Racial Equality

In the midst of all the chaos and confusion between unarmed African-American men and our highly militarized cops, the all too familiar conversation arises:

"Black lives matter!"
"No, all lives matter!"

Often, the meaning of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement gets distorted by media outlets that set forth a specific political agenda or by people who hold a certain political bias. At the very core, the BLM movement is about addressing the disproportionate killings and incarceration of specifically African-American men.

Racial disparities sentences is what allows an affluent white man to be sentenced to only three months in jail for rape and a low-income black man to be sentenced five years for the same crime. In addressing racial disparities in arrests for possession of marijuana, a case-study conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union states that "in 2010, nationwide the white arrest rate was 192 per 100,000 whites, and the black arrest rate was 716 per 100,000 blacks."
This is why we say Black Lives Matter.*
And when we do say Black Lives Matter, we don't mean black lives are the only lives the matter. Yes, we know that all lives matter, however all lives will matter when black lives do. The movement is not one of exclusion. Rather, it is one of addressing injustices in one particular case, and that's not to say the injustices don't exist elsewhere.
As explained by a Reddit user, "imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say 'I should get my fair share.' And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, 'everyone should get their fair share.' Now, that's a wonderful sentiment -- indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also." Similarly, by saying "All lives matter" in response to "Black Lives Matter", one is ignoring and not accurately addressing the existential injustices against African-American citizens.
This is why we protest.*
The controversial killings of Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, among others, has led to the violent outbreaks in many cities around the United States. As a result, the BLM movement has received mixed feelings of discontent and criticism. Surely, non-violent approaches to protest racial inequalities would be more effective and receive much more positive responses, right? As shown by the reactions to Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem, it becomes evident that there's no right way to fight for racial equality without treading on people's pride and views of patriotism. Though, as the author of The Partly Cloudy Patriot finely describes, "the true American patriot is by definition skeptical of the government."

*Another disclaimer: I say we to represent the inclusion of all peoples to the BLM movement, but it may seem like I'm taking credit for the actions of the movement. As a result, this blog post will be my tiny contribution to the BLM movement.

Broken Declarations

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
This statement is perhaps the most iconic one in the entirety of the Declaration of Independence, for it well establishes the altruistic intentions of American democracy and the less-discussed hypocrisy of that establishment. While the signers of the Declaration pointed out the unjust actions of an overseas tyrant, they were oblivious to the inequalities present in the newfound nation they declared to be built on equality and democracy. At the time of the Declaration, women were not able to vote or be present at conventions, and African Americans were kept as slaves. I did not know that these "certain unalienable Rights" applied to only the rich white male.

Disclaimer: this post is not to wage war against the original signers of the Declaration nor against rich white men around the world. The original signers were noble, courageous, and sometimes misguided. They were misguided by the patriarchy that existed since ancient times. They were victims of a self-perpetuating societal view that states women and minorities are not equal to the white man. Furthermore, the white man is not necessarily the common enemy. Rather, it is anyone who  insinuates that he/she deserves more rights based on race, gender, religion, sexual preference, and other characteristics that are meant for celebrating individuality, not for causing discrimination.