The New York Times today presents a thought provoking editorial on “The Truth of ‘Black Lives Matter’ “
It provides several examples where black lives haven’t mattered in the past and how “efforts to portray the movement as inflammatory or anti-white ignore the long history of racism and violence against blacks in America.”
The Editorial concludes:
The “Black Lives Matter” movement focuses on the fact that black citizens have long been far more likely than whites to die at the hands of the police, and is of a piece with this history. Demonstrators who chant the phrase are making the same declaration that voting rights and civil rights activists made a half-century ago. They are not asserting that black lives are more precious than white lives. They are underlining an indisputable fact — that the lives of black citizens in this country historically have not mattered, and have been discounted and devalued. People who are unacquainted with this history are understandably uncomfortable with the language of the movement. But politicians who know better and seek to strip this issue of its racial content and context are acting in bad faith. They are trying to cover up an unpleasant truth and asking the country to collude with them.
Worthwhile reading here.
Added:
Also read an excellent, balanced editorial on why “Supporting equal justice and police [should] not [be] mutually exclusive” in my hometown newspaper, the Austin American Statesman.
lead photo: Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com
