By MARISA LORANGER, Staff Reporter.
#BlackLivesMatter, the hashtag created by three women, has been a place for all people to talk about the injustice faced in the black community. Now, people have started using #AllLivesMatter, the hashtag that has been used to invalidate the oppression that the government has used to put down those of color. By saying #AllLivesMatter, it’s discrediting the fact that people of color have a harder time and have more trouble in the world.
How self-conscious does someone have to be to think that just because one singular race is being talked about that their race is no longer relevant? Those who think black lives matter are not saying #OnlyBlackLivesMatter, they are saying that in a world where black people are treated as less than others, they will persevere and be triumphant no matter what the world has to throw at them.
According to the FBI, black teenage men are more likely to be shot by police 21 times greater than white teenage men.
Just because — for once in the world — white people aren’t the top of the conversation, doesn’t mean that they aren’t there. Black lives have never had an appropriate amount of media time, and now that white people aren’t getting what they think is appropriate for them, they have created a hashtag that makes a mockery of the struggles those of color face.
If you think #AllLivesMatter, where are you when black lives are being lynched in the streets? Where were you when Muslim lives were massacred over a parking spot?
The only time these people show outrage is when they aren’t apart of a hashtag.
Being angry over a hashtag just shows how much privilege someone has. When you don’t have to worry about being attacked in the streets or worry whether or not you will see your child again when they walk out the door, you are proving that you don’t need to be apart of this movement.
Anyone with common sense knows that all lives matter. People don’t need to be patted on the back and told that they matter to know that they do. Black people have been systematically oppressed for years. And now, for once, white people aren’t included in something and they can’t handle it.
#AllLivesMatter does nothing to solve the problems in America. #BlackLivesMatter is helping get awareness out about the problems that affect the black community. Sense black lives don’t receive media attention, the hashtag is a great way to spread awareness of the injustices that affect the black community.
You never see someone who says black lives matter discredit any other race, but you have seen people who say all lives matter discredit black lives.
