The title may sound silly to liberals or anyone sane who knows why #BlackLivesMatter became a thing, but there are people in the world who genuinely believe Black Lives Matter, a movement created due to the fact that too many African Americans are being murdered by police, is a domestic terrorist organization.
The recent attacks on police in Dallas and Baton Rouge have further fueled this idea, causing conservatives to automatically associate these two attacks with the Black Lives Matter movement. While this may seem somewhat logical, except not at all, it’s foolish to be so quick to attach a senseless act of violence to a movement that, for the most part, has been peaceful.
Black Lives Matter began as a hashtag in 2012 in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death, and from there it grew into a movement after the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner. The movement caused more people to be aware of the issue and since then, tragically, more and more videos have surfaced showing the brutality of many police officers towards black men, specifically.
Black Lives Matter activists often organize peaceful protests, marching to the sound of their own chants including, “No justice, no peace,” and “Hands up, don’t shoot.”
In Dallas, this is what the protest was – peaceful. The idiots who opened fire on the police shouldn’t be associated with what Black Lives Matter stands for. Pictures of protesters posing with police officers for pictures, being friendly, with virtually no conflict exist.
While these attacks in Dallas and Baton Rouge may have took us a few steps back, it’s important to not lose sight of what Black Lives Matter truly stands for, and the issue it was founded on which is almost every African-American in the United States faces the fear of being killed or severely injured by a police officer, for something minuscule to the brutality they experienced.
Another argument that almost always faces Black Lives Matter is that it’s racist.
The same people who say Black Lives Matter is racist are the same people who yell “All lives matter!” when someone asks “Do black lives matter?”
Yes, older white gentleman with the Make America Great Again hat, all lives do matter! That’s pretty much exactly why Black Lives Matter exists. Almost all of the #AllLivesMatter activists” have no clue what Black Lives Matter even stands for. To you and them it’s just a racist, domestic, terrorist group.
Black Lives Matter isn’t saying ONLY black lives matter, or that black lives matter MORE than anyone else’s.
It’s literally a reminder that African-American lives matter too. Black lives are included in the phrase “all lives matter.” So, it’s not a crime to focus on a race that has faced years of oppression, and recently has faced brutality from the men and women who are meant to protect and serve them.
Don’t be selfish by trying to take away attention from a movement that really needs it right now. Yes your life matters too, but you and your family aren’t facing the fear of being tormented by law enforcement.
Last thing, the people who counter Black Lives Matter with “all lives matter” are the people who are now yelling “Blue lives matter!” due to the recent attacks on law enforcement. So, now do you see where Black Lives Matter activists are coming from?
It’s important to at least try and understand what Black Lives Matter stands for before calling it a racist or a terrorist organization. They’re not the counterpart of the KKK, or counterpart of anything for that matter. It’s not a competition between them and #AllLivesMatter.
This isn’t a competition, or anything similar. Black Lives Matter is a movement that wants justice for those murdered by law enforcement, and a movement that wants the brutality to stop.
Watch this peaceful protest Black Lives Matters protest in Toronto for more perspective:
Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video.
