I've recently started seeing a lot of misinformation and fear based lies going around trying discredit an important movement. So please listen up:
Supporting Black Lives Matter is not an admonition against all whites or all police. BLM may have started in Ferguson in response to one police shooting, but it has grown into a major nationwide movement in the face of multiple killings and beatings of unarmed black people at the hands of police. Many whites are in the movement (Yes, it's true. We call them Allies). Most of the people characterizing BLM as dangerous and evil are either in denial or fueled by racist rhetoric and have never been to a meeting or march. So let's set the record straight.
BLM does not call for the killing of whites or cops. Any individuals advocating violence are wrong. Cops killed in the line of duty is a terrible thing done by criminal individuals. If we're not supposed to say all cops are bad when hundreds of bad apples have shot or beaten Americans because of their race, why should we believe a whole movement is responsible for what a criminal did to a cop? If some cops are found to share racist emails, are all cops racists? If someone chants anti-police anger at a protest should we discredit the whole movement?
Black Lives Matter simply means in a world where All Lives Should Matter (including police), there is still too much racism (including within police forces) and all things are not equal. When cops have to resign because they are active members of the KKK (yes, it happened again this week), there's a problem. Again, a basic translation: Black Lives Matter = Black Lives Should Matter Too.
You want to promote Police Lives Matter? OK. I'm all for good cops who do a good job. But remember that society already treats police like they matter and gives cops the benefit of the doubt, rarely indict or convict them even with proof of crimes, and have special, harsh laws and major public rituals in place when any of them are killed in the line of duty.
Protesting police brutality and their illegal behavior doesn't mean Police Lives Don't Matter. It means Be a Good Cop and Serve and Protect. Bad cops are more of a danger to their fellow officers than Black Lives Matter. They create dangerous situations for everyone and cause anger in the general public. (And its not just Black people who are angry). A bad cop is the worst enemy of all of us.
Yes, we're angry and we're loud. Just like the women's rights movement in the early 1900s, we sometimes interrupt speeches, and yell and block traffic and demand justice in people's faces. We also diligently and quietly work with police and Mayors and lawyers to change police and public behavior and make neighborhoods safer for everyone. In an effort to discredit a powerful nationwide movement that is dealing with the legacy of racism, certain groups and news organizations are currently claiming its all and only about hate. They did the same to MLK, remember?
Black Lives Matter is a call to Awareness, Justice and Reform. And it's a long time coming.
