Why #AllLivesMatter is Culturally Insensitive

America is exploding with racial tension. We, who are children of those who lived through the Civil Rights Era, often subscribe to the belief that life is better for Black people than it was in previous years. We’re not wrong about that. Life is better. Laws protect us from blatant disregard for our daily rights. Laws protect us from lynch mobs and directly racist efforts to stunt our progress. Laws say that we are equal and that we have as much access and right to the “American Dream” as anyone else.

Unfortunately, laws cannot protect us from hearts. Laws cannot protect us from people who shoot first and ask later (or not at all). Laws cannot protect us from the snap judgement that registers when ill-equipped officers respond to situations involving persons they’ve been taught to fear.

In the wake of the #MikeBrown shooting in Ferguson, MO and, more recently, the chokehold death of #EricGarner in New York, NY – both unarmed Black men, killed by non-indicted White police officers (and hundreds of similar cases) – social media has been flooded with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Almost as quickly, a similar hashtag appeared – #AllLivesMatter.

While it is certainly true that all lives matter, the question that stands and begs the answer is, do black lives matter? Why is it okay that these two men and countless others are dead and no one is being held accountable? We could pose hypotheticals all day, but here are two for your consideration:

1. What if the races of the officers and the victims were reversed?
2. What if, the “criminals” in these cases happened to be young, White men?

We can’t answer these questions with any degree of certainty, but we can speculate that the outcomes would be far different.

#BlackLivesMatter is a statement born from pain and frustration. It’s a response to broken hearts feeling failed by a system we expected to protect us. It’s the pain that comes from having to explain this situation to our children and in the same breath explain why it’s not okay to hate. When it is replaced with #AllLivesMatter, it’s like saying, we don’t see, recognize or understand your pain and frustration.

People have read #BlackLivesMatter and interjected their own additional words – #ONLYBlackLivesMatter, #BlackLivesMatterMOST . . . As a way of making themselves feel better, or not make the statement seems as jarring, and in some cases as a form of misguided solidarity, the word Black has been replaced with All.

Whether or not all lives matter, is not up for debate. But we seem to be debating in the street, in our politics, in our churches, in our homes, in the media – whether or not black lives matter. And we say – YES! We say it plainly – without apology and without negating anyone else’s importance – #BlackLivesMatter. What we hope, sincerely, with all our hearts is that we are not saying it alone.