Black Lives Matter and Zero-sum thinking

BLACK LIVES MATTER. The very words cause an increase in blood pressure and instant anger among many white people, and I can’t understand why, so I decided to write about what BLM actually means and what it doesn’t mean. If your mind is closed, stop reading now.

It DOESN’T mean ONLY black lives matter.

It DOESN’T mean Black lives matter MORE

It DOESN’T mean white lives DON’T matter.

It DOESN’T mean ALL lives don’t matter. 

It’s just a simple observation: Black lives matter.

Many people claim that Black Lives Matter’s name somehow proves that it is anti-white or racist, so they reply with “all lives matter.” They are missing the point entirely.  Black lives matter because we as a country have passed laws at every juncture since slavery was ended in 1865, to suppress and put down Black Americans.  For over 300 years in this country, black lives have NOT mattered.  BLM simply stands for the proposition that black lives actually do matter.

For some reason, too many white people can’t get this into perspective, so they fall back on ALL LIVES MATTER because they are unable or unwilling to understand.     

I will try to explain this in terms that have nothing to do with race, for those who are defensive about racial issues.  

The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure Walks are three-day walks held annually in four U.S. cities. These walks require a minimum of $2,300 in fundraising to participate.  Walkers walk up to 20 miles per day for three days and camp overnight for two nights.  This organization seeks to raise awareness and money in its goal of finding a cure for breast cancer.

I have seen these events many times.   Not once have I seen or heard of any of the participants being accosted or asked why they are focused only on breast cancer, because everybody knows that all cancer matters.   Nobody asks them why they don’t care about prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer or childhood leukemia.

Nobody seeks to denigrate this organization because their focus is not as broad as it might be. It’s not that the Komen organization does not care about other forms of cancer; it’s just that they are focused on breast cancer.   

The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride is a global motorcycle event raising funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men's mental health programs on behalf of the Movember Foundation.  They have raised $27.45 million dollars since 2012.   

Again, this organization is not saying that ONLY prostate cancer is important or that women are not as important as men because their target is a cancer which is almost exclusively male.    The movement is not vilified or disparaged because their focus in not all cancers, so why are BLM supporters pilloried for championing the lives of black Americans?

People who advocated and fought for the right of gay people to be married were in no way opposed to heterosexual marriage.   Their aim was to support the rights of gay people to enjoy the same rights and privileges as others.   They were not derided and denounced for their lack of support for heterosexuals, so why do so many whites want BLM to support the rights of “All Lives”.  

For too many years, laws were in place in the United States that legally allowed whites to maim, torture and kill blacks.  For too many years, whites were legally allowed to openly discriminate against blacks.   For too many years, government programs were instituted to keep blacks down.    For too many years the black vote has been suppressed by one machination after another.   Each and every one of these absolutely proved that black lives DID NOT matter.   This country has a rich, storied history of doing everything it can to prove that black people are less than people.

I am personally disgusted by the number of white people I meet who are actually opposed to the BLM movement. I’m not threatened by it, and you shouldn’t be either.

Zero-sum thinking is a way of thinking in which one perceives situations as zero-sum games, where one’s gain is another’s loss. Black Lives Matter is NOT a zero-sum game.  For black lives to matter does NOT mean that other lives do not.