"Black Lives Matter" really means "Black Lives Matter, Too"
When Martin O’Malley said, “Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter”, a great backlash resulted. The backlash came from people who emphasize that “Black lives matter” and have turned the assertion into a slogan. Of course, O’Malley’s statement in and of itself is perfectly valid, but the statement in and of itself is not being disputed. What is being disputed is the false equivalence implied by the statement.
People who say “Black lives matter” are working from a
certain premise. Their premise could be right or wrong, but before their
position is attacked, that premise ought to be understood. The indignant response
to the criticism of those who retort “All lives matter” shows serious
misunderstanding of the issue.
Perhaps there are people who believe that black lives matter more than white ones or other ones. But for most of those saying “Black lives matter”, their motivating belief is that black lives have been, and remain, particularly undervalued in our society. That’s what I’m calling their premise.
It should not be controversial to say that historically, black people
have been valued less and treated particularly badly, or at least, valued less
and treated worse than whites. There is legitimate debate over how much this
injustice has been corrected, and how much of the disparity remains. But people
should not be faulted for thinking that some anti-black
discrimination—official, structural, or otherwise—remains. And when they say in
response to the killing of a black person by a police officer that “Black lives
matter”, their protest should be understood for what it is—a protest against
the undervaluing of black lives, not a claim that other lives don’t matter.
Since the claim that non-black lives don’t matter is
not (generally) being made, therefore, the retort that “All lives matter” is beside the
point. Of course all lives matter, but when that statement is made in this
context, it suggests that the particularly discriminatory treatment of blacks
historically and to some extent presently is not a fact.
So even if you do not agree that black lives remain
undervalued compared to white lives, you should at least understand where those
emphasizing the value of black lives are coming from. To emphasize the value of
a persecuted group is not to deny the value of other groups, but to emphasize
the value of other groups in response is to deny (or at least minimize) the
undervaluing of the persecuted group. So "Black Lives Matter" really means "Black Lives Matter As Much, So Please Treat Them Accordingly". Maybe not as pithy a slogan, but thoughtful people should be able to infer the left-out part.