Zane T. Crute, president, Mystic Valley Area Branch of the NAACP and the assistant secretary, New England Area Conference of the NAACP, writes the sixth in a series calling for dialogue around police reform and racial justice in Arlington. Contact those involved in this series at arlingtonma.voices at gmail.com.
Often, in our political climate, some offer opinions that serve no place in driving productive discourse in society. These opinions do not invoke critical thinking or present a reasonable viewpoint, but are summoned in an attempt to undermine a movement.
Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter. That catch-phrase in isolation should not be partisan or create division. One cannot reasonably claim to be unversed in the history of racial rules (written and unwritten) of our nation: the slave trade, Jim Crow, incarceration disparity. Drawing more attention to black lives having value and needing to get the same treatment in society should not be problematic. More specifically, calling for justice and consequences for grotesque and repeated public killings of black people at the hands of the police should not create a countermovement.
Movements are about progress
No serious member of the Black Lives Matter movement ever suggested nonblack lives do not matter. Such a claim would undermine the very movement. No single movement is about every person, trait or identity. Movements are about making progress toward equality for those who have not yet gained it.
The NAACP has fought for over a century for social, political, economic and educational equity for everyone, but particularly for those who have had disparate opportunities because of their race.
Black Lives Matter is no different. Those who scream “All Lives Matter” with pride, generally do so only to rebut and discredit the Black Lives Matter movement. Enough time has passed since the start of the movement that a reasonable person who has considered its arguments should by now understand that the movement is not to the exclusion of non-Black Lives.
We have freedom of speech in this nation so one can support All Lives Matter if one wants to, though those who do should be honest with themselves. They need to admit that they do so because they do choose to deny the historical validity of the transgressions that have been inflicted against African Americans since the birth of our nation.
Anti-police brutality is not anti-police
Claiming they are anti-police is a common refrain against those who want to see reforms in policing in America. Because of political propaganda in the mainstream and social media, people form opinions while failing to understand the crux of the movement they are against. Wanting accountability and justice for a black life in America does not make one anti-police. When one attends an event such as Arlington Backs the Blue, one should at least have an understanding of what they are backing and why.
Nowadays, binary thinking is far too prevalent in society. Police doing their job the right way should be lauded. On the flip side, wanting someone, whether black or not, to not get beaten or choked to death for selling cigarettes or allegedly using a counterfeit bill does not mean we hate police. Movements such as Blue Lives Matter do not leave room for this train of thought. Instead, this countermovement strives to discredit the fight against police brutality while being willfully ignorant of the reason for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Why do some people feel like police need not be held accountable for their actions? “Listen to the police!” some say. When a white kid does not listen to the police and comes home with a story to tell, that weakens the argument to simply “Listen to the police!” Why do some feel like black people have to uniformly listen to the police? Michael Brown was not able to come home, because the police chose to punish an 18-year-old with a death sentence.
This does not hold true for white armed assailants and terrorists, such as Dylann Roof, who are able to go to Burger King in handcuffs after massacring nine people in a black church. Do people really believe one has the obligation to uniformly listen to anyone with a badge, or are those folks ready to admit that they do not assign a black life to the same value? Regardless, the job of a police officer is not to enact all parts of the criminal-justice process. It is not in the scope of police work to sentence one to death.
Wanting to extremely limit or abolish qualified immunity, take away the stranglehold power of police unions and reallocate some of the budget from policing to social services does not mean we want to abolish the police. Nor does this mean we want to see police officers ambushed and murdered in cold blood, as we saw in Dallas in 2016. Fighting against police brutality is not fighting against police. Blue lives and all lives seem to matter only when they are weaponized to silence the clamor for justice of Black Lives Matter.
Sept. 30, 2020: Part 5: History of police unions: Time to change
This viewpoint was published Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020.
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