BLM

I think that groups such as Black Lives Matter are absolutely crucial in this country that has such a long and storied history of racial injustice that continues on to this very day. I'm well aware that Black Lives Matter is far from free from controversy but I think that despite the negative aspects of it that many try to ascribe, it serves an important role as a watch dog of sorts when it comes to injustices done to the black community here in the United States. When we live in a country where innocent black people are gunned down by law enforcement, it's so incredibly salient that there are groups around that bring such instances into the national spotlight and make people aware of them. Such instances are unfortunately far from a new development. Ever since the days of Jim Crow and long before, black people have had to deal with hurdles that the rest of us have the luxury of being spared. When it comes to the black experience in America, I can't say much because all I'm aware of is second hand. I understand that it's annoying to hear someone say that they understand something that someone else is going through because they've had a "similar" experience, so I'm wary of making any such comparisons. "Similar" is not the same, so I've found that it's best to keep my piece in any discussion within the realms of the second hand understanding that I have. While I am not black, I am American, and I am a human being, so this is an important social topic to be aware of, thus I do my best to keep up, although I'll admit I could improve in some aspects. Towards the beginning of this article I said that one reason BLM is important is that we live in a country where black people get gunned down, and by leaving it at that, I really showed some of my own privilege. I just cited one of the more extreme examples, when the reality is that there is so much more that BLM brings to the larger attention of society. Injustice isn't always huge and sometimes it's hard to see, particularly if you aren't the one that it's being inflicted upon. This is why organizations such as this are necessary and it is also why some greet them with disdain. There are ugly aspects of our society and being forced to look at them is unpleasant, but it's been said many times and in many ways; if you don't like hearing about racism, how do you imagine people who have to live with it feel? Another thing that always grabs my attention is when some people hear the well known phrase and give the equally known retort: "all lives matter". It grabs my attention because I've never seen such an obvious put down in my life. It's so incredibly disingenuous because of the context. In any other instance, "all lives matter" would be a nice thing to say, but like I said, context is very important here. All lives matter in this context is nothing but an effort to shut up dissent towards the flaws of society, unsurprisingly from people that benefit from those flaws. So in a nutshell, I see BLM as something of a societal antibiotic. It's attempting to cleanse a disease that's plaguing the larger social body that we're all a part of.