Black Lives Matter? Firefighter Photo Tells Us All Lives Matter

The “Black Lives Matter” campaign pops up every time a shooting erupts and a black man ends up dead. What happened in Baltimore is no different, even if the death was the result of Freddie Gray incurring a spinal injury and not a bullet. A group of firefighters is attempting to re-balance the scales with a new photo.

Others believe that what happened in Baltimore was a problem created by Democrats, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, though a Congressman disagrees. It’s been easier to blame Democrats ever since President Obama was voted in under potentially impossible expectations of “change.”

It’s difficult to put a finger in the exact reason for why police across the United States appear to be killing black men, without taking sides and making the other side angry. For a group of firefighters in Memphis, there is a third option.

While everybody from Reverend Al Sharpton and comedian Chris Rock, to rocker Ted Nugent, has an outspoken opinion promoting how black lives matter, others see it very differently.

This image is given to us by the Memphis fire department, whose latest masked message has nothing to do with their benefits package this time. Amanda Swain is the photographer behind the new photo which is being used to tell the world that “all lives matter,” as the men leave their masks on and hold up placards with variations on the popular social media hashtag.

Five of them stand in a row with a separate sign, four with a specific race written and crossed out. The fifth, in the center, bears the words “wake up America.” Amanda Swain explained the point of this photo which counters the “black lives matter” social media campaign.

“What’s happening in Baltimore could happen in Memphis and we need to be aware of that. Everyone is affected. I know there is a certain group that might be the majority, I understand that. But in the city we leave in, we are multi-cultured. There’s a lot of brown, I’m brown, there’s a lot of white and there’s a lot of black people.”

There has still been some backlash, but the message is starting to emerge as a positive, educating the public that no race is superior or inferior to any other.

Do you think the Memphis firefighters are spreading a positive message of unity, or simply further stoking the fire of angry rioters and protesters standing behind the “black lives matter” campaign?

[Image via Amanda Swain Photography]