I wish Medium had “boo’s” in addition to claps. I’d give you 49.
When someone says something utterly ridiculous as a response, sometimes you have to call them out.
This is what you wrote Mr. Wright:
I also oppose the Black Lives matter crusade because that promotes racism. Brown, White and Native American lives matter too. ALL lives matter.
I do not reply to you to change your mind. I learned a while ago that people like you do not want their minds changed. People like you who CLAIM you care about people and want universal harmony, refuse to listen. Despite the OVER ABUNDANT number of examples of why “All Lives Matter” is a horrible, incompassionate, and fallacious argument against, “BlackLivesMatter,” you have echoed it here. So, I write this response for two types of people: 1) those who for some reason still sit on the fence about “all lives matter” vs “black lives matter” and 2) those of us who know truth and justice and refuse to be gaslighted anymore into thinking “Black Lives Matter” is some kind of racist rallying cry.
I got this sentiment from a friend’s IG account. I do not know the one who originated these ideas, but they’re spot-on:
When people wear pink ribbons in support of breast cancer awareness, we don’t go around saying “What about colon cancer.” When the Las Vegas shooting happened, people changed their profiles to “Stand with Vegas.” Nobody said, “Well what about the people that got shot in my city?” When the Boston Marathon was bombed, and everybody’s profile pic went “Boston strong,” nobody said “All cities are strong.” But for some reason, if someone says “Black Lives Matter,” it turns into an all-inclusive “All Lives Matter.”
It’s not an either/or proclamation. When there is a crisis, we have always rallied around that particular group. It doesn’t discredit or diminish any other group. It just brings awareness and support to the group that needs attention.
Older white men who sit in the safety and comfort of their current privilege find it very easy to say things like “All Lives Matter” because their lives currently aren’t threatened. For someone who says he escaped a murderous regime, you of all people should know better. (The only reason I’m giving only 49 boo’s instead of 50 is because I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt this was a trauma you experienced, despite the fact that it apparently gave you zero empathy or compassion.)
You also had this “wisdom” to share:
Attacking policeman doing their job, murdering shopowners and looting stores does not promote peace and harmony. It only aggravates the problem.
It is not the purpose of riots to promote peace and harmony. It is their purpose to wake up a system that has blatantly IGNORED the peaceful attempts to make changes to laws that for too long have enabled that system to kill with impunity. If we had listened to Kaepernick when he silently and peacefully protested, we wouldn’t be where we are today. You say it is aggravating the problem. I say it’s the only thing that actually gets this country to make a change.
I can’t help but think about the premise of the article on which you placed this horrendous comment. We now know what YOU would have been doing during the holocaust.
