Name: Saying ‘All Lives Matter’ doesn’t make you racist, just extremely ignorant
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Saying ‘All Lives Matter’ doesn’t make you racist, just extremely ignorant

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NEW!9,990sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio -- Something inside Mike Pence wouldn’t allow him to say it.When asked (on of all days) to utter the words “Black lives matter,” the Vice President of the United States chose instead to recite a phrase that has become one of America’s most ignorant rallying cries: “All lives matter.”“Let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy,” Pence said in if he would say ‘Black lives matter.’ “And in this nation, especially on Juneteenth, we celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation we’ve cherished the ideal that all, all of us are created equal, and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And so all lives matter in a very real sense.”The vice president isn’t wrong for believing all lives are important. Yet, he, like too many people these days, is misguided for believing All Lives Matter is some sort of righteous rebuttal to Black Lives Matter, a movement that exists to It might serve Pence well to remember that several of the men who founded this country under the ideal that “all of us are created equal” were slave owners themselves.Black Lives Matter first made national headlines in 2014 following the police killings of Mike Brown and Eric Garner. The movement was founded to “build local power and to intervene when violence was inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes,” as its states.The slogan isn’t “ONLY Black Lives Matter.” Nor is it “Black Lives Matter more than others.” You’ve probably seen a message like this floating around social media:When the Boston Marathon was bombed, social media profile pictures became “Boston strong!” Nobody said, “All cities are strong!”When the Las Vegas shooting happened, people changed their profile, “Stand with Vegas.” Nobody said, “Well what about the people that got shot in my city!”Have you ever seen someone counter a “breast cancer” post with “what about colon cancer?”But for some reason, if someone says “Black lives matter” it turns into all-inclusive “all lives matter.”The difference with Black Lives Matter is that it forces some to admit an uncomfortable truth. While all lives should matter, black lives have been disregarded time and time again.Did Black lives matter when George Zimmerman was acquitted after killing Trayvon Martin? Did Black lives matter when a police officer who lied on his job application killed Tamir Rice and was then hired for another police job?Did Black lives matter when an officer kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while his fellow officers did nothing? Do Black lives matter when the officers who killed Breonna Taylor haven’t been charged?I’d like to think there’s hope for change. In a recent , 76 percent of respondents said racial discrimination is a big problem in the United States, up from 25 percent from 2015.Yet, how much hope can one have when the vice president isn’t part of that 76 percent? In the same Juneteenth interview, Pence said he does not “accept the fact that there’s a segment of American society that disagrees in the preciousness and importance of every human life.” (Pence has since , even attempting to use Martin Luther King Jr. to justify his views).In Pence’s mind, we live in a country more racially harmonious than statistics would suggest. A country where Black men than white men to be killed by police. Where black employees make of what white workers make doing the same job. Where black men statistically receive prison sentences than white men who commit the same crimes.Does that make Mike Pence and anyone who responds to Black Lives Matter with All Lives Matter a racist? Not necessarily.But they do fall into a trap of racial dismissal and denial that prevents this country from experiencing real change. They must open their eyes or even a history book to understand that if all lives truly mattered to everyone in the first place, America wouldn’t be in this mess.Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!9,990sharesCLEVELAND, Ohio -- Something inside Mike Pence wouldn’t allow him to say it.When asked (on of all days) to utter the words “Black lives matter,” the Vice President of the United States chose instead to recite a phrase that has become one of America’s most ignorant rallying cries: “All lives matter.”“Let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy,” Pence said in if he would say ‘Black lives matter.’ “And in this nation, especially on Juneteenth, we celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation we’ve cherished the ideal that all, all of us are...

Saying ‘All Lives Matter’ doesn’t make you racist, just extremely ignorant

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