approves and tries to justify it.

[Garrett78]

31. Great piece. Since it was written, there's been a lot more overt racism.

[yallerdawg]

34. "Black Lives Matter."

There's no god damn argument or comment of value other than, "That's right!"

[Dr Rise]

35. YES!!!!

[lunatica]

36. that photo you posted really appeals to me

I really like it. Two halves make a whole. One side equal to the other. beauty and innocence come in all colors.

Very nice.

[sheshe2]

37. What a beautiful description, lunatica.

Thank you.

[Honeycombe8]

38. No, that's not it. I understand some of what is disliked about it. nt

[sheshe2]

40. Please explain what is so disliked about it.

Also, why was this not expressed long before it was said "Black Lives Matter"? Really, the words "Blue Lives Matter"... who's skin color is blue? It is the color of their uniform and not the color of their skin. It is the uniform of men and women that swore to uphold the law wear. They can slip out of that uniform any time they wish however, black men, women and children...it is their skin color and can never be shed, nor should it be.

Skin color vs a uniform of color. Explain why a uniform is more important than ones race.

[smirkymonkey]

39. K&R

I think a lot of people who say that are just being willfully obtuse. And, of course, racist.

[donotpissoffacow]

41. Of course Black Lives Matter...

just ask the Russians who used activist groups to spread disaffection, disagreement, discord. We got enough trouble without them sticking their hammer and sickle in.