"I care about Black people. Their safety and freedom is important to me. They are just as human as I am. I would be comfortable working with, working for, living with, and having personal and intimate relationships with them, and I would be outraged to see innocent Black people be subject to unjust and violent treatment."
If you have any trouble saying that to yourself, in private, with nobody watching you, then you need to ask yourself why you can't say that, but you can keep saying 'All Lives Matter'.
/This is the full text I made (in 2016) in response to a comment thread on a friend’s Facebook. He expressed frustration with the use of /#AllLivesMatter to divert attention away from discussion about violence used against Black people in America. Two commenters failed to address his argument and instead talked about black-on-black crime, which provoked these comments from me. Here’s my response to them in full:/
We need healthy debate to have a strong citizenry, because it's by deeply exploring our own beliefs and those of the people we disagree with that we get closer to the truth and what is best for everyone.
We need to do this intelligently and honestly. We need to be able to admit flaws in our own way of thinking just as fervently as we point out flaws in the thinking of our opponents.
At the very, very least, we need to be able to focus on one issue and address it with an argument that's worth the weight it's due before bringing up unrelated issues.
So, Ms. (opponent 1), Mr. (opponent 2), I can’t even truly believe you even read (op)’s full message, because you are responding to his argument by providing perfect examples of his argument. I don’t think you’re interested in good argument, civil discourse, or the truth. I think you’re only here to make yourselves feel better.
It took me a while to figure out why your incredible ability (in three sentences in one case) to jump from 'murdered black man' to 'black-on-black crime' bothered me so much.
It’s not because I haven’t seen it before. I’ve seen it lots of times. From people on the Internet, from right-wing journalists and politicians.
I think it's because your arguments are a magic spell of right-wing talking points that you lazily string together to confuse the issue and protect yourself from having original thoughts, from having to interact sincerely with people with whom you disagree, from ever having to think that maybe there is a problem and maybe people like you are a part of it.
The difference between what you are doing and what a teleprompter is doing is that a teleprompter has no choice but to repeat the bullet points that it's fed. If you don't want to face this country's problems, if you don't want to face this country's history, you don't have to.
But stop making it so easy to see how little thought you’re putting into these things you’re saying, because there are people who are thinking, feeling, and experiencing these things.
Do me a personal favor: Go into the bathroom, lock the door, look in the mirror, look yourself in the eye and say,
"I care about Black people. Their safety and freedom is important to me. They are just as human as I am. I would be comfortable working with, working for, living with, and having personal and intimate relationships with them, and I would be outraged to see innocent Black people be subject to unjust and violent treatment."
If you have any trouble saying that to yourself, in private, with nobody watching you, then you need to ask yourself why you can't say that, but you can keep saying /#alllivesmatter.
If you think we can do better, if you think we can do better together, please share this.
And you don’t have to share my post. Share its spirit. Ask, Which lives matter? Talk to the people in your life about it, ask tough questions, be thoughtful, be civil, and have debate. We must come together, because we are falling apart.
love,
Sam
@samuteki And after you do that, do it again but replace “Black” with LBQT. Then do it again, but with Jewish. Then once more, with Muslim.
Anyone else on the front lines today? #Solidarity
