Unless you’ve been living in a cave, under a rock or have been in a coma for some reason, you know about what happened to George Floyd.
And why the country is rioting, outraged and up in arms.
I see two competing narratives happening on social media. One is that black lives matter. And the other is that all lives matter.
What I’ve been taking away from this conversation is that all lives matter is pretty tone deaf. And the reason that is, is it’s very idealistic.
It’s ideal that all lives matter that all lives are treated equally, but we’re not there yet. And I hate to say but it’s a lot of whites that are pushing the all lives matter narrative.
All lives matter is being perpetuated by a bunch of whites. And I think in some way, it’s to relieve some guilt for not doing more all these years.
It’s a way for them to say, “Hey, I value life too. In fact, I value mine and yours. So all lives matter.”
It’s trying to give the perception of equality where equality does not yet exist.
So when they say Black Lives Matter, what they’re bringing to the forefront is the fact that presently, Black Lives are not treated as though they matter.
They’re not treated as having equal worth to the white population. And that’s what the dialogue is all about here.
That a black man is so indiscriminately, killed on camera by a white police officer, as though he meant nothing.
Historically, blacks as you know, are treated as inferior to the whites, which is one of the biggest outrages, and crimes that humanity has ever perpetrated against itself.
So the focus here needs to be on figuring out how to create that sense of equality with our black brothers and sisters, our Latino brothers and sisters, Asian and so on.
The work now is unpacking and unlearning the biases, the prejudice, all of the learned hate, all of the othering, all of the distance we create between one another, the division, the time is now get rid of all of it, and replace it with understanding, listening, compassion, cooperation, collaboration, so that we are one people with some obvious complexion differences.
But hey, if you look at a garden of flowers, they’re all different. colors. And there’s absolutely no point in saying one color is better than another. They all contribute to the garden. They’re all beautiful. That’s what we’re working towards.
So please, your word usage isn’t us just word usage. There’s power in the words, the words not only mean a lot in present times, but they also have a lot of historical resonance. Black Lives Matter. And we must remember that and in fact, keep it as a mantra in your mind.
So that when you go out into society, you are remembering black lives matter when you see your black brothers and sisters. You can reach out to them you can say hi, you can tell give them a compliment, even though they’re a stranger, see them, acknowledge them.
See an equal, don’t see a color, or at least don’t see the color first. And don’t make any assumptions about what that color means because it doesn’t mean jack on the surface.
Bottom line is, you don’t know anything about a person until you’ve heard their story. So remember that.
