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Importance of all lives matter
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As you may or may not know, there’s a heated battle going on in the United States and has been going on for many months now. The battle is between the two sayings “Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter”. The two statements clash for many different reasons and the few articles I use focus on their important arguments against one another.
The statement “Black Lives Matter” has greatly evolved within the last year. If you support this side, you believe these words correlate with the unneeded and over excessive use of police brutality against African Americans compared to police brutality against whites, bringing racism soaring back into the US. As you may know, the statement became more predominant after the murder of African Americans
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However, thousands of people (supports of Brown) outside of the Ferguson court room and many around the world waited and watched the Grand Jury decide that officer Wilson would not be charged for the murder of Brown. Rioting ensued throughout the city and protests began to rise throughout the entire country. This case is what made the statement “Black Lives Matter” much more popular around the U.S. In another case in Cleveland, Ohio, a 12-year-old African American boy, who was playing with a toy gun, was shot and killed by a police officer. Shortly after, a statement was released that the officer Timothy Lehmann was deemed unfit to be a cop and should be charged with the murder against Rice. People use the statement “Black Lives Matter” because they believe African Americans are clearly being mistreated (many consider/call this racism) from a police brutality perspective and in our court system. Julia Craven, writer for The Huffington Post and a supporter of the “Black Lives Matter” statement says, “When I say "Black lives matter," it is because this nation has a tendency to say otherwise (“All Lives Matter”). Racial discrimination does affect all minorities but police brutality, at such excessive rates, does not. Officers are provided the unrestricted …show more content…
The statement “All Lives Matter” was brought into context because people believed that not one group should be the center of attention or signaled out in the United States was it comes to policy brutality. The statement is also used to stay away from the use of racism in these types of situations and focus on America’s people as unified or that not one person is different than the other. The Editorial Board from The New York Times states that “The Republican party and its acolytes in the news media are trying to demonize the protest movement that has sprung up in response to the all-too-common police killings of unarmed African-Americans across the country. The intent of the is to cast the phrase “Black Lives Matter” as an inflammatory or even hateful anti-white expression that has no legitimate place in a civil rights campaign”. Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee described the situation perfectly by saying “If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were he alive today, he would be “appalled” by the movement’s focus on the skin color of the unarmed people who are disproportionately killed in encounters with the police. This argument betrays a disturbing indifference to or at best a profound ignorance of history in general and of the civil rights movement in particular.” As we all know
The All Lives Matter supporters believe that black people who were killed recently showed violence against the policemen and they were not innocents. The president of Amherst College Republicans Robert Lucido responses, “First, the Black Lives Matter group was originally titled ‘F--- the Police.’ The organizers of the Awareness week claimed that every 28 hours a black man is killed by a law enforcement officer, but they never mentioned that a law enforcement officer is killed every 48 hours in the line of duty. The organizers may have thought it clever, but such a title is utterly shameful” (Lucido). The author uses ethos by showing facts in his response that illustrates the opposite of what Black Lives Matter group claimed; however, these
One of the criticisms of this ordeal is that the BLM never put forth the notion that all lives don’t matter. Obviously, all lives matter. But, I think saying all lives matter in response is ignoring the fact that blacks have been disproportionally mistreated, profiled, and arrested more often than whites. I like how Michelle Alexander described the war on drugs as redesigning the racial caste system.
Today there are many controversial subjects discussed throughout the media. One of the most discussed is race and the Black Lives Matter movement. Recently, I came across an article titled “The Truth of ‘Black Lives Matter’”, written by The Editorial Board. The article was published on September 3, 2015, to the New York Times. In the article, The Editorial Board writes about what they believe African Americans are facing as challenges in society today, including the all-too-common police killings of unarmed African-Americans across the country. The Editorial Board is right that some African Americans have been treated unfairly, but all ethnicities have been. Life is a precious thing that comprises all ethnicities. This brings us to ask; why
The rhetoric we hear most from Black Lives Matter is that of police brutality, how it’s a black issue, or how it affects blacks more than whites. Well, this too is factually incorrect. Of the White people living in the U.S., forty-nine percent are killed by police officers, as opposed to the thirty percent of blacks. White people comprise sixty-three percent of the population; conversely, black people only make around thirteen percent (Dailywire). These discrepancies can be seen in their “inspirations” as well. Assata Shakur was put on FBI’s most wanted terrorist list after she shot a New Jersey State trooper. Black Lives Matter blindly uses her as their inspiration or teacher(Pibillwarner). Al-Amin, a Muslim, who shot and killed police officer Ricky Kinchen is seen as a hero among the BLM
Black lives matter is a social media movement that went of the Ferguson, Gardner cases etc. Also very rapidly it was to show as a opposition to the police and cops. Somehow when saying black lives matter it was like saying all life matter don’t matter. It’s a touchy subject due to why people view things and for most case I can understand. I feel that the person that made black life’s matter didn’t mean for it to be just all about black life but to inform others around the nation that there is a special problem that is only happening in the African American community and we have fix that issue . we as a society has to recognize this that the African American are not making this up this its not something being politicalized its real and there’s a history behind it so we have to seriously.
This paper was written to discuss the hot button topic, “Black Lives Matter.” Specifically, in regard to law enforcement. This has been an ongoing and controversial issue ever since the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. This is when the movement “Black Lives Matter,” was born, with the belief that blacks are treated unfairly by law enforcement. I, however, do not believe that blacks are treated any more unfairly by law enforcement than any other race.
“Unarmed black men are 7 times more likely to die by police gunfire”. This would make a person who’s advocating for Black Lives Matter have a point to get upset about phrases like white lives matter or all lives matter. Race appears to forever become an element once it involves police brutality. When an African American is killed by a white police officer it almost always seems as if it gets additional attention than when a Caucasian is killed. “In 2012, 123 African Americans were shot dead by police gunfire” (Brander).
A free society operates on principles of continuous advancement in the social and economic spheres of the society. A free society would be able to disobey laws that they perceive as backwards and limiting on a people group. This group of people practicing civil disobedience must be able to unite and prepare a plan in order to achieve their goals. In the ideal free society, civil disobedience would only progress the society positively.
Since then it has become a rallying call to African-Americans all over the nation and has been the cause of several demonstrations turned riot, the most infamous of these taking place in Ferguson, Missouri. (Sidner-Simon, The Rise of Black Lives Matter: Trying to break the cycle of violence and silence) As these potentially violent demonstrations are something to be wary of, the Black Lives Matter group has taken to policing themselves. Why not let the police do it? It is their job after all. The answer to that question lies yet again in Ferguson, Missouri. After severe rioting in Ferguson, law enforcement officers have come to fear the “Ferguson effect.” It is this fear that has kept them from doing their jobs by avoiding violent confrontations which has potentially caused them to no longer effectively do their jobs.(Buchanan, Blue Lives Matter) This response to violence with violence is what has shaped our police force, this is what has kept both officers and the general public safe. If these officers can no longer confidently do their job, then society as a whole could very well be at risk from
A seven-year study conducted by USA Today analyzing the FBI’s justifiable homicide database revealed that 96 percent of all cases involve Black people dying at the hands of white police officers, who are rarely indicted, let alone brought to trial.” (Kaplan 2014). “Some have called the Black Lives Matter a hate group whose rhetoric is partially responsible for the recent shooting of a sheriff in Texas”. Police cars were destroyed, and several police were injured.
In multiple different occurrences the protests have angered others more than just gain awareness. Sadly a large number of people are more upset with the stop of traffic and other inconveniences caused by the protests, rather than the deaths of unarmed black men and women. The protest are doing their job to gain attention, but in the eyes of some they are doing it in the wrong way. One big rally cry the movement has had is “hands up, don’t shoot” which came after the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson Missouri. It was said that before he was killed he stated “my hands are up, don’t shoot me” which we find out afterward is not true. Anyways hands up don’t shoot, spread like wildfire and grabbed everyone’s attention. It was placed on the big stage, including sporting events, and areas of high traffic. Many common people support Black Lives Matter, but there may be some flaws in it as well. Clearly the main idea of the movement is good, and black lives really do matter. However would it not be safe to say that all lives matter rather than just black ones? It is true there have been many cases against African Americans and they may be targeted more often than other races. From another point of view, there would be riots in the
Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement, originating in the African American community. It campaigns against violence toward black people and has become a uniting call for an innovative chapter in the black freedom fight. The clearance of Trayvon Martin’s killer in 2013 and the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 stimulated this movement. Black Lives Matter isn’t just about the loss of Black lives; but mainly about the lack of consequences when African American lives are taken by Caucasian officers. The question is; do black lives truly matter to those that claim to protect it? The answer is no they do not because the movement’s alleged “peaceful” protests continuously
Overall, many believe that the undeviating war on racism in today’s society is fueled by police brutality and anti-police violence. Specifically, the Black Lives Matter movement, which is the source of controversy regarding these topics. To summarize, this campaign is “both a hashtag and a political project that formed after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin.” (Miller). Later in the article Chelsea Fuller, senior communications associate at The Advancement Project, a multi-racial civil rights organization, states “The Black Lives Matter movement is to deal with anti-black racism, to “push for black people’s right to live with dignity and respect” and be included in the American democracy that they helped create” (Miller).
Black Lives Matter is not a movement that believes all lives do not matter; nevertheless, it highlights the fact that black lives are taken for granted by the judicial system. Protests around the world have taken place to fight for justice in the black community. The immense number of deaths of unarmed black men and women is a clear sign that they are more likely to be killed by police than white people. Physical violence and excessive use of force by the U.S. police towards African Americans are seen in the news regularly.
One of the most prominent grassroots movements currently at work in the United States is, undoubtedly, the Black Lives Matter movement. A multifaceted reform movement, it tackles the issue of institutionalized racism against black people in the United States. The movement began as a hashtag on Twitter in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Treyvon Martin case. Zimmerman shot Martin to death, claiming it was in self defense as he felt the young man looked threatening because it was dark and he was wearing a hoodie. He was acquitted of both manslaughter and second degree murder. Activists felt that this case was an extreme example of how little value black lives seem to have to the greater community. How could a young, unarmed black person get shot and killed while the white person who shot him simply gets to walk away? This all started as an anti-racist