All lives matter usually appears as a response to ‘Black Lives Matter’ that is seen as detracting from black people’s concerns and belittling claims of racial injustice. The irony that is that Black Lives Matter campaigns against systemic racism. By refusing to allow the focus to be on black people you uphold that system and devalue the concerns of black people around the world.
Black people in America are also disproportionately likely to be incarcerated and suffer police brutality. The recent murder of George Floyd on May 25th in Minneapolis at the hands of a police officer is just the latest in a long line of examples of the disproportionate use of force used against black people in America.
The issue of structural racism towards black people is not isolated to America, it is world wide.
White privilege refers to the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in society. With roots in European colonialism, the Atlantic slave trade, and the growth of the Second British Empire after 1783, white privilege has developed in circumstances that have broadly sought to protect white racial privileges, various national citizenships and other rights or special benefits.
White privilege includes cultural affirmations of one’s own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely. The effects can be seen in professional, educational, and personal contexts. The concept of white privilege also implies the right to assume the universality of one’s own experiences, marking others as different or exceptional while perceiving oneself as normal.
If you feel uncomfortable supporting ‘Black Lives Matter’, consider why you feel uncomfortable. If you instead wish to say ‘All Lives Matter’ then my suggestion is that you don’t fully appreciate the experiences of the black people you know, who you live near or who live in the same country as you. It is ok to not understand exactly what others have been through; it is not ok to assume you know the experiences of others.
By substituting black lives matter with all lives matter, you suggest that the experiences of the past and the present for black people are comparable to others, even when the statistics would say otherwise. The feelings that push you towards ‘All Lives Matter’ is the same feelings that maintain inequalities. All lives do matter but some people face much more prejudice, discrimination and violence in their lives than others. If you say all lives matter… you assume we are already equal.
Find out more about Black Lives Matter at blacklivesmatter.com