In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered one of the greatest speeches in American history. King voiced a dream that his “four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” He preached that the value of one’s life didn’t depend on race, with “all of God’s children” deserving equal treatment. To most, the message that all lives matter is a rejection of bigotry. To social justice warriors?
It’s racist.
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley discovered that at an event in 2015 when he was booed for declaring, “Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.” If O’Malley thought his statement would be uncontroversial, he soon found out otherwise: O’Malley was booed before activists stormed the stage (he quickly apologized).
RELATED NEWS: When Leftists Say “Only Whites Are Racist,” Minorities Should Worry.
What’s wrong with saying “all lives matter?” According to Chris Tognotti, the phrase “really needs to go away” because it ignores “instances of black people being slain by police without any legal action afterward.” Among the examples he lists is Michael Brown, a man whose shooting was determined to have been lawful by the Obama Justice Department.
However, it’s clear that unjustified police killings do happen…it’s just not clear why they should only concern African-Americans. In fact, a study done at Harvard found that officers were actually more likely to shoot white suspects. Being white certainly didn’t protect six year-old Jeremy Mardis: he was killed after two black officers opened fire on his unarmed father. And while the two did face justice, former Arizona cop Philip “Mitch” Brailsford didn’t. Brailsford was acquitted despite footage of him killing an unarmed white man who was begging for his life.
RELATED NEWS: Black Lives Matter Gets Black People Killed.
And what’s truly ironic is that the Black Lives Matter movement actually threatens black lives. Murders in Baltimore went up after police pulled back following BLM protests, many of which turned violent. Meanwhile, Chicago’s murder rate soared in the wake of BLM activism there, and it’s not hard to see why.
When cops fear that every use of force will be called racist regardless of the facts, they’re aren’t eager confront potential criminals: a poll published in 2017 by the Pew Research Center found that 72% of law enforcement officers believed their colleagues have become less likely to stop and question suspicious individuals. And it’s not hard to see why that reluctance correlates with more killings: figures from Baltimore showed that 36 percent of those arrested for homicide in 2017 were either on probation or parole.
While this reluctance endangers everyone, African-Americans are the ones most at risk: blacks make up around half of homicide victims--despite being only 13 percent of the population. Although when Tognotti says “society doesn’t treat” the loss of black lives seriously, he’s partly right; after all, social justice advocates rarely express outrage over crimes like this:
Unjustified police shootings are wrong no matter who the victims are; so is demonizing every police action as racist and putting people at risk as a result. Why? Because all lives matter. Dr. King longed for a time when “black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands” in recognition of that. Unfortunately, the social justice crowd is standing in the way.
This article was originally published at Western Free Press.
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