A Discussion on Popular Phrases that Oppose the Black Lives Matter Movement

Since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement, there has been animosity throughout the country solely targeting the movement’s name. When someone shouts, “Black Lives Matter,” they often are met with a rebuttal of “All Lives Matter,” or “Blue Lives Matter.” While some may use these sayings to purposely stir conflict, there are many people who do not understand the weight of the issue. This piece serves to bring some light to the way these sayings have negatively impacted the Black Lives Matter movement and Black people across the country. The key to solving ignorance and racism is education and conversation; therefore, we are discussing this topic unfiltered and raw. 

So, the truth is: All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter were created in opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. Consider the names themselves. If Black Lives Matter did not exist, All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter would have never taken hold. They clearly indicate that they are borrowing from the phrase and adapting

to it with their own agendas to resist BLM. With sayings such as these being propagated into the public rhetoric, it causes confusion, frustration, partisanship, and hate. These sayings are not harmless, they do have an effect, and they were born out of racism. 

Some do not know why the concept of the Blue Lives Matter slogan is not a celebratory expression to show appreciation for police. The same goes for shouting “All Lives Matter”; in its simplicity, it sounds like a progressive statement that reaches for equality. However, celebrating police and firefighters is a very separate agenda than saying Blue Lives Matter, and professing ”All Lives Matter” is an alignment with oppressive mentalities and those who wish to suppress the power of BLM. Furthermore, the spread of mentalities such as these became a slippery slope that gave a backbone to the White Lives Matter movement; a movement created by two white supremacists and The Aryan Renaissance Society, a Neo-Nazi group in Texas. Although All Lives Matter and White Lives Matter are two different concepts, they both invalidate the BLM movement, which implicates a similar negative effect. They take the eyes off of the movement and undermine what Black Lives Matter stands for and serves to accomplish. 

I know we have all heard this before, but it is necessary to reiterate that Black Lives Matter does not mean that all lives do not. It does not mean that Black lives matter more. Black Lives Matter is a movement because Black people have had oppressive forces against them in this country for centuries and they are fed up and tired. Our Black brothers and sisters are still being profiled, lynched, slandered, and murdered in this country for the complexion of their skin. At the base of all of that pain are enormous systems built to keep Black and Brown bodies at the bottom. To name only a few, they include school-to-prison pipelines, racialized redlining, and disproportionate mass incarceration. Black Lives Matter is a statement that needs to be heard repeatedly because Black lives have been treated like they don’t matter and Black Americans are tired. They are tired of their lives being dictated by the inequalities that have been allowed to continue in this country for far too long. 

We are the generations that want change, the generations that no longer want to be complacent while our fellow citizens are disenfranchised at each other's expenses. Now is the time for power, strength, accountability, and conversations that will bring an end to the entrenched racism in our country. 

Part of taking accountability is standing against influences that move to discredit the Black Lives Matter movement. These sayings take away from the movement's purpose and divert people's attention to exterior places. You can take accountability by removing these sayings from your vocabulary, recognizing and confronting these counters when you see them being used online, around the dinner table, or in the workplace, and educating yourself on them. These steps are essential to our progression as a society. There is power in words, and in order to move forward, we must all be united in our language and erase using oppressive phrases that continue to perpetuate hate against Black lives in this country. 

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