Some things are just obvious, painfully obvious, so obvious that it hurts you to have to explain them. Like equal rights for women. Anyone who was birthed from a woman, or taken care of by a woman, shouldn’t have any questions as to the validity of women’s rights or gender equality. If anything, we should be questioning the value of men, yet there are some who think women’s skills only relate to child bearing and rearing and want to relegate them to the household. To those people, we have to explain that women from Amelia Earhart to C.J. Walker to Oprah Winfrey aren’t flukes.
In this Black Lives Matter movement we find ourselves, again, in the situation of having to explain something that seems painfully obvious. The statement is so simple, a basic declaration of fact, that some feel the need to confuse it with commentary. Are they saying Black Lives Matter (more than white lives)? Or Are they saying Black Lives Matter more than police lives)? Well, the majority who ask the question either choose ignorance as a lifestyle or choose to confuse others. However, I believe that there is a small minority that is legitimately confused and I want to help.
The statement Black Lives Matter just means that Black lives matter. That’s it. Perhaps it would bring an extra measure of clarity if the statement were Black Lives Matter, Too. Maybe that would allow others to use it in the statement “White lives matter and Black lives matter, too.” Or you could add that “the lives of police officers matter and all people of all colors matter and, of course, Black lives matter, too”. I suspect that this weakens the meaning and was left off intentionally. So, instead of adding “too” I suggest that we offer an expanded version of the slogan for clarity.
When I say Black Lives Matter what I really mean is “All over the U.S. there are white people who have encounters with police officers that don’t end in death whereas meaningless encounters with police and Black people end in a Black male getting killed without due process, without a trial, and without consideration that he is someone’s son, husband or father which is a travesty because Black lives matter.” This is what I mean but it’s a horrible slogan so I just say Black Lives Matter.
When I say Black Lives Matter, I also mean “Police officers are valued members of society that I have called on, and they have answered, throughout my life in order to bring law and order or set the stage for justice but I am also aware that that is not the case for lots of people who happen to be Black men and Black women who make up a disproportionate percentage of people targeted for police traffic stops and a disproportionate number of police warrants and raids and that lead to a disproportionate percentage of police arrests that lead to a disproportionate number of convictions that lead to a disproportionate number of Black men facing capital punishment and that is a horrendous (non) coincidence that should be studied because while we do consider the blind scales of justice for white people we should do the same for Black people because Black lives matter.“
As a marketing major from The College of William and Mary, it pains me to explain all of this. My marketing professor would be horrified. But I was a Black male first and, as someone who doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of a scared or confused police officer at a routine traffic stop, I absolutely must. I have to explain it on the off chance that there are a handful of people who will read this and understand that the Black Lives Matter movement is not about doing anything negative to non-Black people. While I’m at it, though, let me go after one more myth.
Reallocate Safety Funds Smarter
When protestors say “Defund the Police” it allows many to run with this statement as an attack on law and order, an attempt to lower the protective nets of safety in the same way that the levees broke in New Orleans. All it takes is one storm to see the tragic end of that story. Yet, the thought persists and “Defund the Police” goes from a rallying cry to an antagonism of White America. So, in the spirit of explaining things that should be painfully obvious, please give me a minute to delve into this one.
The term, “protect and serve” is a far-reaching goal. So much so that I have interacted with police officers at traffic stops, on a career day at my children’s school, at my office doing training for safety in the workplace and, again, at my office trying to remove a mentally ill client. This doesn’t include the interactions that other Black men have had with police during drug raids, serving warrants, protecting parks or in SWAT teams or gang units. The problem is that each of those “Police” wear the same uniform and carry the same badge while performing wildly different functions and drawing on different skill sets. Honestly, I think we are pushing police towards schizophrenia or, at a minimum, to an identity crisis.
Instead of saying “Defund the Police”, I think the full statement should be “Research the police budget in your particular locality – city by city – and assess the real needs that exist to protect and serve then reallocate that budget towards the specific needs of the community so that, maybe, less money goes to buying arms and weapons for the SWAT team and more money goes into community engagement where Police work with community groups for Neighborhood Watch and National Night Out and other things that lessen the opportunities for confrontation where one group has tear gas, batons and automatic weapons and the other group has BLM signs and we pretend to be surprised when the citizens, not wearing bullet-proof vests or gas masks, get hurt.“
You might be thinking, Philip, Do you really think that more people would value the sanctity of Black lives if the group was called Black Lives Matter, Too? And, Do you think that more of us would support a smarter allocation of funds to safety if we stopped saying “Defund the Police” and said “Reallocate Safety Funds Smarter”?
If I’m honest, I have to say that I doubt my long phrases and awful marketing slogans would turn the tide. But I do think that it will make a difference. I do believe that there are some who currently oppose BLM who do so because of a lack of information rather than a racist or intolerant choice. To those people, I ask that you take note of the meaning of the organization rather than its slogan or even the sampling of people in leadership.
Talking to, and attempting to understand, people is how I’m able to look past the scandals in the Boys Scouts and the Catholic Church. I press past the outer façade, I research the media sources and talk to the people within the organization. They’ll help you understand and they’ll explain what the organization is, or should, be about. They’ll tell you that Black Lives Matter just means that Black Lives Matter, too. They may even let you march alongside them with a sign that reads BLM2.
