hillacy-blog

[hillacy-blog]

Black Lives Matter

I am a white, middle class, pretty female. I am a supporter of #blacklivesmatter. After watching Kevon Stage’s youtube video on “The Problem With All Lives Matter”, I can completely agree with what he is saying. Of course all lives matter, we all know that. But currently, black lives are the ones who are being taken away by police brutality significantly more than any other race. Black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be shot and killed by a police officer than white Americans (Lowery, 1). Often times, when I wear my shirt with #blacklivesmatter on it, other white people stare at me funny, and I have even been asked why I am wearing that shirt if I am white. (In my head I’m thinking… Because they do…? Duh…)  This of course leads me to tell them about why I care so much and why it is such a huge problem, and that just because I am white doesn’t mean I can’t fight for a movement that makes us what we are- equal.

References:

Lowery, Wesley. “Analysis | Aren’t more white people than black people killed by police? Yes, but no.”The Washington Post. WP Company, 11 July 2016. Web. 02 Aug. 2017.

“The Problem With All Lives Matter.” Review. Video blog post.Kev On Stage. YouTube, 8 July 2016. Web. 2 Aug. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3St9ZUvGG8>.

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[hillacy-blog]

Kimberle’ Crenshaw, professor of law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, discusses the intersections between race and feminism. She also touched on #blacklivesmatter and does an excellent job explaining why we aren’t saying #alllivesmatter

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[hillacy-blog]

This photo is from Occupy.com. The story shares about the evolution of #blacklivesmatter and how this huge movement started because of people creating this hashtag and the spread of it through social media.

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[hillacy-blog]

Blacklivesmatter.com is a website that basically explains the premise of the hashtag #blacklivesmatter and also has updated social media posts that follow this hastag. It’s a great starting point if you are not aware of what #blacklivesmatter is really for or what it’s about. When I first saw this hashtag about a year ago, this is where I went to see what it was.

#mco435

[hillacy-blog]

Black lives matter vs. All lives matter: I’m white. Initially, I saw nothing wrong with saying ‘All lives matter’ – because all lives do matter. Through social media I’ve seen many explanations of why that statement is actually dismissive of the current problem of black lives seeming to matter less than others and my views have changed.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/07/social-media-causes-some-users-to-rethink-their-views-on-an-issue/

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