For those of you that think ‘all lives matter’ heres a quick and easy explanation

[TeddyIsaHe]

MN can be extremely racist at times, most posters that have been here for a while will know this.

All lives can’t matter until black lives do. It’s something we ALL need to understand and I think this makes it very easy for people to grasp.

@randomer oh yes! I forget racism exists in one place when it’s worse somewhere else. Thanks for reminding me!

The breast cancer analogy is best. When people support breast cancer awareness, they don't say "all cancer matters." Of course it does, but in that moment it's bring focus to breast cancer.

That analogy has been used a lot of Twitter and Facebook the last few days and I've seen help people suffering from white fragility wake up to the actual point.

Not an analogy but pertinent

@WriteronaMission again, it doesn't really educate. Using the cancer analogy, we're saying, "yes, all cancers are awful but right now the spotlight is on breast cancer. We'll get to lung cancer next". The problem in reality is that the spotlight is never on the importance of black lives.

The breast cancer analogy is best. When people support breast cancer awareness, they don't say "all cancer matters." Of course it does, but in that moment it's bring focus to breast cancer.

Actually, there are plenty of people who say that there is too much focus on breast cancer and the fact that all the big corporate campaigns are related to breast cancer and other cancers don't get a look in. I have had breast cancer and have seen this discussion quite a bit in various 'communities'.

I think the house on fire analogy is the best, the analogy in the OP doesn't really work!

@WriteronaMission again, it doesn't really educate. Using the cancer analogy, we're saying, "yes, all cancers are awful but right now the spotlight is on breast cancer. We'll get to lung cancer next". The problem in reality is that the spotlight has never been on the importance of black lives. People waking up to the fact that some focus is needed on black lives won't change anything. They have to understand why that focus never existed in the first place, and deconstruct the causes.

The house analogy is good, I don't really get the one in the OP, because just my opinion I don't think it conveys what it's trying to. The main issue though is that a lot of people seem to associate priveledge with having a nice, easy life and nice things, and don't understand it in this context. If they don't have that, often they cannot comprehend how someone could call them priveledged when they're struggling. The best way I have found to help people understand is: white priveledge doesn't mean that your life isn't hard, it means that it isn't made harder by the colour of your skin.

MN is not extremely racist

Are you new?

It's those that need to " get it" OP that never will. Thick as fuck racists never want to learn, they don't think they're racist, they don't think they're wrong.

I understand white privilege as the luxury of not really knowing how lucky you are to be white because you've never not been.

Luxury was the wrong word there I couldn't think of an alternative.

"White people pretending this doesn’t make sense is what white people do" I think there's a name for that kind of generalisation.

If someone is really racist then you're wasting your time. So you need to raise awareness of inequality in people who would be on your side if they only saw the problem.

As I've got older I have come to understand that there are many kinds of inequality which went right over my head when I was younger. I just didn't see them. So there is a need for that.

But the people you are trying to reach are not the enemy and thinking of them that way is counter-productive.

"White people pretending this doesn’t make sense is what white people do" I think there's a name for that kind of generalisation

'The fragility of white privilege' is the first term that springs to mind.

lilmishap did you just say that because it sounded clever or do you have a real response to make? If it was just for points that's fine.

I get it, I think it’s confronting & accurate. Thanks for sharing.

I'm black and I don't actually like or use the term white privilege. I feel it's just another way of blaming people for their skin colour. It just makes me uncomfortable.

I also do think all lives matter because I believe in equality. It's time we stop the segregation and join together. What happened is a tragedy and has affected me deeply especially with having black relatives who live in America. But creating a bigger divide is unhelpful. We're all people.

Personally I think the whole thing is a ridiculous argument over semantics. It's not supposed to be 'black lives instead of white' and anyway, where does that leave all of those 'non-white' cultures who dont identify as 'black'?. What they mean is 'black lives matter TOO' (as opposed to instead of. 'All lives matter' is semantically more accurate surely, and also encompasses all colours and creeds. Tbh I would be devastated if I was George Floyd's family (aside from the obvious reasons of his murder) because it is deepening this divide. What (I believe) society should be doing is standing together not arguing over semantics and failing to act to make positive change. Mind you I feel similarly confused by the concept of 'blackout Tuesday'..... it might be very nice virtue signalling but what does it change? It is serving to silence people - 'I will post a black box and add a #, job done, i can forget about that' and that's what happens with white privilege. We might know it's wrong but we look the other way until its not in the foreground again. We ARE missing the point, it would have been much more effective in terms of making the truly racists uncomfortable/question themselves if we had flooded the internet with pictures of black faces for example.

That was the real response. It was hardly a thesis either.

Completely agree with you OP. And also the house fire analogy, and the breast cancer one. All make the point very clear.

I have to admit that I didn’t get the issue with all lives matter until I read this. I don’t consider myself unintelligent but am embarrassed by my ignorance.

JustOneMoreStep I completely agree.

I agree over Blackout Tuesday @JustOneMoreStep. I didn't partake as what then for most people? I'm not an activist but I keep my own white privilege in check through my daily thoughts, words and behaviours.

It's right at the heart of this issue. I can say 'all lives matter' because, let's face it, if a police officer knelt on a white man's neck for 9 minutes and he died, that would be just as terrible. But that overlooks the fact that the only reason a police officer was kneeling on George Floyd's neck, was the fact that his skin was black.

I think that often white people are very uncomfortable when the spotlight is on undeniable racist violence towards black people, and they think that when people protest it they are saying "it's your fault".
"All lives matter" is like people putting their hands over their ears and going "la la la la" very loudly when faced with the ugly reality. It doesn't go away but if they try and distract attention then they don't have to feel bad.
It's just childish that's all.

I've seen lots of these explanations over the last few days, I don't think it's up to me to decide which analogies work and which ones don't, everyone has different opinions and feelings and therefore what works for one to describe the way they feel won't necessarily best represent the way someone else feels. The whole point is for all of these opinions, feelings and voices to be heard.

I think the problems with ' trying to prevent a 'divide' and not getting caught up in 'semantics' are that the divide already exists and that the words people use can reinforce it.
Black people live with it everyday but situations like George Floyd's death just bring it to the forefront. Pretending that it doesn't exist or even behaving peacefully and coming-together does not work and is not producing the change that is needed. Sometimes it takes more extreme actions to produce change.