The counter-slogan “All Lives
Matter” is a rhetorical signal of a threatened position that minimizes the
larger social situation of this violence and the historical perpetuation of
oppression that resonates in the present.
As George Yancy states, “One reason the chant ‘Black Lives
Matter’ is so important is that it states the obvious but the obvious has not
yet been historically realized.” (Yancy)
Alternatively, “All Lives Matter”
as a reactive “slogan” actually functions as a rhetorical strategy of maintenancing
the status
quo, generally on behalf of whites, to put African Americans back into a
silenced position of non-agential submission. Disallowing space for voiced
black subject positions resonates a perceived threat since times of slavery.
There were reasons, important to social and economic control, that slaves were
not allowed to learn to read and write. Through writing, for example, one can
have a voice which is less easily dismissed than silence. One need only turn to
Frederick Douglass to see the continuum from basic literacy, to critical
literacy and acquisition of knowledge, to social action and change. Or as MLK
argued in his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, the silent apathetic
majority, made of whites and blacks, is more dangerous than extremist groups
because no action toward change happens in such a climate of immobility. But
when we read Douglass and King with our students, we often forget to bring them
with us into the present moment, to comment on our continuing social issues in
regard to race relations and how we can continue to work for change. We talk
about the great things MLK and Douglass did and then spend time arguing about
the language of the chant or slogan and dismissing responsibility for more
thoughtful engagement.
In her interview with George Yancy,
Judith Butler speaks to the problem of the deployment of All Lives Matter as a
counter slogan by contextualizing what BLM is within a historical continuum.
All Lives Matter as a rhetorical strategy of disempowerment functions best when
recipients have little knowledge of proper historical and contemporary context
and a lack of understanding of the need for a movement such as BLM:
What
is implied by this statement, a statement that should be obviously true, but
apparently is not? If black lives do not matter, then they are not really
regarded as lives, since a life is supposed to matter. So what we see is that
some lives matter more than others, that some lives matter so much that they
need to be protected at all costs, and that other lives matter less, or not at
all. And when that becomes the situation, then the lives that do not matter so
much, or do not matter at all, can be killed or lost, can be exposed to
conditions of destitution, and there is no concern, or even worse, that is
regarded as the way it is supposed to be. The callous killing of Tamir Rice and
the abandonment of his body on the street is an astonishing example of the
police murdering someone considered disposable and fundamentally ungrievable.
When
we are taking about racism, and anti-black racism in the United States, we have
to remember that under slavery black lives were considered only a fraction of a
human life, so the prevailing way of valuing lives assumed that some lives
mattered more, were more human, more worthy, more deserving of life and
freedom, where freedom meant minimally the freedom to move and thrive without
being subjected to coercive force. But when and where did black lives ever
really get free of coercive force? One reason the chant “Black Lives Matter” is
so important is that it states the obvious but the obvious has not yet been
historically realized. So it is a statement of outrage and a demand for
equality, for the right to live free of constraint, but also a chant that links
the history of slavery, of debt peonage, segregation, and a prison system
geared toward the containment, neutralization and degradation of black lives,
but also a police system that more and more easily and often can take away a
black life in a flash all because some officer perceives a threat. (Butler)
This, in many ways, echoes
what Alicia Garza articulates in her article “A Herstory of #BlackLivesMatter.” All Lives Matter as a reactive slogan
ignores/silences history and context, dismissing singular acts of violence as
isolated and not connected to a historical continuum of state sanctioned
inequality still active symbolically and literally in the examples of police
violence which accelerated this movement. Garza explains:
When we say Black Lives Matter, we are talking
about the ways in which Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and
dignity. It is an acknowledgement Black poverty and genocide is state violence.
It is an acknowledgment that 1 million Black people are locked in cages
in this country–one half of all people in prisons or jails–is an act of state
violence. It is an acknowledgment that Black women continue to bear the
burden of a relentless assault on our children and our families and that
assault is an act of state violence. Black queer and trans folks bearing a
unique burden in a hetero-patriarchal society that disposes of us like garbage
and simultaneously fetishizes us and profits off of us is state violence; the
fact that 500,000 Black people in the US are undocumented immigrants and
relegated to the shadows is state violence;.the fact that Black girls are used
as negotiating chips during times of conflict and war is state violence; Black
folks living with disabilities and different abilities bear the burden of
state-sponsored Darwinian experiments that attempt to squeeze us into boxes of
normality defined by White supremacy is state violence. And the fact is
that the lives of Black people—not ALL people—exist within these conditions is
consequence of state violence.
When Black people get free, everybody gets free
#BlackLivesMatter doesn’t mean your life isn’t
important–it means that Black lives, which are seen as without value within
White supremacy, are important to your liberation. Given the disproportionate
impact state violence has on Black lives, we understand that when Black people
in this country get free, the benefits will be wide reaching and transformative
for society as a whole. When we are able to end
hyper-criminalization and sexualization of Black people and end the poverty,
control, and surveillance of Black people, every single person in this world
has a better shot at getting and staying free. When Black people get
free, everybody gets free. This is why we call on Black people and our
allies to take up the call that Black lives matter. We’re not saying Black
lives are more important than other lives, or that other lives are not
criminalized and oppressed in various ways. We remain in active
solidarity with all oppressed people who are fighting for their liberation and
we know that our destinies are intertwined. (Herstory)
...
Black Lives Matter also calls
attention to identity and ways that young people in general and African Americans
in particular negotiate identity and means of identification from perspectives
of race, class, sexual orientation, and gender in the world and online.
Although we may not find resolutions to some of these issues and conflicts, bringing
the conversations into the classroom can offer students various means of
negotiating these as personal and social conflicts and points of engagement on
their own terms as well as within a community (classroom) context.
The crossover of links and information
among and between sites and platforms -- including the Black Lives Matter
hashtag and Twitter site, the use of Twitter in spreading information and
announcing protests especially in relation to the shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson,
the viral spread of video like that from the infamous Pool Party in Texas
showing the police officer man-handling/assaulting a teenage girl in a bikini –
and real-world action – the move from inside to outside of the internet -- marks
a new kind of possibility for social activism that if continuously utilized may
in fact contribute to real social change. And these kinds of conversations can
open our classrooms to making better connections between the texts we read and
the lives we live in the world. If in fact we want to realize that all lives
and not just some lives matter, that improved race relations and addressing
social inequalities will result in a better society for all people and not just
some people, and if these are issues that some of our students are concerned
with when they enter our classes, we might be able to do more to help all
students link their own lives and experiences with our classroom activities.
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