87 Seconds's video: The problem with All Lives Matter

It’s always been weird to me the number of people who have beef with the phrase “Black Lives Matter”. Someone else’s life mattering doesn’t mean your life doesn’t matter, it isn’t a pie. And yet thousands of people in the United States don’t understand that. Just a couple of days ago, someone was arrested for yelling “All Lives Matter!” before shooting an arrow into a crowd of protesters. Which is kind of ironic when you think about it…. So today I’m going to tackle Black Lives Matter and why in actuality, not all lives matter. The problem with the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is that it isn’t complete. There’s an implied “Also”, as in “Black Lives Also Matter”. We all know that everybody’s lives should matter- white, black, yellow, or brown. But the phrase Black Lives Matter points towards the systemic racism against black individuals in most countries. Not just the United States. Brazil, Germany, Italy, and many other countries have their own version of Black Lives Matter which is one of the reasons why they’re also participating in the George Floyd protests. These racisms make it seem like black lives don’t matter, hence the name of the movement. To make it easier to understand, I’ve come up with an example to illustrate the futility of the phrase “All Lives Matter”. Imagine you, your brother, sister, mother, and father just finished eating a family dinner. Your mom brings out desert- it’s a cherry pie! And she cuts it into fourths. She gives ¼ to your brother, ¼ to your sister, ¼ to your father, and ¼ to herself. You just got skipped over on pie. Indigent, you yell “Why didn’t I get a slice of pie? I deserve a slice of pie too!” to which your father immediately responds with “Everybody deserves a slice of pie”. Yes, your father is technically correct. Everybody at the dinner table does deserve a slice of pie, but his comment doesn’t fix the fact that everybody else in your family got a slice of pie except for yourself. It’s the same thing with All Lives Matter. Yes, that’s technically correct- everybody’s lives do matter. But the phrase “All Lives Matter” doesn’t change the fact that WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY that treats people of color as second class citizens.