Time editor Jeffrey Kluger has a piece out today under the headline, "Enough already with all live matter". Kluger's complaint is that responding to Black Lives Matter with all lives matter is harsh, wrong and, indeed, racist. He's lost his mind, to put it mildly.
Kluger's big point is that Black Lives Matter is not saying that black lives matter more than others, just that they actually matter. According to Kluger, it's not a binary option where only black lives matter. His illustration is that when people say "save the whales", they are not saying "screw the eagles."
But that's really just the point. If you say "save the eagles" to someone screaming "save the whales" at a rally of eco-warriors, they don't denounce you or claim that you hate whales. They recognize that you are correct; we ought to save the eagles as well as the whales. If someone says "all lives matter", it doesn't mean that black lives don't matter. Indeed, it affirms the worth of every individual no matter his or her race, religion or ethnic background. It's not claiming superiority for anyone; it's just stating that everyone matters. So why does that statement get such an outraged response from the BLM people? Why would only a racist say that all lives matter? If Martin Luther King were alive today, he would surely agree that all lives matter. Would that make him a racist?
The truth is that the offense taken by the BLM supporters to an affirmation that all lives matter is proof that BLM is much more than what Kluger states. It is not merely a mild claim that black lives matter; if it were, then BLM would agree that all lives mattered. Nope, BLM is a statement of grievance against the police and more generally against whites. It is a statement that blacks are victims; their position in society is not their own doing. No, it is the result of oppression by whites.
This is a sick and distorted outlook at the world. If oppression crushes all chances for black success, how did Obama get to be president? How did Loretta Lynch get to be Attorney General? How did black corporate CEO's get to lead their companies? How did the black middle class form? It's the result of enormous effort by individuals who struggled to get ahead just like millions of other people in this country. Their lives all matter. And the lives of all those who are not successful matter. How many people of all races and backgrounds struggle each day just to exist? Their lives all matter.
I've said it before, but this latest article proves it. It's time for Time to close.
Kluger's big point is that Black Lives Matter is not saying that black lives matter more than others, just that they actually matter. According to Kluger, it's not a binary option where only black lives matter. His illustration is that when people say "save the whales", they are not saying "screw the eagles."
But that's really just the point. If you say "save the eagles" to someone screaming "save the whales" at a rally of eco-warriors, they don't denounce you or claim that you hate whales. They recognize that you are correct; we ought to save the eagles as well as the whales. If someone says "all lives matter", it doesn't mean that black lives don't matter. Indeed, it affirms the worth of every individual no matter his or her race, religion or ethnic background. It's not claiming superiority for anyone; it's just stating that everyone matters. So why does that statement get such an outraged response from the BLM people? Why would only a racist say that all lives matter? If Martin Luther King were alive today, he would surely agree that all lives matter. Would that make him a racist?
The truth is that the offense taken by the BLM supporters to an affirmation that all lives matter is proof that BLM is much more than what Kluger states. It is not merely a mild claim that black lives matter; if it were, then BLM would agree that all lives mattered. Nope, BLM is a statement of grievance against the police and more generally against whites. It is a statement that blacks are victims; their position in society is not their own doing. No, it is the result of oppression by whites.
This is a sick and distorted outlook at the world. If oppression crushes all chances for black success, how did Obama get to be president? How did Loretta Lynch get to be Attorney General? How did black corporate CEO's get to lead their companies? How did the black middle class form? It's the result of enormous effort by individuals who struggled to get ahead just like millions of other people in this country. Their lives all matter. And the lives of all those who are not successful matter. How many people of all races and backgrounds struggle each day just to exist? Their lives all matter.
I've said it before, but this latest article proves it. It's time for Time to close.
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