Black Lives Matter

Several days ago, I saw a sign at one of the protests that said we have to go beyond "Black Lives Matter", and it stuck with me. (Unfortunately, the location of the sign didn't so I can't give credit where credit is due.)

Black lives do more than "just" matter. Black lives have value, they have worth, they contribute to their communities. Black lives are parents, husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Many are several of those things at once. Black lives are loved by people. And, yes, black lives are friends and coworkers of mine. This is just a part of why black lives matter.

Some people have taken to saying, "All Lives Matter," and aside from the fact that this is a further slap in the face to those black men and women who are being killed, who are under attack, all lives don't seem to matter to these same people when little children are shot down in their schools. All lives didn't seem to matter when we thought the Coronavirus was only killing old people. All lives don't seem to matter as much as getting a haircut or refusing to wear a mask. And all lives don't seem to matter when a 75 year old white man is pushed down to the street during a protest march, or when a young woman is run down by a car. In fact, all lives only seem to matter when someone is trying to silence the people saying, "Black Lives Matter".

A note about the color: I hope the brown background is obvious, as is the black text. The rainbow colors are a nod back to 1968, when Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton used the rainbow as a symbol for multi-racial cooperation and unity. The gay community didn't adopt it until 1979, and it wasn't official as a "gay" symbol until 1994.

Until someone lays claim to the idea -- and I don't know that you can copyright an idea -- the image is free to use, by anyone, free of royalty or fee. I generated it using The Gimp image editing software.