A number of my Australian and other non-US friends are struggling to understand “Black Lives Matter”. To help them understand the situation a little. better, I wrote the following on Facebook last week.
“Black Lives Matter” has very little to do with you or your lived experience right now - so don’t feel bad if you don’t get it.
Here’s some context that might make it clearer so you can show some empathy for our American friends.
The phrase might be better and more accurately written “Black Lives Matter, Too”
It is in response to ongoing, pervasive, and often intentional, *systemic* racism in the US. Therefore this is not about individuals against individuals. It is not just about 1 or 2 police shootings. It is about institutionalized *systems* designed to oppress a specific group of people built right into the government and laws.
This has been going on since the country's founding and continues to this day. From slavery to Jim Crow, to specific laws designed to entrap and disenfranchise African Americans - they have *never* had equity in the US.
For a simple example: Right now, the US prison system is (massively) disproportionately overflowing with African Americans and other people of color. More than were ever enslaved during the era of slavery. This is not because they are naturally more prone to crime. It’s because a legacy of oppression, under and over-policing, and laws designed to make their benign behavior criminal (e.g crack cocaine penalties are harsher than powder cocaine because the former is typically taken by people of color).
The law is also applied unevenly. While an African American might get jail time for possession of a small amount of marijuana, a white youth might get let off with some community service. The resulting criminal history means that they can no longer get work or vote. The cycle repeats.
There are other, more subtle, and pernicious examples. African Americans and other people of color are discouraged or even blocked from voting due to the placement of polling places (not in their neighborhoods), the timing of voting (during their work hours where they are less likely to get time off). Voting districts are drawn to make their vote less meaningful and to ensure that conservatives win elections no matter what (a political leanings that typically makes things worse for minorities). This is known as gerrymandering.
The country’s systems are failing or failed. In particular for people of color. Worse, it’s now in a negative feedback loop. It’s difficult to see how they can pull up out of this nosedive.
Further, with COVID19, poor people have been hardest hit and least supported. All while the stock market goes up and up making the rich, richer, and widening the gap.
In this context, saying “all lives matter” is akin to the fire department saying “all houses matter” while watching yours burn down.