If people truly cared about ''all lives’’, wouldn’t it be used independently from ‘Black lives matter’’? But it isn’t.
It is only ever used as a counter argument and doesn’t have its own message, doesn’t stand for anything in particular.
So it is either just a pretext to undermine what African Americans are going through or it results from a misunderstanding of what ''Black lives matter’’ stands for.
There is violence everywhere, against and amongst any group of people or culture. Nobody is saying the opposite.
But the way Black people are being discriminated against and treated by the police is way different from how White people are being treated and this is a reality that needs to be addressed and acknowledged.
That particular issue is at the heart of ''Black lives matter’’.
Right now, not every life is being treated with the same dignity and worth and that’s why this movement is important; to show that there is a difference (that Black people didn’t choose) between how Black and White people are seen and that their dignity and respect needs to be taken back.
If you aren’t aware of this situation, just look up Charleston shooting and how that (White) murderer was being handled after being caught killing several (Black) church goers.
Think about all those (White) police officers that still walk free or get away with a paid leave after harassing, assaulting, even murdering Black people.
About how (White) rapists walk free because they have ‘good grades’, ‘play in the schools football team’’ or whatever bollocks excuse they come up with.
Now I want you to think of the Black people who lost their lives at the hand of police officers.
How many of the victims were actual ‘criminals’?
How often is the excuse: ''he was big and tall, I got scared’?
Look at the video of George Floyd’s killing. How scared does his killer look to you?
And how many Black victims won’t get justice because nobody was there to tape the evidence?
Even if those people were criminals, if the Charleston killer can get treated to McDonald’s after literally killing multiple people, a Black guy who allegedly forged a 20$ banknote does not deserve to die a slow death, calling out for his mother for 8min straight.
So Please. Stop with all that ''all lives matter’’ nonsense because it’s just counterproductive and completely besides the point. It undermines the core of what this movement stands for.
Right now it’s about the reality of the African American society, of what they are going through and this can’t be compared to the (very real) pain some other communities and people are suffering.
That would be a topic for a different discussion because you can’t treat one issue the same exact way because they simply are not the same.
The same way you wouldn’t prescribe the same treatment for cancer as you would for diabetes.
African Americans need to have their own discussion for the way THEY are being treated and ask for THEIR justice.
Let the Black community have their own movement to express their grief and anger, their disappointment and mistrust in a force that is there to serve and protect them, but doesn’t do its job and forces them to live in fear and oppression.
Not ''all lives’’ live with this fear. But Black lives do.
This is their struggle. And it needs our support.
Gerry Erang: Racism is a rampant problem in the US. It also is in Luxembourg
