As I woke up and walked one my dogs in the morning, there was a man who appeared to be getting his exercise by going on a jog. What was odd about this man was the fact that he was holding a United States flag… okay, all well and good. The clincher for me was when the man came within a proximity to me, he looked my way and belted out between heavy breaths from running, “PRAISE BE TO GOD… DOWN WITH BIDEN!!!”.
My dog and I looked at each other in disbelief. At six in the morning, this man went out of his way to impose his political stance on me… I had to chuckle to keep from getting irritated. First, he assumed because I am black, that I automatically voted for Joe Biden (for the record, he was right). Second, and most importantly, this was not the first time that he has barked out at me. The first few times, I did not hear him clearly because he was huffing and puffing while bellowing out something at me. But this time, he made sure that I heard him.
This act by this man is just a microcosm of the politically and racially divisive culture that is permeating throughout this country… and it is exhausting. We are in the year of our Lord 2021, and there is still systemic and institutionalized racism and discrimination against people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, as well as misogyny towards women.
While former president Trump did not invent or found racism, he did champion that way of life back into the culture of American society and not be apologetic about it. To play on his words, Donald Trump was masterful in, “Making America Racist Again.” We have seen countless acts of discrimination, police brutality, senseless acts of sedition, voter suppression and other acts that rival what transpired during the initial Civil Rights Era.
Speaking about a play on words, when Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi founded the Black Lives Matter in 2013, I am willing to bet that of all the pushback that they have received, they never thought that the name would incite so much ire in people. Mr. and Mrs. U.S. citizen, here is a new flash… BLACK LIVES MATTER IS A SHORTENED PHRASE TO STATE BLACK LIVES MATTER ALSO!!! People of color have been striving for black lives to matter since the inception of this country. This country is founded on the pursuit of the inalienable rights of, “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”. To quote broadcaster, Michael Smith, “We are still on ‘life’… we aren’t even talking about ‘liberty and ‘pursuit of happiness’. That is a whole other conversation, and we’ll get there once we’ve just got the right to ‘live while black’!” A very poignant and profound statement.
For some reason, I feel the need to break down Black Lives Matter for people to it most basic form because BLM has gotten pushback for its wordplay so much that people have people have come up with their own forms of the phrase such as, “All Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter”. People appear to have a problem with the word, “matter”. It is as if they perceive it as blacks are being superior, and that is not true. Black lives… matter, they just matter. Tamir Rice’s life should matter as much as Kyle Rittenhouse, Breonna Taylor’s life should matter as much as Amber Guyger, and George Floyd’s life should matter as much as Derrick Chauvin.
Because people cannot deal with the word, “matter”, so the educator in me felt compelled to help those people out who have an issue by finding an alternative to the word. How about “Black Lives Carry Weight”, or “Black Lives Should Be Noted”, or “Black Lives Have Significance”, or “Black Lives Are Relevant”, do any of those work and appeal to your sensibility? No, I have one that gets it… “BLACK LIVES COUNT”!
Now I have given those people who have a problem with the BLM movement a different spin on how to word the efforts of people who understand that ALL LIVES will matter when the lives of those who have been marginalized, discriminated against, stereotyped, abused, and killed… matter. However, for those who cannot see that unfortunately are either complicit with, endorse, champion, or are a part of that system of white supremacy that has been woven into the fabric of our country since its inception.
The conclusion is… white comfort means more than black lives. The scary part is that there a lot more groups that are starting to fall under the umbrella of lives that do not matter (i.e.-Asians, Latinos, LBGTQ+, Women).
As the Derrick Chauvin trial plays out, I see people on social media showing their insensitivity by commenting, “Well, what do black people want?” When I see people ask those statements, I become incensed; if they truly must ask that question, there is no need to explain to them the generational pain and trauma that people of color have endured. It is either they are willfully oblivious to it, or they benefit from it and do not want to see it go away. However, for this discussion, I will placate to their blatant ignorance by stating that people of color seek the same core values that they do. While it may be difficult to seek any true reparations for the hundreds of years of slavery, bigotry, institutionalized/unlawful imprisonment, and violating of civil rights. You can start with something simple, such as black people being treated with the same dignity and grace by the police and people in power as white people are treated. Or better yet, how about… letting “BLACK LIVES MATTER”!?
