Real talk (or Hate facts) about [yourchoice]LivesMatter:
Proponents of the #BlackLivesMatter [BLM] are adamant in the
usage of BLM for it is to focus on the disadvantages and suffering black lives;
#AllLivesMatter [ALM] is to overlook those disadvantages and suffering that
blacks are subject to. These disadvantages
and suffering come to black lives at the hands of law enforcement. The BLM keeps the focus that ALM loses. After all, ALM would include everyone, and if
the focus is on black lives, then incorporating any other hue takes away from
the focus on black lives. To BLM
proponents, ALM is deemed not actively, but passively racist.
Firstly, let us look at the amount of suffering at the hands
of law enforcement.
In absolute numbers, whites are killed more by law
enforcement than are any other race (Swaine et
al, 2016). But absolute numbers are
overlooked, for as a percentage, blacks are killed at a higher rate (around
double the rates of whites) – hence, BLM.
Blacks compose 13 percent of the national population, suffering 26
percent of police shootings, but American Indians are only 0.8 percent of the
population and suffer 1.9 percent of police shootings (Males, 2014). #NativeLivesMatter does not get the focus BLM
gets.
BLM is then to be the [un]happy medium of absolute numbers
and percentage of population?
Some say it is a white ‘colorblindness’ to not see the
plight of blacks. That it is an example
of ‘white privilege’ to overlook the fact that blacks are arrested at higher
rates than whites. There is a difference
between seeing things in a colorblind manner, and in putting the
blinders-of-agenda on one’s face. People
cluster, tend to live and grow with those like them, and have a preference for
the known and similar. As with benign acts in life, criminal acts
generally fall within those clusters – the highest percentage of criminal
activity suffered by an ethic group, is by its own ethnic group (Taylor, 2015).
If it is truly BLM against law
enforcement killing blacks, it should expand to black-on-black crime, as 90
percent of black homicides are committed by black offenders (FBI, 2013). Blacks are a larger percentage of reported
offenders for most crimes (Rubenstein, 2016).
As such, blacks are more likely to be stopped, but when stopped, they
are just as likely as whites to suffer from use of force by Law Enforcement
(Miller, et al, 2016). Lastly, it is disingenuous to combine for the
sake of inflating numbers, that which should not be paired: Mike Brown was not
the same as Eric Garner, just as Alton Stirling was not the same as Philando
Castile; there are the differences between an escalation of force versus the
abuse of force.
This returns us to BLM vs. ALM. Which is more racist? That one specifically addresses race in its
name provides the key factor from which to make a decision. This is the soft, the passive racism
reflected in positive focus: this group needs to be elevated first. However, basing it upon an ethnicity for
positive regard is no less racist-based than a negative regard – though it may
be less malevolent in nature. That is
the new face of racism: not denigrating but elevating. With that expected elevation, it overlooks
that which is not the elevated type, and where the elevation is not seen gets
interpreted as racism by those not elevating.
If your first criterion is the color of skin, then your
criterion is by definition racist. But
as not the malevolent type, it gets glossed over. However, in the glossing over, events that do
not come within the blinders of agenda, get glossed over.
Eric Garner’s pleas as he was choked to death ‘I can’t
breathe’ (New York Daily News, 2014) are haunting – his life mattered. Kelly Thomas’ (Truth Be Known Revolution, 2012)
pleas as he was beaten to death ‘I’m sorry’ & ‘Dad, they’re killing me!’
are equally haunting – his life mattered.
[American Indian] John Williams (PoliceCrimes.com, 2014) carrying a
legal knife while carving wood, being shot seven seconds after being approached
by police – his life mattered. Chronologically,
Thomas’ death was before Garner’s, and that just goes to show whites have been
victims of police brutality too, before BLM.
Though, as Miller et al (2016)
found, neither at a higher rate, and as Swaine et al (2015) found, more whites are killed in total by law
enforcement.
There already is a philosophy, a mindset that says all
individuals are to be treated humanely and have their rights recognized: it is
humanism. Regardless of race, age, sex,
or any other superficial characteristic, being a human being means you are to
have your human rights recognized. Being
black, white, or any other hue is irrelevant.
All these subcategories come under the umbrella of humanism, of All
Lives Matter. If blacks (American
Indians, or any other group) are not being treated fairly, it is by what
standard – the standard that all humans are to be treated.
If you want to focus on black lives, that is fine – it is
not the malevolent racism that leads to lynchings – if by focusing on black
lives is to focus on blacks who have been victimized, and not to begin to
victimize the purported victimizers’ race.
Looking at groups is to not look at an individual’s humanity.
Martin Luther King’s I
have a dream speech had the section where it mentioned ‘where they will not
be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character…’
(King, 2013). Morgan Freeman had an exchange
with Mike Wallace (2014), which encapsulates what is truly needed to get beyond
racism:
Mike Wallace: How are we going to get rid of racism until…?
Morgan Freeman: Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white
man. And I’m going to ask you to stop
calling me a black man.”
Within the terms themselves – BLM and ALM – exist the
passive or active exclusiveness and inclusiveness of whose lives are to matter;
this can be in order of importance and focus in BLM or equal value in ALM. It is not to overlook the plight of blacks
who suffer to say ALM; it is to overlook the plight of whites (and any other
ethnicity) who suffer violence equally at the hands of the police, or say that because
one is white, they have not suffered disadvantages. A poor white born and raised in the rural
areas of Appalachia will have different opportunities (or lack thereof) than a rich
white, or a rich black born in Manhattan.
Perceived socioeconomic status can override ethnic grouping. The poor are the ones most susceptible to
increasing criminalization of behavior, and are subject to more interactions
with law enforcement: more behaviors becoming illegal, being unable to pay for
fines, getting more fines or arrested for not being able to pay, and then
billed for more charges (Dolan & Carr, n.d.). It is actually the State versus the people: authoritarianism
versus individualism.
Racism will never be totally eradicated, for there is the
soft racism that is part of humanity being group-oriented – having a preference
for one’s own clusters, including familial, cultural, and ethnicity. Not actively being against a group, it is not
as problematic: help your likes, not harm your dislikes. Ultimately, if you want to combat racism, it
is not be enshrining it in a different manner, giving different moral values
among people, and further entrenching the division that is to be moved beyond. (White guilt is the reaction of not wanting to be perceived as against-racist, so the opposite is engaged to be elevating racist).
Ultimately, there are two ‘colors’ that should be the focus.
Sweat is clear; blood is red.
References
Dolan, K., &
Carr, J. (n.d.). The Poor Get Prison: The Alarming Spread of the
Criminalization of Poverty [PDF]. Washington, DC: Institute for Policy Studies.
FBI. (2013).
Murder: Race, Ethnicity, and Sex of Victim by Race, Ethnicity, and Sex of
Offender, 2013. Retrieved from
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_6_murder_race_and_sex_of_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2013.xls
Freeman, M.
(2014). Morgan Freeman Black History Month with Subtitle. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRnTovm26I4
King, M., Jr.
(2013). Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream Speech. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDWWy4CMhE
Males, M. (2014,
August 26). Who Are Police Killing? Retrieved from
http://www.cjcj.org/news/8113
Miller, T. R.,
Lawrence, B. A., Carlson, N. N., Hendrie, D., Randall, S., Rockett, I. R.,
& Spicer, R. S. (2016). Perils of police action: A cautionary tale from US
data sets. Injury Prevention Inj Prev.
doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2016-042023
New York Daily
News. (2014). Original Eric Garner fatal arrest video. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfXqYwyzQpM
PoliceCrimes.com.
(2014). Police Shooting and Murder of Woodcarver John T. Williams. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn5Glv9nhgE
Rubenstein, E.
(2016). The Color of Crime: Race, Crime, and Justice in America [PDF].
New Century Foundation.
Swaine, J.,
Laughland, O., Lartey, J., Davis, K., Harris, R., Popovich, N., . . . Team, G.
U. (2015). The Counted: People killed by police in the United States –
interactive. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database
Taylor, J. (2015,
July 2). New DOJ Statistics on Race and Violent Crime. Retrieved from http://www.amren.com/news/2015/07/new-doj-statistics-on-race-and-violent-crime/
Truth Be Known
Revolution. (2012). This Is What Happened to Kelly Thomas. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1po6Sic5lOU
