Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter

Written by Binta Marong, 15.

Atlanta, Georgia.

The term ‘Black Lives Matter’ has been a controversial social movement since it’s growth in popularity following the murder of Trayvon Martin. The ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement’s development came with a lot of criticism and backlash surrounding the phrases, methods, and ways the movement expressed itself. This led to many other slogans being created to diminish and criticize the action in every way.

The conversation of Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter is an every going argument that may never come to a place of understanding. Still, in every way, it’s a meaningful conversation to have and a controversy that brings a lot of thoughts and ideologies to light. ‘All Lives Matter’ is seen as a phrase used to diminish the highlighting of systematic racism towards individuals of the Black race. This phrase is not only used in a negative context, but we see the words used by politicians, government, and even our own president, which adds more of a negative stigma to the term.

In years following the Black Lives Matter movement, individuals supporting the movement still try to explain and express how the term Black Lives matter is in no way trying to diminish or overlook the importance of other races’ lives. We need to highlight and bring awareness to the thousands of Black men, women, and children who lost their lives merely because of the color of their skin.

When slogans are used against the Black Lives Matter supporters, it merely silences them again, when they were trying to project their voices in the first place. We should all empathize and try to shield ourselves from ignorance surrounding these types of topics to avoid conflict and ripples amongst our communities. Without unity, we will never solve our problems.