I am miserable all over again, every day, to see that certain americans STILL want to argue against the simple statement that black lives matter

what three words could be less controversial, what sentiment could be easier to stand behind with all your heart

these fellow citizens keep arguing that this is a terrible thing to say, that it must have a secret "only" in front of it or else a "more" at the end, that black people asserting their right to be alive must be a nefarious zero-sum game, a trick or ploy

and then these citizens insist that a different phrase is better, that everyone should say that all lives matter. this appeals to their sense of fairness, and what's justice after all but fairness

but of course the bottom line is not their deep sense of egalitarianism. more realistically, they don't feel comfortable hearing that black lives matter and don't care to understand why it might be necessary to say such a thing out loud

'all lives matter' cannot refute 'black lives matter.' it is not an argument, just an attempt at quieting the one and replacing it with the other. 'all lives matter' is the assertion that 'black lives matter' doesn't need to be and shouldn't be said. it is only ever used this way

'black lives matter' IS an argument. it seeks to pit the simple truth of the three words against every american institution that functions as if the opposite were true, the laws, the money, cops murdering black people in the street or in their beds

if my fellow citizens refuse to understand why it needs to be said in america that black lives matter, and why so many people feel they need to march to say that right now, i'm not sure what else to tell them

i'd love to give them the good ol' magical christian side hug, lil nudge toward righteousness, watch their thinking & compassion suddenly blossom into the minimum amounts we expect from human beings

one little hug and they'd say 'oh my goodness, black lives have been treated as disposable in our country for its entire history! why hadn't I noticed before??'

but hugging almost never works. i wonder if it would work to scream at them. sometimes if you scream at someone that they should think & behave more decently, they're shocked or shamed into doing it. I see parents in the park using this method on careless children.

can't vouch for that being good parenting. for many of my fellow citizens, it is way too late for good parenting anyway. window has closed

oh wait obviously the thing that works is when a rapper lectures you on twitter. in future, i'll just point my fellow citizens to this thread

SOLVED
gnite