What Matters: Black Lives or All Lives?

Written by Neel B.

“I can’t breathe.” In late May 2022, a disturbing video surfaced on social media, capturing an event that would shock the world into reigniting the much needed conversation on systemic racism. And by systemic racism, I mean the hundreds of years through which African Americans were whipped into serving white masters. I mean the mass lynching and burning of them purely because their skin was a few shades darker. I mean the laws that made it so they lived separate and NOT equal. This video showed four police officers pinning him to the ground. It showed him lying on the asphalt with a knee pressed mercilessly into his neck. It showed him pleading for a breath of air. His plea went unanswered. The video went viral, with millions of people sharing it and reposting it to ensure that the injustice was being noticed. They reignited the previously established Black Lives Matter movement. In it, millions of people stormed the streets of America to protest the injustice that had been prevalent for far too long. However, around the movement’s peak, a new hashtag had been created in a direct response to the #BlackLivesMatter — #AllLivesMatter. The response movement, ALM, may have seemed to be inclusive and representative at a surface level, but actually excluded the Black community by ignoring the history in which Black lives were treated as less than others, and isolating the community by painting BLM as a selfish movement.

Of course, those who weren’t physically able to protest still wanted to voice their support for the movement, so they did that through the fastest and most effective way possible: social media. In the digital age, where information is overloaded, social media has the ability to amplify or muffle voices. Its ability to spread information like a wildfire allows many movements to gain traction quickly; however, the short nature of these hashtags and posts can lead to the true message being lost or misconstrued. Within months, tens of millions had posted pictures of black screens, put charities in their bios, and spread the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter (or #BLM). Within months, the world was no longer blind to the racial injustice that had been allowed to exist for far too long, and an attempt to fight for Black lives to be valued just as highly as any other life was being made. 

To examine the impacts of the movement, we must understand both how and why ALM gained traction and diverted attention away from BLM. Firstly, the timing of the emergence of ALM was critical. Just as BLM was highlighting the systemic racial injustices, a direct rebuttal is introduced, taking focus and attention away from the primary focus. The media, always hungry for diverse and clashing ideas, focused heavily on representing the nomenclature debates between the two movements, rather than focusing on the historical injustice and fight for change. This disproportionality wasn’t just a speculative observation: a paper co-authored by Harvard and Stanford professors explained how, despite BLM producing more sheer volume, “counter-movement groups have attracted far more attention than BLM groups in terms of content engagements, such as shares, comments, and reactions.” This led to many activists spending valuable time trying to defend the validity of their movement from this counter-movement.

So why did the response movement gain so much traction? The phrases’ universality and simplicity makes it easy for audiences all around the world to read the short hashtag, and agree with it. Those who may not have felt included in the BLM movement due to the specific emphasis on Black lives, now had a movement they could truly relate to and connect with. The new narrative suggested a universally agreeable idea: all lives really do (should) matter. Many individuals, uncomfortable with the confrontational nature of BLM, fighting injustices head-on may have turned to ALM as a gentler approach. For many, the inclusive nature of the movement tricked them into a sense of comfort as opposed to the challenging confrontations of BLM. Just like a whole group goes silent when someone brings up racism, ALM appeals directly to our psychological need to avoid discomfort, especially when discussing racial injustices. As the American Psychological Association explains, these discomforts can stem from a fear “for those with privilege because it requires them to acknowledge their inherent privilege.” It isn’t just racism that created the important discomfort of BLM, but rather showing white privilege and racism in a side-by-side comparison.

The nature of these hashtags is a short, simple statement that invokes a strong feeling in the viewer. That small sensation of anger and frustration was utilized when the BLM hashtag spread, spinning a web of anger, demanding a change. The #AllLivesMatter did something similar, claiming a  universal agreement that invoked a strong feeling of belonging/relatability for many viewers and leading to its spread. Unfortunately, the brief nature of the hashtag allowed it to oversimplify the issues that BLM was attempting to tackle and allowed it to make many forget the history behind black lives. The comfort of agreeing with a universal truth made it easy for the public to shy away from fighting for the needed change.

The BLM movement is rooted in a powerful, deep historical and current day context. The context in which every Black person counted as only ⅗ of a White person. The context in which the Supreme Court (Plessy v Ferguson) deemed it justified to condone separate inferior  schooling, transport, and facilities for Black students. A context that, even today, according to the University of Michigan, throws Black men into jail at a rate that allows for them to make up only 6% of the USA’s population, but 35% of the prison population. Throughout American history, we have seen this context make it so unbelievably clear that Black lives are not valued as much as others by American rule of law. This deeply rooted history is ignored and dismissed when people try to claim that all lives matter. Black lives have not been acknowledged as equals - they haven’t been treated as if they matter. For ALM to claim otherwise, is to ignore the hundreds of years of glaring discrimination and racial injustice.

Still, the effects of the response movement don’t end there. The rising response hashtag does more than overlook the urgency behind the BLM movement, it actively attempts to distort its message. It is not just a simple matter of different perspectives; to suggest that ALM simply missed the point trying to be conveyed by Black activists would be a gross misunderstanding of its reframing. By emphasizing the ‘all’, it implies that the BLM movement is exclusionary and disregards the value of all other lives. This portrayal deceptively shifts the narrative, and instead of a spotlight being shone on the injustices faced by African Americans, asks the question “don't ALL lives matter?” This framing not only distorts the intent behind the movement, but it also weaponizes its inclusivity into demeaning the genuine cries for justice. By painting Black activists as though self-absorbed, it further alienates Black communities. This results in an increase in isolationism, amplifying the separation between black individuals and the rest of society, dismantling the collective effort on addressing systemic racism.

Imagine a vast beach, seemingly reaching the horizon, with people swimming around and waves crashing against the shore. A lifeguard sits, watching over the swimmers, ensuring their safety. But then, one of the swimmers gets caught in a powerful riptide and is dragged beneath the surface of the water. They fight, gasping for a breath of air, crying to the lifeguard for help. The lifeguard sees this and immediately rushes to the swimmer's aid, but just as he is about to save the swimmer, a crowd of people, standing safely on the shore, start yelling in unison, “ALL swimmers matter!” The stupidity in this example illustrates just how absurd the ALM movement truly was. Instead of a united effort being made to support a group, clearly in distress, the narrative is shifted, painting the group as demanding undeserved attention.

In an era defined by its short-lived trends, the thirst for instant gratification, and the rapid spread of information, the story of BLM and ALM serves as a reminder of what losing sight of urgent and necessary change in favor of more generalized and comfortable narratives can lead to. While the universal appeal of ALM may have provided momentary relief, it is the uncomfortable truths, the ones that need fighting for, the ones that challenge norms that hold the key to meaningful change. As we look back on this time, it is important that we understand how such a response movement led to a loss in focus and remain vigilant in the future. The world is far from perfect, there are more uncomfortable fights that must be fought. Fight them.

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