Black Lives Matter Because all Lives Matter
sometimes
we find our voice through a simple
yet powerful physical gesture
for instance taking a knee
can mean dramatically different things
in different situations
starting during the nfl’s 2016 football
season
quarterback colin kaepernick took a knee
in support of the black lives matter
movement and
ended up getting basically blackballed
by all nfl teams
on may 25th 2020 minneapolis police
officer derek
charvin took a knee
for eight minutes and 45 seconds
to the neck of george floyd
ultimately killing him
the world has not been the same since
that fateful day
the horrific video literally spread
around the world
with people from all kinds of cultural
backgrounds
taken to the streets and yes
taking a knee in protest
the traumatizing impact of almost weekly
police or vigilante killings
of people like armon arbury
brianna taylor and george floyd
are recent deadly examples
of the racism that’s permeated the
united states
since it began in 1776
suddenly due to the internet
america’s long deadly history of race
related violence
had gone viral
however just because we are outraged it
does not mean
that we have to lose our minds
or our morals we can be both
rational and ethical
even though we are angry when our
rightful moral indignation causes us to
lose our intellect and ethical compass
it can lead to some very negative
outcomes
when we leave with raw passion and
abandoning our logical thinking
we often end up with ideas like an
urban riot is no longer a riot
it is a quote revolution this
idea is often promoted by african
americans and their quote allies
even though the negative social and
economic damage caused by such
revolutions
hurt economically stressed urban african
americans the most
for instance after more than five years
inner-city african-americans in my
hometown of baltimore maryland
have still not recovered from the fires
and vandalisms
which i call riots that happen separate
from the many peaceful protests
against the police-involved killing of
freddie gray
in april of 2015. additionally
the aftermath of these so-called
revolutions
often leave all african americans in a
bad light
in a worse political position
a riot is a riot
no matter who precipitates it
or participates in it u.s history tells
us
that the dailiest riots in the country
have been carried out by people
identified as quote
whites against african americans
people of color and other marginalized
groups
we we are when we are justifiably
outraged
by racially motivated killings we often
lose our minds
and our morals our rationality
and our ethics what this current
understandable frustration often leads
to
is an angry insistence that black lives
matter
cannot or should not be said in
conjunction
with the phrase all lives matter i
believe that ethically speaking
black lives matter because
all lives matter my connection to this
idea is very personal and painful
because of what happened
on april 14 1997.
the slide you’re about to see is my son
malik jones
on april 14th 1997 my son malik jones
died
at the end of what should have been a
routine traffic stop
when an east haven connecticut police
officer robert fluddquist
after a chase from suburban east haven
into inner city new haven
ran up to his car shattered the driver’s
side front window with the butt of a gun
paid for with money from taxpayers like
myself
and shot my baby several times at close
range killing him
believe me there’s no pain
like the pain of burying one of your
children
within two weeks of the killing i spoke
directly by phone
separately to the then mayor of east
haven
and afterwards to the then chair of east
haven’s police commission
i asked them both the same question and
gave them the same
very specific advice the question was
do you have any young men in your family
who are at or around 21 years of age
this was malik’s age at the time of his
death
they both answered yes
i then advised both of them that if they
participated in the defensive circle the
wagons mentality
that cities and police departments often
adopt in the wake of such police
involved shootings
the streets of connecticut would be less
safe
for all citizens
sadly on july 14 1999
a little more than two years after
malik’s deadly encounter
with the east haven police officer the
headline for an article in the hartford
current
connecticut newspaper read quote
cop shot woman through car’s side window
google it you’ll find the story the
story was about a 40 year old white
woman
victoria cooper who like malik ended up
dead at the end of what
should have been a routine traffic stop
on july 13 1999
in nearby north brantford connecticut
less than 10 miles less than 10
miles away from where malik
was killed the news story also discussed
malik’s killing
because of the similar circumstances of
them being shot
through the driver’s side front window
lack lives matter
because all lives matter
so when we examine the recent history of
the united states
of america three additional dates will
help us to understand
why we should use our voices to connect
black lives matter
to all lives matter the dates are may
2nd
1927 january the 10th
2005 and october 27
- the names of the individuals
connected to these dates are not as
well known as the names of malik jones
or george floyd however i encourage you
not to forget these people
as we strive to make the united states
and the world live
up to the words and shrine in the united
states
declaration of independence which was
signed on july 4
1776 it states and you’ve heard this
before
we hold these truths to be self-evident
that all men are created equal
that they’re endowed by their creator
with certain unalienable rights that
among these
are life liberty
and the pursuit of happiness we also
find similar inspiring words in an
autobiography that is seen by many
as one of the most insightful critiques
of how the power
of racism affects u.s society
even today near the end of his
autobiography of malcolm x
malcolm x also known as el hajj malik as
shabazz
stated i am for truth
no matter who tells it i am for justice
no matter who it’s for or against
i’m a human being first and foremost
and as such i’m for whoever
and whatever benefits humanity as a
whole
it is in the spirit of these words from
both the declaration of independence
and the order book for your malcolm x
that i urge you
not to forget these three people i’m
about
to tell you about
the first name we should not forget
is carrie s buck on may 2nd
1927 the frame the very famous
liberal united states supreme court
justice oliver
window holmes jr stated
in the supreme court decision that quote
three generations of imbeciles are
enough
unquote the decision buck versus bell
was an eight to one supreme court
decision
that helped to fuel the infamous
eugenics movement
which focused on creating a purer
white race by the way you can read all
about this case
and the huge impact of the eugenics
movement in a well-documented book which
every person in america and worldwide
should read
entitle war against the weak
eugenics in america’s campaign to create
a master race by edwin blatt
carrie s buck remember that name
this poor white teenage virginia woman
from charlottesville virginia near where
i grew up
in roanoke virginia in virginia’s jim
crow exile
was the first of more than 60 thousand
u.s
citizens who were forcibly sterilized
under the color of state laws between
1927 and the 1970s
the first targets of course were
institutionalized whites who were called
imbeciles and effective
they were trying to improve the race
after all
and then ultimately and it always
ultimately comes to this these four
sterilizations
including blacks and other people of
color
black lives matter
because all lives matter
the second name we should not forget
is jamila yasmine arshad
on january 10 2005 dr jamila yasmin
arshad died in the back seat of a police
cruiser in kenner louisiana
she died there because she stopped
she made a humanitarian effort to help a
boy hit by a car
and the officers who arrived at the
scene
refused to believe that this black woman
could be an accomplished well-respected
medical doctor that she was
i bring her up from the medical
profession
in this context for two reasons first
when we talk about black lives matter we
tend to focus on
young black men like my son malik jones
and we
fail to highlight how frequently black
women are victims
of such police involved killings
second according to the centers for the
disease control
of the united states black
american indian alaska native
women are two to three times
more likely to die from
pregnancy-related causes
than white women in the most
expensive health care system in the
world
most americans receive subpar subpar
care
but if you’re a woman of color you
receive
even worse often deadly care
black lives matter
because all lives matter
the third name that we should never
forget
is rose mallinger
on october 27 2018
97 year old rose mallinger was murdered
why she was murdered along with 10
other people why
simply for worshiping while jewish
at the pittsburgh tree of life synagogue
in pittsburgh according to the november
10
2018 edition of the pittsburgh gazette
robert bowers the terrorists who killed
her
shared material online from the
christian identity movement
by the way the christian identity
movement believes that
people of your deep european descent are
the quote chosen people
and that jews are their enemies and then
other races like mine
are meant to be exterminated or enslaved
it is a small wonder that even the
current u.s department of homeland
security secretary
sees the white supremacy movement as the
greatest
violent threat to america today
i invite and concern people of all faith
and concern people of no faith to
understand
and act on the reality that the black
lives matter movement
is not only about race but about the
safety
security and humanity of all of us
who inherit this land who inhabit this
land
let’s raise our voices and say
black lives matter because all
lives matter
you