stop ignoring this
I wrote this letter in April 2016 as a graduate student in a course called Diversity, Equity, and Dialogue at Miami University. If you choose to engage, I ask that you read the entire letter; it takes approximately 8 minutes.
By: Laura Riley
Dear person who just used #Alllivesmatter,
A few years ago, I would have helped you get that hashtag trending. Because how can anyone argue with that? When taken out of context, “All Lives Matter” is an optimistic and cornicopious phrase. All lives do matter. I don’t think many people disagree with that harmless idea.
As a White, cisgender (in other words, my gender agrees with my biological sex), heterosexual, able-bodied woman, I understand why that hashtag is used. Regardless of how I identify, my life matters too. And your life matters. And White lives matter. And male lives matter. And lives of…
But hold up.
That’s not the point of this whole thing. It’s interesting that #Alllivesmatter began as a response to Black people using #BlackLivesMatter. Because think about it. The original hashtag did not say #OnlyBlackLivesMatter, or #WhiteLivesDontMatter, or #BlackLivesMatterMoreThanWhiteLives, simply: #BlackLivesMatter, because they do. And that’s important. And that’s relevant. And there’s a lot more to the story.
Some history. It’s not just a hashtag. #BlackLivesMatter is a product of The Black Lives Matter movement which began in July 2013 as a response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Three community organizers: Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, founded Black Lives Matter and gave it the hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter. The purpose of this movement is to combat racial inequality in the United States (Ruffin II, 2015). Racial inequality means that People of Color are discriminated against and treated differently because of their race. This is not a thing of the past. It is not a figment of anyone’s imagination. It is reality.
And the use of #Alllivesmatter furthers this unfortunate reality. The use of #Alllivesmatter demonstrates privilege in a way that White folks don’t necessarily intend. It is racist. Hurtful. And damaging. While the hashtag may be masked in this ideal of equality, #Alllivesmatter ignores the fact that Black people suffer more than White people. It ignores institutionalized racism. And it’s problematic.
Why? Because it puts White people at the center and once again pushes Black people to the margins. Black people say, “Black Lives Matter” and White people respond, “But wait a minute, I’m not Black, but my life matters. How about we use #Alllivesmatter instead? That seems more fair.” This sentiment negates the emotions, feelings, experiences, and realities of Black people. Realities White people will never understand. A reality I will never understand.
But I get it. I understand why you, and people you know, use and believe “All Lives Matter”, because they do matter.
But no matter the intentions, #Alllivesmatter is not helpful. It is the exact opposite of helpful. #Alllivesmatter proves why #BlackLivesMatter is such an incredibly important movement: because White people constantly devalue the experience of Black people. And that’s not okay. It ignores the undeniable reality of racism in the United States.
To gain some statistical perspective, let’s look at the Lifetime Likelihood of Imprisonment Rates for People Born in 2001: if you’re a White woman, 1 in 111; if you’re a Black woman, 1 in 18; if you’re a White man, 1 in 17; if you’re a Black man, 1 in 3 (as cited in Ghandnoosh, 2015, p. 11). That is fact. #Alllivesmatter does not acknowledge this. Instead, this seemingly equal hashtag mocks lived realities, embodies pervasive White privilege, and inflicts harm on a population of people who are already oppressed in the United States.
So let’s talk about privilege. Privilege is defined as “a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others” (Merriam-Webster, 2016). In the case of #Alllivesmatter, we’re talking about privileged identities. In the previous paragraph I said that #Alllivesmatter embodies White privilege, but how?
Before moving forward, there are two important concepts to understand: social identities and privileged identities. A social identity is an identity that you do not choose, some examples include: gender, sexuality, ability, and race. You’re typically born with these, but for an identity like ability, it’s temporary; so we could say someone is temporarily able-bodied, because that can change throughout life. A privileged social identity then, is an identity that you once again do not choose, but you benefit from in ways that you aren’t necessarily aware of. Some examples of privileged identities include White, male, heterosexual, wealthy. People who hold these identities—some of which I share—are privileged because we are given rights that other people are not given. For example, Christian privilege is a thing. This means that people are typically given Easter and Christmas off, no questions asked; that’s a privilege, or a benefit that people who practice other religions are not granted. To expand on the examples above, there is White privilege, Male privilege, heterosexual privilege; one group benefits, while the other groups do not.
Moral of the story, I hold privileged identities. I am privileged as a White, cisgender, and temporarily able-bodied person. If you are White, you hold a privileged identity as well. That does not inherently make you, or me, a bad person. It’s reality. We are privileged. And our privileged identities don’t take away from the fact that our lives matter.
But the hashtag, #Alllivesmatter, is an act of White privilege that oppresses People of Color. That’s why it’s not okay.
Oppression is the flip side of privilege. Oppression is defined as “unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power” (Merriam-Webster, 2016). In this case (and all cases), White power is used to oppress People of Color. Oppression is the result of privilege. Because I am White and White privilege is a thing, People of Color are inherently oppressed.
Let’s look at an example. I’ll take you back to the math story problem days.
You live in a society where there are A’s and B’s. At each moment in time, one A and one B are born into the world. As a pair, A and B are given $100 each year to divide between the two of them. A’s have a birthright that allows them to choose how much of the $100 they take. You’re born an A. You choose $90. Awesome, right? And B gets $10 (but that really doesn’t matter because you get $90). For ten years, you get $90 and B gets $10. At the end of 10 years, you have $900 ($90 X 10) and B has $100 ($10 X 10).
Year 11 comes along and B says, “You know, this really isn’t fair. I know I was born a B, but my life matters, #BLivesMatter.”
You think about this. You’ve matured, learned a bit, and you think, “Hmm… that’s true. Something is wrong here. B’s life matters too and it really isn’t fair that B only gets $10, #Alllivesmatter.” So you decide the two of you should split the $100 evenly so each of you gets $50 each year. The graph below is a visual representation of what your income looks like over the course of 20+ years. You both start at zero. For the first 10 years, each year you make $90 and B makes $10. As you can see by the steep slope, your $80 advantage quickly adds up. By year 10, you have $900 and B has $100. At Year 11, you reach your epiphany and decide to make things equal, so you each get $50 each year.
Essentially, in Year 11, you say, yeah #Alllivesmatter. But this does not help the fact that B still has $800 less than you. And if each of you gets $50 for the rest of your lives, that [800 dollar, read racial] inequity will always exist. That’s privilege. That’s oppression. Both of which will continue for eternity if something doesn’t change.
And that’s why, yes, it’s true, all lives matter, but the Black Lives Matter movement is vital. It is a movement that exists for Black people. For justice. For understanding. For change. It is important because Black people are being incarcerated and murdered at inexcusable rates. This inequity is true. It is real. And us White folks need to respect #BlackLivesMatter, stop with the #Alllivesmatter, and recognize that we’ve been getting $90 every year for the past… forever. Dividing $100 equally is not sufficient. There is so much more to do.
So this letter exists to say, I truly, genuinely, from the very core of my being understand why you may use #Alllivesmatter. I get it. But that’s an undeniable—intentional or not—racist hashtag. It marginalizes an entire population of people who fight against the system of racism in this country. Please do not contribute to that system of racism. Please do not use #Alllivesmatter.
Yes, your life matters, but #BlackLivesMatter.
If you're wondering how to respond, here are three immediate steps you can take:
1) Think about your biases toward People of Color.
2) Recognize how you contribute to racism; you either perpetuate it or you actively work against it.
3) If you think the story problem above is about money, please reread.
References
Ruffin II, H. G. (2015). Black lives matter: The growth of a new social justice movement Retrieved from: http://www.blackpast.org/perspectives/black-lives-matter-growth-new-social-justice-movement
Ghandnoosh, N. (2015). Black lives matter: eliminating racial inequity in the criminal justice system.