This year’s disruption came from Black Lives Matter, the anti-racist movement sparked in the aftermath of Ferguson and fueled by the steady drip of police violence against black Americans. Midway through O’Malley’s remarks, demonstrators marched toward the stage, chanting names of black women killed by the police or who died in police custody.
After a few minutes of protest, organizers handed protesters microphones, and they used the opportunity to question and challenge O’Malley on police brutality. O’Malley, notes BuzzFeed’s Ruby Cramer, was supportive, nodding his head in assent to the questions and concerns.
He erred, however, when protesters shouted their slogan, “Black lives matter!” O’Malley responded, “Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.” The demonstrators booed. The reason is easy to understand. “Black lives matter” is a statement of specific concern; police violence is most acute against black Americans, and so activists stress the importance of their lives. To reply with “all lives matter” is to suggest there’s no specific problem of police abuse targeted at black Americans. It’s as if someone responded to an annual breast cancer drive with “Breast cancer matters. Prostate cancer matters. All cancer matters.” It sounds like a dismissal, and that’s how it was received. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/07/netroots_nation_black_lives_matter_protest_hillary_clinton_needs_to_take.html
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2015-07-26 05:42 am (UTC)This year’s disruption came from Black Lives Matter, the anti-racist movement sparked in the aftermath of Ferguson and fueled by the steady drip of police violence against black Americans. Midway through O’Malley’s remarks, demonstrators marched toward the stage, chanting names of black women killed by the police or who died in police custody.
After a few minutes of protest, organizers handed protesters microphones, and they used the opportunity to question and challenge O’Malley on police brutality. O’Malley, notes BuzzFeed’s Ruby Cramer, was supportive, nodding his head in assent to the questions and concerns.
He erred, however, when protesters shouted their slogan, “Black lives matter!” O’Malley responded, “Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter.” The demonstrators booed. The reason is easy to understand. “Black lives matter” is a statement of specific concern; police violence is most acute against black Americans, and so activists stress the importance of their lives. To reply with “all lives matter” is to suggest there’s no specific problem of police abuse targeted at black Americans. It’s as if someone responded to an annual breast cancer drive with “Breast cancer matters. Prostate cancer matters. All cancer matters.” It sounds like a dismissal, and that’s how it was received.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/07/netroots_nation_black_lives_matter_protest_hillary_clinton_needs_to_take.html