“BLACK LIVES MATTER” IS NOT AGAINST “ALL LIVES MATTER”

“BLACK LIVES MATTER” IS NOT AGAINST “ALL LIVES MATTER”. IT'S SIMPLY OUR TIME TO GET THE LIFE, LIBERTY, AND PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS YOU ALREADY ENJOY!

I can't tell you how many people since the George Floyd incident and the protests began have asked me to say something about “Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” with my Banner Project and go on one of my rants. And I've really tried to avoid it like a third rail. I’d rather talk about a simpler topic, like abortion. That doesn’t seem to be front of mind for folks these days. I wonder why? With all the people talking about how liberals have forgotten about coronavirus, have you conservative forgotten about abortion? But just to make a quick comparison, abortion truly doesn't affect any of these conservatives’ real lives. The concept that there is a girl out there having an abortion really doesn't block the 405 or fill the streets making it impossible to get to work. And that's the truth crime of these protests for a lot of conservatives, the “inconvenience” that it has brought. I'm being inconvenience getting to work. I'm being inconvenienced going to the shops. I'm being inconvenienced! Abortion really doesn't inconvenience you except in your own minds. It's definitely a different story when it comes to “Black Lives Matter.” Black people looting and rioting and demanding equal treatment is a direct inconvenience. Get over it and out of the streets already black folks so I can go back to my life.

People have pretty much made up their minds on this, so I don't think there's anything I'm going to say about it that will change anybody's mind. But you know I have to throw in my two cents, so here goes. A thought experiment: What if there were a group of women protesting the increase in domestic violence, the increase in rape towards women, and they were marching in the streets with signs saying “Stop Raping Women.” How would women feel if guys jumped out there and said, “Hey, wait a second. My buddy got beaten up in his marriage, and a friend got raped in jail. And remember what Kevin Spacey was doing to boys? Rape affects everyone. Your signs should say ‘Stop Raping!’ Now go home, change your signs, and get over it.” I think that sentiment would be met with some pushback.

But here's what I truly believe is going on with the “All Lives Matter, or “Blue Lives Matter”, or any knee-jerk reaction to “Black Lives Matter”. It comes from the same fears folks have all the time. A fear that drives them and rallies them whenever they see any group asking for any type of equal treatment. Their fear that they’re losing something, or someone is trying to take something away from them. And what “Black Lives Matter” represents to them is their fear that they are losing having THEIR lives being valued most. They don't want their lives being valued equally; they want their lives being valued more. If they wanted their lives and black lives being valued equally, they would raise up the lives that past, and especially recent, incidents have shown aren’t being respected anywhere near their own. But that's not what they're doing. What’s happening is they’re reflexively reminding people that their lives and fears need to be at the forefront, or at least included, no matter what the protest is about. It all comes out of fear. You're afraid that if you allow everyone to have a place at the table, your portion will be lessened. But there’s an entire fucking buffet that can feed all of us! That’s not the thinking of a society that celebrates hoarding and villainies lack. It comes out of your belief that somebody is always coming to take something away from you and you have to put your foot down in order to maintain your place. If “Black Lives Matter”, what does that mean about my life and my place? It also comes from a mindset where the pie is not “ever-expanding”, but fixed and “finite.” So therefore if somebody gets something, that means something is being taken away. My slice of pie must be protected. It’s a very transparent belief system. You don’t want a multi-cultural nation; it must stay a white, Christian nation. Jews will not replace. These Muslims must stay out of our country. You are the same people that hate immigration because you think that people are coming to take your jobs. You don’t want women to have equal pay because there would be less money for you to hoard. You sure as hell don’t want “The Blacks” to get out of their lane. Everything was fine when they were cool with their station.

A friend of mine believes that All Lives Matter in this country is a forgotten thing. I’d love to see tangible examples of that and how the concept of this protest undermines the value of life, but people believe as they believe. There are people that also truly believed that there was a war on Christmas. So what can I say. And you don't have to tell me that you don't like change. We see it and get it. We remember the Civil War, we remember the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow Laws, the National Guard troops having to be called in to integrate schools, we remember sit-ins, we remember all that shit. All those things inconvenienced the hell out of white people in those times. You don't like change and you are going to fight it tooth and nail to maintain the status quo. We get it. And here we are, yet again, trying to loosen your grip. So if we have banners that said “Black Lives Matter As Well” would that be cool with you? Or how about, “Black Lives Matter, (but still less than yours so don’t trip)” would that be ok? Or is it “All Lives Matter” or nothing?

So racism has been going on for 400 years, and black folks have been “inconvenienced” by that the entire time. No need to go into the lynchings, segregation, or separate but in-equal. So coronavirus comes and that hit’s us disproportionally as well. We can’t catch a break. And then the incident with George Floyd happened, and we had to spring into action to try, once and for all, treat the root problem and not just slap a band-aid on it. And once again, there is pushback. Or we get criticized for forgetting about the pandemic. We haven’t forgotten you assholes, people made a calculated decision that racism was a bigger risk than Coronavirus. Remember, the virus was already killing us at greater numbers as well. And think about this. Trump said that all hands were on deck and we’d have a vaccine for Covid-19 by the end of the year. In a few months. I wonder when his timeline for ending system racism is? Next fall? So those of you still defending the cops that push down old people in Buffalo, or cheer for cops as they beat up journalists, ask yourself when you think black people could expect equal treatment if we did nothing. Next spring when it warms up? You don't fear cops, because you know that when your property is at stake and you call 911, they will come. You have a belief that you will be treated fairly. If you can walk up with a long gun and yell in an officer’s face, there's no fear at all that anything is going to happen. Black folks saw that and said, “Holy shit. Look what they can get away with!” You have your hand in your pocket while choking someone to death because you’re sure nothing will happen. Cool as the other side of the pillow. That's what you walk around with every day. The belief that if you chose you could get into an officer's face and shout him down. Or if you were pulled over under questionable pretenses, you’re sure your lawyer will take care of it. Guess what, black folks don't have that. Before this, what was the date you were working on so black people could feel that same way?

So you “All Live Matter” folks, know that you have been heard. And go ahead and get over the fact that people are demanding change. I hear you! I hear your fear! But things are going to change whether or not you like it. As the Buddhist say, “Things Change”. Maybe that’s what we’ll put on our protest banners in a few years when we have to do this shit all over again.