Why I Post "All Lives Matter"...and Why I Believe It.

There is no great introduction to such a post. No fluffy or catching words to hook you, or to make you want to read more. To be absolutely honest, this started out of a deep hurt and anger at words thrown at me in an article I read today that stated, blatantly and without remorse, that those who say, "All Lives Matter" are racist, even if they don't realize it. 

How on Earth am I allowed to respond to this? To the absolute horrors we all have been witness to?

Yes, racism still exists. Anyone who denies that is an idiot and is incredibly ignorant of the world and the evils that exist in it.

But how am I supposed to respond? 
Do I have to be a celebrity in order for me to say, "All Lives Matter" and have it mean something?
You know why we're responding the way that we do?

Let me try and explain where the #alllivesmatter response is coming from, at least from me and those I know who truly believe that.

Am I proud of the fact that our country kidnapped natives from the African continent and sold them here? NO.

Am I proud of the fact that there are still places in our country with very racist and bigoted ideas and places? NO.

Am I proud of the fact that some cops do overreach and use their power in the wrong way? NO. 

NO NO NO.

What do you want me to say? What am I allowed to say?

Does it come across better because I'm female? That I am a feminist and believe in equal rights and equal treatment for women?

Well, I belong in a camp so I guess that's okay.

What the hell has happened to us?

Are we so numb and angry at the world that saying, "All Lives Matter" in the wake of so many tragedies is considered racist?

What if I believe, whole-heartedly and with every fibre of my being,

that God created all of us? From the very breath and breadth of His Being, willed us, LOVED us into being, and endured the worst imaginable tortures to save us and bring us to greater love for each other, and ultimately to Himself. ALL OF US.

How can I respond, being a white female?

Why am I being called RACIST because I truly love and believe in each and every person, no matter their ethnicity, their lifestyle, their choices, from this world to the next?

Am I off the hook now because I'm a Catholic Christian?

Am I off the hook because the same blinder that blocks true racist bigots from seeing humanity in all around them also blocks others from seeing that those of us, helpless in our position, not only in our skin color but in our utter helplessness to do anything but say, in the wake of ALL of these tragic deaths--

ALL LIVES MATTER.

What other words could I POSSIBLY say, in my position? I'm not allowed to speak.

I am human, aren't I?

Just the same as everyone else?

In trying to stop racism, we have instead alienated those who truly want to help, to love, to heal life in all its forms, in all its peoples.

The famous speech of the Jewish character Shylock from the William Shakespeare play, "The Merchant of Venice", sums up both sides of this issue rather well, both from those of African-American race and those of the Caucasian races, both ultimately after the same goal against those who (black or white) are trying to destroy life and any true civilization as we know it:

"I am a Jew. Hath

not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die?"

(Quoted from Merchant of Venice)

Do you believe me yet?

I'm not a racist.

I'm not a bigot.

But by calling attention to the partition, you are making it worse. What are we truly protesting here?

Policemen?

Racism?

Corruption?

Can you nail down the word for me?

Of course, racism needs to be fought. Absolutely, corruption needs to be fought.

These are found EVERYWHERE (unfortunately), in every creed and color, in every country and every occupation of the world. Even in our nation, it is not only in policemen that these traits are found, as we know all too well. And even when it is, this corruption often stems BEYOND race. It can be highlighted by race (again, unfortunately), but what are we doing by selecting one group of people to focus on is ignoring the actual root of the problem, and instead trying to cure the symptom instead of the disease.

How can we help? If you are not of an ethnicity that has a history of oppression, we are seen as oppressors ourselves, even though we're stepping into the same crowd, pushing back against the same evils, dressing up as racism and dangerous policemen.

We try and stand up and speak out that #alllivesmatter and are called such horrendous names: racist, bigot, ignorant, angry, hate-filled because of it.

How can we help, when we are not allowed?

We are drawing lines in the sand, dividing one group from another, claiming unity by disunity when in reality, it is creating disorder, chaos, and destruction.

Did #blacklivesmatter start this violence?

Of course not.

But take Morgan Freeman's views of Black History Month in regards to racism. In an interview with a 60 Minutes reporter, Mr. Freeman was asked how he felt about Black History Month.

His response?

"Ridiculous."

Continuing on in his explanation of his view, Mr. Freeman said, "You're going to relegate my history to a month? What do you do with yours? Which month is white history month?"

When the reporter responded that there wasn't such a month, Mr. Freeman said, "Do you want one?... I don't [want one] either. I don't want a Black History Month. Black History is American History."

The interviewer then started to ask Mr. Freeman, "How are we going to get rid of racism--?"

He immediately responded, (and this is the point I really want to emphasize here):

"Stop talking about it. I'm going to stop calling you a white man, and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man."

(For the full interview, as well as video clips, click here: http://toprightnews.com/morgan-freeman-destroys-black-history-month-with-one-surprising-word/).

I TRULY believe in life, in all its forms and in all its shades, whether we speak in shades of morality or in shades of ethnicity.

No, I am not putting a blanketed statement over the issues that surround race in this country. And if it appears that way, you haven't truly understood a word I've written.

You know what? It rips my heart out and makes me sick to my stomach just trying to comprehend the levels of hate that our country, and our world, is wading through.

Am I allowed to say that, even from a VERY small child of five and six, my heroes were Harriet Tubman (the African-American woman who famously helped countless slaves escape from the South to freedom in the North) and Rosa Parks? Am I allowed to say that my first and dearest friend was Hispanic, and I didn't even realize? She was my best friend. And I was hers.

And if you're just jumping to assumptions because of what others have said when they've used this hashtag, you are responding in anger and not seeing that there REALLY IS love behind that statement.

I will not (and cannot) speak on behalf of those jackasses who make me a liar by treating that hashtag, those simple placement of words, as a war against those being oppressed and hurt.

But we also cannot simplify the corruption, the evil, the tenacious attack on human life to one race, either.

Or we are creating, even if there are good intentions, the very problem we are trying to fight.

I know, in the wake of these horrors, Martin Luther King Jr's words have been coming up, and I find it most fitting to end this post with his hope, and all our hopes, for our country and those who reside in it:

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of 'interposition' and 'nullification' -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; 'and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.'

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"