Black Lives Matter is familiar, but many do not understand the movement. They say, of course, black lives matter. Every life matters, but that is the wrong answer and is considered racist to even say. "All lives matter" is an opposing movement, supposedly, and a racial slur now. That is puzzling to most people not entrenched in the movement. How can white people relate now if we must not only agree that black lives matter but also agree our own lives are immaterial? Alicia Garza explains this in some detail on her article for Feminist Wire.
"Black Lives Matter doesn't mean your life isn't important–it means that Black lives, which are seen as without value within White supremacy, are important to your liberation. When Black people get free, everybody gets free... We're not saying Black lives are more important than other lives, or that other lives are not criminalized and oppressed in various ways. We remain in active solidarity with all oppressed people who are fighting for their liberation and we know that our destinies are intertwined."
The Occupy Movement stated the problem as the one percent of politicians, corporations, and billionaires that control everything. And while it is true most of those people are white, poor whites have no more choice, freedom, or upward mobility than poor blacks, do they? If one is not part of the one percent or at least the top 25 to 33 percent, how is their life easier than that of a black person who makes the same wages and lives in the same neighborhood? Alicia Garza says it is different, and that African Americans are deprived of basic human rights and dignity. Yes, that happens to others as well, and Garza understands that -- she just decided her cause was about blacks.
"When we say Black Lives Matter, we are talking about the ways in which Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity. It is an acknowledgment Black poverty and genocide is state violence. It is an acknowledgment that 1 million Black people are locked in cages in this country–one half of all people in prisons or jails–is an act of state violence... Black folks living with disabilities and different abilities bear the burden of state-sponsored Darwinian experiments that attempt to squeeze us into boxes of normality defined by White supremacy is state violence. And the fact is that the lives of Black people—not ALL people—exist within these conditions is consequence of state violence."
Taking on Black Lives Matter, the Washington Post discusses Alicia's point at length. One point is that of the 965 individuals fatally shot by police in 2015, only 90 were unarmed. Further, less than 4 percent of all fatal police shootings involve a white officer shooting an unarmed African American. However, many of their conclusions agree with Alicia's statements about police killings being disproportional to populations.
Black Lives Matter, according to the Washington Post, could be misinformed about police shootings, and they went to great pains to either prove or disprove their statistics. They compiled a record of each and every fatal police shooting in 2015. No other government agency or journalistic corporation has ever done this. Their discoveries were very surprising, even to them.
Of all police shootings, 40 percent were black men, and this is worth noting and agrees with the BLM complaint. Still, if only 4 percent were unarmed and shot by a white officer, then what of the rest? It is also worth noting that 243 of the nearly 1,000 people killed by police had mental health problems, and of those, nine out of 10 were armed. It is also worth noting that 42 police officers were killed during the same year.
Black Lives Matter data has more detailed listings that disagree with the Washington Post. Mapping The Violence lists 102 unarmed blacks killed by officers in 2015. How can this be? There is a difference of 12 people. Reports of police violence do not all go into one database, and so often every case is not reported to a central source. Further, details can be misunderstood or construed in different ways. Then it becomes difficult to ascertain totals. Mapping the Violence has photos of and articles about nearly all the victims, so it would be hard to contest their numbers.
When Black Lives Matter representatives speak, though, it is not just about statistics. Human emotion and a sense of injustice are keys to their concerns. Statistically speaking, death by cop is not a significant cause of death, but homicide certainly is. Therefore, logical thinking leads us to question why the CDC lists homicide as the leading cause of death for black males aged 15 to 34. It is the second leading cause of death for black males aged 10 to 14. The percentages are absolutely astounding. It is a statistical fact that people rarely kill outside of race, so the majority of murders are blacks killing blacks. PolitiFact states that in the 513 days following Trayvon Martin's death, 11,106 African Americans were murdered by other blacks.
