The “Black Lives Matter” movement has become increasingly visible in recent months. There have been many incidents of black people being shot by cops, such as the recent shooting of Philando Castile in Minnesota. The #BlackLivesMatter protesters would like to see that stop.
That hashtag is being used to represent the groups of black people who are protesting against the police. There is another hashtag that is being seen as the opposite of #BlackLivesMatter, which is #AllLivesMatter. That hashtag is now seen as racist and has been turned into a racial slur. Here is an informative comic about the issue:
RT @chainsawsuit: all houses matter: the extended cut https://t.co/phGXZF5KDw pic.twitter.com/fTFWiwLhWR
— Kris Straub @ PAXAus (@krisstraub) July 7, 2016
Here is another tweet explaining why #AllLivesMatter is wrong:
For anyone trying to slide into my mentions with the #alllivesmatter please miss me with that and read this. pic.twitter.com/3UiiaqMXtl
— Imani Hakim (@anakih1) July 6, 2016
Jennifer Lopez is receiving some backlash from the Twitter community after using #AllLivesMatter in a tweet on Tuesday. The tweet was quickly deleted.
It was also used in an Instagram post, but it has since been deleted:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHs2EacgIs6/
One Twitter user wrote:
“I just lost respect for @JLo after her tweeting/deleting all lives matter. How complicated is it to understand #blm doesn’t mean others don’t?”
Another singer, Ian Astbury of the Cult, said this after saying “all lives matter” on stage:
“I sincerely and deeply apologize to everyone I offended by using the phrase ‘all lives matter’ … I fully support #blacklivesmatter and wished to show my solidarity. So disheartened to know that I have offended people of color. Thank you for enlightening me that this phrase is offensive.”
Hopefully, many of us will learn from these people’s mistakes and not use the term again. I know I won’t be using it anymore.
Here is a YouTuber discussing the issue of #BlackLivesMatter vs. #AllLivesMatter:
Featured image via Flikr by The Cable Show available under a Creative Commons license
