All lives

I saw a post where someone asked what good BLM does for our communities. I am sure it was a sincere question. Probably from someone who has heard that Black Lives Matter organizers are really terrorists, and that those who peacefully protest extra-judicial killings of black people are really all rioters.

Here is my response:

When one asks what good BLM does for our communities, it leads me to ask which communities you are speaking of. The white suburban and rural communities who want to keep it that way? Probably not much. If your community includes black folks who want to raise their children to adulthood with dignity, who would love to see the police as protectors, but can't because fear of black folks turns what could be ordinary traffics stops into crime scenes, then BLM is speaking for those whose voices many white folks are deaf to.

I have an 11 year old grandson with Autism. He is biracial, which means black to most white people. He is non-verbal. He is large for his age. What happens if he comes across the police or they come across him and he does not follow their instructions, because he can't?

All police officers are not enemies. Most are probably very nice people trying to make a difference and go home safely to their families. But they were raised in a society that generally does not value black lives the same as other lives. Ask yourself why white missing kids get more amber alerts and faces on the news than black missing kids. Why white kids who make mistakes and break the law are given second chances and the benefit of the doubt much more often than black kids. We are conditioned to fear young black men. To assume they are probably up to no good.

Most of them are probably very nice people trying to make it in this world and go home safely to their families.

The fact that some people in our society feel a strong need to remind the rest of us that their lives matter should be telling us something. Are we listening?

For those of you who don't know the grandson, I speak of, his name is Julian. I can't protect him from society by myself. I need your help to change our culture so that they know his life matters, too.