BLACK LIVES MATTER TOO: A THIRD YEAR ANNIVERSARY REFLECTION

The "too" in the Black Lives Matter movement is silent. I think most people who want to know this, do know this.

The movement is really "Black Lives Matter Too"

This movement is meant to indicate that police officers cannot mow black people down at will even when black people are imperfect. If it were a given that the black lives of black people matter too, the movement wouldn't be necessary.
* * * **Black people shouldn't have to to tell police officers and white lookers-on that black lives matter too, even when...

- black people being stalked on a rainy night while wearing a hoodie get scared, OR
- black people are bystanders at a loud party,  OR
- black people are selling loose cigarettes,  OR
- black people fail to signal a turn,  OR
- black people make eye contact with a police officer,  OR
- black people make a U-turn in a secured area,  OR
- black people are in a car that backfires (supposedly - 137 bullets were fired)
- black people who don't have a driver's license while driving,  OR
- black people open the door for policemen they called for help,  OR
- black people play on a playground,  OR
- black people sleep on a couch  OR
- black people walk in a stairwell,  OR
- black people sell CDs and DVDs in front of a convenience store,  OR
- black people drive down a street with a girlfriend


The black lives of Trayvon, Rekia, Eric, Sandra, Freddie, Miriam, Malissa and Tim, Sam, Yvette, Tamir, Aiyanna, Akai, Alton, and Philando and a whole black host of others matter just as much as

1. Timothy McVeigh - white terrorist, who police managed to take alive;
2. Jared Loughner - white mass shooter, who police managed to take alive;
3. James Holmes, - white mass shooter, who police managed to take alive; 
4. and every single member of  Y'ALL QAEDA /WHITE-SIS, who took over federal property in Oregon.

I hope most reasonable people already know that the aim of Black Lives Matter is to raise public awareness of the fact that Black Lives really don't matter nearly as much as white lives to law enforcement. And I hope the more nuanced thinkers have also noticed that white lives matter more to law enforcement even when the police officer involved in the murder of an innocent black citizen is not white. 

But people aren't always nuanced thinkers. Or maybe it's just that some don't have a very holistic view of their own history. And frankly, when people get angry they get dumber. At least, that is what I found to be true when I used to read my own old diary entries. When I'm mad I don't think as well, not in the heat of things. This is why I want to bring it to YOUR attention that a lot of black people are not recognizing black progress, not  Black Lives Matter progress or the progress that is personified in President Barack Obama. 

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updated 7 16 16

See Part 2: ON THE PROGRESS IN THE AGE OF BLACK LIVES MATTER