In almost every debate, there’s people extremely against the subject, and you have people extremely for the subject. Also, there are those that are neutral, but it’s arguable that subconsciously the neutral people know what side they’re on. So, while there’s typically a legal ruling to determine who’s right in a debate, there’s also an ethical issue. Furthermore, those issues relate a person’s moral principles.
“Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right,” Former President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt said.
With that being said, we will now examine a time in history when it was known what the right thing to do was, but it wasn’t acted out. We will now shift our attention to that time in history.
The time in history I’m talking about is when the united formation of activist movement Black Lives Matter (BLM) took place in 2013. The movement was founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi.
Essentially, the activist group was formed due to the murders of unarmed black men, but they also want to obtain equality for African Americans pertaining to issues outside of police brutality. To clarify, an activist is a person who campaigns for some kind of social change.
Additionally, African Americans are just over 2.0 times more likely to be killed by police, opposed to Caucasian Americans, according to a 2016 Washington Post article. Interestingly enough, All Lives Matter (ALM) was created in response to BLM, because BLM overlooks the importance of other kinds of people, according to ALM.
So, the previous quote looms large in this situation. In my opinion, BLM was not created to put down other races, but to indicate the importance of African American lives. Unfortunately, African Americans are being shot and killed by police, and when the details come out later on a majority of the killings aren’t deemed rational.
To drive home the point, BLM isn’t prioritizing one race over another, in my opinion, but it’s the reality of the social conditions African Americans are going through in 2017. Coming from my perspective as an African American male, the fact that people, of all races, felt they had to start a movement saying black lives mattered indicates that African Americans don’t feel equal to other races.
To round things out, we must look at the debate as an ethical issue. While there’s no legal ruling on BLM yet, ALM was deemed a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Back to the ethics, I genuinely don’t believe BLM is a hate group. Also, I honestly don’t understand how anyone can be against the movement, based on a person’s moral principles.
All in all, BLM wants the killings of unarmed blacks to stop, and equality for all. Remember, ALM was created in response of BLM, so perhaps some people in favor of ALM don’t want equality, and the killings to stop. If that’s the case, there’s a big problem in America, as killing anyone who’s unarmed is wrong, and equality is right. Ultimately, it comes down to knowing what’s right, and doing what’s right.
Your thoughts?
