My Three Cents...

Hate Group some say. 

Victim-less victims say others.

Racists more still proclaim.

Cop haters others say.

To think that the Black Lives Matters movement is anything more than a cry for equality is to have a fundamental misunderstanding of The United States of America. 

A number of talking heads on television want to classify BLM as a hate group. “They are dividing us,” they say, or “No, All Lives Matter.”

In truth, at first I thought the same thing. I was backing the BLM movement but worried that there would be a negative impact on the “good cops” out there so instead I began professing “All Lives Matter”.

I was wrong.

But you see, I wasn’t wrong in the fact that All Lives Matter- I was wrong in taking away from the actual issue at hand. I’ve heard a number of good examples:

When I wear a pink ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness, it is not me saying, “all other cancers are stupid and deserve no support.”

When someone cries, “Save the rain forest,” they aren’t saying “Fuck all other forests.”

In the early 1900′s when someone would say “Women should be allowed to vote,” , the exact wrong response was “Why do women think they are better than men?”

The bumper sticker and flags proclaiming “Free Tibet” do not imply “I want China to enslave and control all other nations BUT Tibet.”

Just as there is nothing in the original statements that mean anything to the follow-on moronic conclusions, it is the same with Black Lives Matter. 

Yes, of course cops lives matter…  yes, you rich white man… your life matters; but the issue here and the entire reason BLM is a thing is because in our society, and our country, BLACK LIVES do not matter to the controlling groups.

I see this often, that for some, BLM means that black lives somehow MATTER MORE than other lives. No you imbecile no one ever said that. 

“Oh why are blacks so special that they deserve extra privilege and matter more?”     -  Really?

I see a lot of people complain out of jealousy that people proclaiming Black Lives Matter somehow lessens the meaning of their own lives.

The thought that a black man or woman could be EQUAL to them is so foreign and so obscene that they must interrupt with “No… ALL LIVES MATTER” because they can not dare to see “black lives” mentioned in a progressive light and not be a part of it. I am not threatened in the least bit by the saying Black Lives Matter, but when it comes down to it, that is the entire problem the majority of detractors have. It’s profane to these privileged yokels to have blacks get any sunshine. 

I read this one flapping gum specimen the other day say that she specifically had never seen a black person oppressed…  in her suburban town in Arizona..  therefore, Blacks have nothing to complain about and everything is great.

You see, taking this “Global Warming is a hoax because it’s cold, today, where I live,” approach to anything is, to put it politely, moronic.

Let’s look at some FACTS and actual statistics from the Department of Justice:

-In school, blacks are three times more likely to be suspended compared to whites for the same offenses.

-In court, blacks face 19.5% longer sentences compared to whites for committing the same crimes.

Here’s a fun one from NAACP.org:

-African Americans represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those arrested for drug offenses, and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense.

Want to talk about people of color killed by police?  First, check out THIS Gawker article. Then read on:

-“The odds that a black man will be shot and killed by a police officer is about 1 in 60,000. For a white man those odds are 1 in 200,000.” says Peter Moskos, assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.

How about a black 12 year old boy playing with a toy gun in a park… gets shot and killed by the police.  Why?

Or the black man walking in a Wal-Mart with a bb-gun that looks like a rifle…  that is sold THERE AT WAL-MART, shot and killed by police with no warning and no interaction with the man. Why?

How about the video of the white man walking down the street of an open carry state with a rifle, and police come up nicely and chat with him…  while his black friend walks up another street and the police rush him, guns drawn and order him and his pregnant girlfriend on the ground? In an OPEN CARRY STATE.

You see, no matter what your argument is trying to say ‘there is perfect equality’ and ‘blacks are not discriminated against’ and ‘blacks are the racists when they bring up the racism against them’, you are wrong. Look at the stats. Look at the facts. You are wrong. 

In school, be it in grades, graduation or punishment.

In the work place with not only pay and promotions but retention and simply the struggle to get hired.

In getting food at a restaurant.

In hailing a taxi-cab. 

In praising whatever religion they privately want to in their own place of worship.

In walking down the street.

In breathing.

In the United States of America…  Black Lives. DO NOT. Matter. 

That, is one thing this middle class white-boy learned over the last few years, but I’m proud to say NO…  you’re wrong America. #blacklivesmatter.

There is no room for the kind of blind hatred, discrimination and bigotry that is allowed to fester in our society. It has to stop and I challenge my non-black friends to stand up and call out racism, and call out discrimination when you see it. 

I grew up with a lot of asian, hispanic and black friends and just like flapping gums in Arizona, my town was pretty well mixed with everything and everyone got along. But I knew there were things there that I ignored. I knew members of my family who I loved, who had problems with “blacks”. 

I can’t say I know how to fix all of these problems of race in this country. But what I do know is the first thing needed is to admit that yes, there is a problem, and we have a big one.