The Meaning(s) of Black Lives Matter

BLM: Black Lines Matter. Black Lives Matter; a simple phrase, clear on its face. Or not so clear! Words have meanings - more than one meaning. President William Jefferson Clinton once said under oath in a deposition: “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” Then we have this well-known quote from Alice in Wonderland: “When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said ‘It means just what I chose it to mean – neither more nor less.” Alice responded: “The question is, ‘said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.” Humpty responded: “The question is,’ said Humpty, ‘which is to be the master – that’s all.” What does Black Lives Matter mean? – a critical question since polls show a majority of Americans support BLM after the killing of George Floyd. A simple concept is “Of course all lives matter – Black Lives, White Lives, Yellow Lives, Brown Lives, Red Lives and Blue Lives.” That’s one interpretation. Another is “Black Lives Matter, equally; Black Lives Matter, too.” The 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights act of 1964, the Voting Rights act of 1965, and a host of other federal, state, and local statutes and ordinances prohibit discrimination on the basis of race. However racial discrimination persists on a daily basis: the police boot on the neck of the minority communities ”Driving While Black;” the talk with Black Children how to behave when encountering a police officer; the second look Black professional receive from a new customer or patient; the extra scrutiny in stores, the need to work harder to prove oneself; jokes in the workplace; the silent treatment. The list goes on to infinity. Black Lives Matter in this content means Black Lives Are Equal. Black :ives shou;d be treated equally. Patrisee Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garcia, and Opal Tometh are the three founders of Black Lives Matter. They founded #BLM after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin. They say it is directed at police brutality to Blacks. They founded it as a loose organization. They support decarceration, reparations, investment in public education, and community control of police. They also want to defund the police. Patrisse Khan-Cullors said in a 2005 interview of her and Alicia Garcia: “We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on, sort of ideological themes. She added “Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers.” She further said: “We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear-family structure by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages ….” She views the police as an occupying force. The president of Greater New York Black Lives Matter said “If this country doesn’t give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it.” What about the increasing shootings and killings, even of children in the Black communities? Don Lemon, the CNN broadcaster explained: “So the Black Lives Matter movement is about police brutality and injustice in that manner, not about what happens in Black neighbothoods.” Not all Black lives are equal! And then we have the rioters, Molotov cocktail throwing anarchists in Portland, especially Portland, and other cities. They yell Black Lives Matter, but that’s a convenient cry. They were rioting in Portland long before George Floyd. The Antifis and woke social justice warriors want to tear down and destroy today’s America and create a new social justice, socialistic America. Arson, looting, rioting in the name of George Floyd is a grave disservice to his memory. It has nothing to do with Black Lives Matter. The meaning of Black Lives Matter? As Humpty Dumpty said, you choose its meaning.