We’ve been getting bombarded lately with commentary about Black Lives Matter, a movement born out of a spate of deaths of young black men at the hands of police officers.
I don’t intend here to debate each case, but I do want to call attention briefly to what I believe has been something of a perversion of what the message “Black Lives Matter” is intended to convey.
Critics of the movement contend — wrongly, in my view — that its name suggests that Black Lives Matter more than others’ lives. They have formed a kind of counter-movement, calling it All Lives Matter.
Certainly, all lives do matter. The loss of anyone’s life unjustly is a shame and should be mourned.
Black Lives Matter’s intent, as I understand, is to suggest that Black Lives Matter as much as anyone else’s life.
But as we’ve seen in recent days, with the shooting in Dallas of those five law enforcement officers at the end of a Black Lives Matter march, critics of the movement have actually sought to blame its organizers for the violence that erupted.
The young man who opened fire on the officers was seeking precisely to undo the intent of the march. He didn’t speak for the movement with his weapon. He spoke only for himself, but the critics of the movement have sought to conflate the individual’s evil intent with what — until the gunfire erupted — had been a peaceful march through downtown Dallas.
The perversion of Black Lives Matter’s name is a bit reminiscent of what has happened to the Don’t Mess With Texas slogan that was adopted in the 1980s — as a statewide anti-littering motto. Some groups around the state have morphed that slogan into a kind of macho mantra that speaks to Texas pride, Texas individualism and Texas bravado.
Do black lives matter? They damn sure do. Let’s not presume, though, to suggest it means that black lives matter more than anyone else’s life.
It also would do us all good to stop seeking to find blame for what happened the other night in Dallas. Let us devote our energy into healing a stricken community and nation.
I believe it is fair to ask: Has the fiery rhetoric condemning police officers resulted in the shooting deaths of five officers at the hands of someone who has told police he was upset about black lives matter and the police killings?
Five people died this week when a man opened fire at a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas.
Many of the accusations leveled against police officers were false. I have no intention of trying those officers involved before the facts are in. I do intend to suggest that politicians and activists seeking to express their own outrage over deaths at the hands of officers need to consider the consequences of fomenting anger.
As the organizer of this event in Dallas I think we can safely say this guy “speaks for the movement” in Dallas. Have you seen it?
http://youtu.be/CJHAhSebssk