Black Lives Matter or All Lives Matter? Muhammed Emin Kizilkaya skrifar 17. júní 2020 09:00 We have heard it from the past weeks from all around the world: Black Lives Matter. Men, women, children; people with different cultural, ethnical and religious background, people from different corners of the world walking on the streets united and in one solidarity waving their fists in the air with the phrase: Black Lives Matter! But where does this phrase come from? The Black Lives Matter movements emerged back in 2012 when an unarmed black teen, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida resulting in igniting protests and rage across the world. This incident became a symbol of the many different incidents of police brutality, racial profiling, institutional and public racism that has become an everyday thing among minorities in Western societies. But where there is thesis, there will be an antithesis. In fact, one of the most common questions given to those supporting and using the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ is “Why saying ‘Black Lives Matter’? In my point of view, All Lives Matter! My life matters too!” Or “Well, don’t all lives matter?”. The answer is ‘Yes! Of course!’. But by saying ‘Black Lives Matter’, you are not saying that other lives don’t matter. You are bringing attention to the way that Black people across the world are denied certain human rights by virtue of being Black. And you are bringing light to racism experienced by minorities in the Western societies from a macro perspective with the constant stigmatization and negative labelling given by politicians and the media. From a micro the perspective of finding a job or to approaching new individuals, which itself can be a challenge due to the pigment of your skin. Or even being called names on the streets by random people simply because how you are beautifully created, which you appreciate and love but which you begin questioning due to the constant verbal attacks from all spheres of the society. Saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ does not put less emphasis on the importance of other lives but sends a message of an unfortunate tendency of hatred and ignorance, that still have a seat in a civilized world society today, that we are all commonly sharing. Now question yourself. Have you ever been a subject of institutional and public racism or racist profiling, being called names on the streets, being denied in public and private institutions due to the pigment of your skin, being stopped by the police randomly or by the security at the airport simply because your skin ‘looks suspicious’, being labelled or anticipated of being interested in certain sports or certain music genres or having different biological constructions simply because of the pigment of your skin? No? Then one should maybe reconsider the use of ‘All Lives Matter’ if one has never been subject to one or few of these things. If a house on your street was on fire, would you expect the fire service to train their hoses on all the houses? No! While the firefighters would, rightly, argue that all homes matter on the street, in that very moment the firefighters would focus their attention and expertise on the house that is about to burn down. But how about the constant talk about slavery? Why can we not just move forward and forget about history? A kind individual said: “But why can’t we just forget about what happened in the past with colonialism and slavery? I mean, no white person today owns a black slave, at least not what I see?” Dear individual. The idea that colonialism and enslavement are in the ‘distant past’ does NOT ring true. We are moving forward, and we should move forward as UNITED people where you see the human and try to be the human. Let us not forget that colonialism, wars and enslavement have fundamentally shaped our present realities. A black African American who carries the surname ‘Greene’, ‘Allen’ or ‘Jefferson’ can trace back their names to their ancestors who once arrived from Africa to an unknown world and were given these surnames by their slaveholders. The history will never be forgotten, but one has to use the history as a tool to create a better world for EVERYBODY by issuing the problem that we are experiencing today, which is crystal clear when it comes to the ongoing racism experienced by black people. In fact, it is near impossible to talk about African American or about native Americans or even Black Brits and Brown Brits and their status in the society without mentioning the colonial and postcolonial histories of these groups. I am not trying to say that we should use history to organize protests and riots. I am not a supporter of riots and destruction. But I cannot deny the problem that we are still experiencing in the Western societies. A riot is the language of the unheard, and history seems to repeat itself again and again and again. So is your house burning? Are you still saying ‘All Lives Matter’? ‘Black Lives Matter’ is a statement, a slogan, a phrase that represents a contradiction of a vicious and poisonous tendency in the Western societies. Of course, all lives DO matter but the phrase ‘All Lives Matter’ is a way of indirectly denying the problem that minorities are dealing with. It is a way to put yourself in a subject which you personally have never had to deal with and is a provocative and opposing way of reacting to the crystal clear patterns of racism against specific group of minorities who belong to a specific ethnic, religious or cultural background. The phrase ‘All Lives Matter’ is the antithesis of ‘Black Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter’ has become a representation against racism and bigotry today! As it is mentioned in the Qur’an 49:13, the world is made up of different families and tribes; and everyone is part of one big family or nation before God. The world would be gray and cold if everybody belonged to the same idea or to the same colour. We live in a beautiful world, a beautiful garden where we are all diverse flowers in different shapes and different colors. But we are still just flowers. That is what makes the world so beautiful. We shall not let anyone destroy our garden through bigotry and ignorance. Hence, the biggest cure against bigotry and ignorance is knowledge. You fear things you do not know anything about and if you feel a trace of fear and hatred towards a specific group of people, then YOU are the problem. Muhammed stundar meistaranám í félagsfræði við Háskóla Íslands, með sérstaka áherslu á rannsóknir og aðferðafræði. Þessi grein er birt í samstarfi við Róm. Rómur er vettvangur fyrir ungt frjálslynt fólk til þess að láta að sér kveða í samfélagsumræðunni. Viltu birta grein á Vísi? Sendu okkur póst. Senda grein Kynþáttafordómar Dauði George Floyd Rómur Black Lives Matter Mest lesið Svargrein: Ísland á víst að íhuga aðild að ESB Ágúst Ólafur Ágústsson Skoðun Gerir háskólanám þig að grunnskólakennara? Davíð Már Sigurðsson Skoðun Kirkjuklukkur hringja Bjarni Karlsson Skoðun „Er allt í lagi?“ Olga Björt Þórðardóttir Skoðun Einmanaleiki: Skortir þig tengsl við þig eða aðra? Sigrún Þóra Sveinsdóttir Skoðun Sumarfríinu aflýst Sigurður Helgi Pálmason Skoðun Göngum í Haag hópinn Þórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir Skoðun Fordómar gagnvart hinsegin fólki – Reynslusaga Geir Gunnar Markússon Skoðun Úr skotgröfum í netkerfin: Netárásir á innviði Vesturlanda Ýmir Vigfússon Skoðun Stríð skapar ekki frið Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir Skoðun Skoðun Skoðun Þegar fjölbreytileikinn verður ógn: Afneitun, andstaða og ótti við hið mannlega Haukur Logi Jóhannsson skrifar Skoðun Einmanaleiki: Skortir þig tengsl við þig eða aðra? Sigrún Þóra Sveinsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Svargrein: Ísland á víst að íhuga aðild að ESB Ágúst Ólafur Ágústsson skrifar Skoðun Fjölbreytni í endurhæfingu skiptir máli Hólmfríður Einarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Sumarfríinu aflýst Sigurður Helgi Pálmason skrifar Skoðun Úr skotgröfum í netkerfin: Netárásir á innviði Vesturlanda Ýmir Vigfússon skrifar Skoðun Fordómar gagnvart hinsegin fólki – Reynslusaga Geir Gunnar Markússon skrifar Skoðun „Er allt í lagi?“ Olga Björt Þórðardóttir skrifar Skoðun Göngum í Haag hópinn Þórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Kirkjuklukkur hringja Bjarni Karlsson skrifar Skoðun Gerir háskólanám þig að grunnskólakennara? Davíð Már Sigurðsson skrifar Skoðun Stríð skapar ekki frið Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir skrifar Skoðun Íslenska stóðhryssan og Evrópa Hallgerður Ljósynja Hauksdóttir skrifar Skoðun Hvammsvirkjun – Skyldur ráðherra og réttur samfélagsins Eggert Valur Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Norska leiðin er fasismi Jón Frímann Jónsson skrifar Skoðun Um mýkt, menntun og von Sigurður Árni Reynisson skrifar Skoðun Höfum alla burði til þess Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Tímabær rannsókn dómsmálaráðuneytisins Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson skrifar Skoðun Umsókn krefst ákvörðunar – ekki ákalls Erna Bjarnadóttir skrifar Skoðun Hjálp, barnið mitt spilar Roblox! Kristín Magnúsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Líkindi með guðstrú og djöflatrú Gunnar Björgvinsson skrifar Skoðun Ævinlega þakkláti flóttamaðurinn Zeljka Kristín Klobucar skrifar Skoðun Vér vesalingar Ingólfur Sverrisson skrifar Skoðun Leikrit Landsvirkjunar Snæbjörn Guðmundsson skrifar Skoðun Við þurfum ekki að loka landinu – við þurfum að opna augun Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir skrifar Skoðun Svona eða hinsegin, hvert okkar verður næst? Unnar Geir Unnarsson skrifar Skoðun Reynisfjara og mannréttindasáttmáli Evrópu Róbert R. Spanó skrifar Skoðun Að hlúa að foreldrum: Forvörn sem skiptir máli Áróra Huld Bjarnadóttir skrifar Skoðun Ákall til íslenskra stjórnmálamanna Magnús Árni Skjöld Magnússon skrifar Skoðun Þurfum við virkilega „leyniþjónustu”? Helen Ólafsdóttir skrifar Sjá meira
We have heard it from the past weeks from all around the world: Black Lives Matter. Men, women, children; people with different cultural, ethnical and religious background, people from different corners of the world walking on the streets united and in one solidarity waving their fists in the air with the phrase: Black Lives Matter! But where does this phrase come from? The Black Lives Matter movements emerged back in 2012 when an unarmed black teen, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida resulting in igniting protests and rage across the world. This incident became a symbol of the many different incidents of police brutality, racial profiling, institutional and public racism that has become an everyday thing among minorities in Western societies. But where there is thesis, there will be an antithesis. In fact, one of the most common questions given to those supporting and using the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ is “Why saying ‘Black Lives Matter’? In my point of view, All Lives Matter! My life matters too!” Or “Well, don’t all lives matter?”. The answer is ‘Yes! Of course!’. But by saying ‘Black Lives Matter’, you are not saying that other lives don’t matter. You are bringing attention to the way that Black people across the world are denied certain human rights by virtue of being Black. And you are bringing light to racism experienced by minorities in the Western societies from a macro perspective with the constant stigmatization and negative labelling given by politicians and the media. From a micro the perspective of finding a job or to approaching new individuals, which itself can be a challenge due to the pigment of your skin. Or even being called names on the streets by random people simply because how you are beautifully created, which you appreciate and love but which you begin questioning due to the constant verbal attacks from all spheres of the society. Saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ does not put less emphasis on the importance of other lives but sends a message of an unfortunate tendency of hatred and ignorance, that still have a seat in a civilized world society today, that we are all commonly sharing. Now question yourself. Have you ever been a subject of institutional and public racism or racist profiling, being called names on the streets, being denied in public and private institutions due to the pigment of your skin, being stopped by the police randomly or by the security at the airport simply because your skin ‘looks suspicious’, being labelled or anticipated of being interested in certain sports or certain music genres or having different biological constructions simply because of the pigment of your skin? No? Then one should maybe reconsider the use of ‘All Lives Matter’ if one has never been subject to one or few of these things. If a house on your street was on fire, would you expect the fire service to train their hoses on all the houses? No! While the firefighters would, rightly, argue that all homes matter on the street, in that very moment the firefighters would focus their attention and expertise on the house that is about to burn down. But how about the constant talk about slavery? Why can we not just move forward and forget about history? A kind individual said: “But why can’t we just forget about what happened in the past with colonialism and slavery? I mean, no white person today owns a black slave, at least not what I see?” Dear individual. The idea that colonialism and enslavement are in the ‘distant past’ does NOT ring true. We are moving forward, and we should move forward as UNITED people where you see the human and try to be the human. Let us not forget that colonialism, wars and enslavement have fundamentally shaped our present realities. A black African American who carries the surname ‘Greene’, ‘Allen’ or ‘Jefferson’ can trace back their names to their ancestors who once arrived from Africa to an unknown world and were given these surnames by their slaveholders. The history will never be forgotten, but one has to use the history as a tool to create a better world for EVERYBODY by issuing the problem that we are experiencing today, which is crystal clear when it comes to the ongoing racism experienced by black people. In fact, it is near impossible to talk about African American or about native Americans or even Black Brits and Brown Brits and their status in the society without mentioning the colonial and postcolonial histories of these groups. I am not trying to say that we should use history to organize protests and riots. I am not a supporter of riots and destruction. But I cannot deny the problem that we are still experiencing in the Western societies. A riot is the language of the unheard, and history seems to repeat itself again and again and again. So is your house burning? Are you still saying ‘All Lives Matter’? ‘Black Lives Matter’ is a statement, a slogan, a phrase that represents a contradiction of a vicious and poisonous tendency in the Western societies. Of course, all lives DO matter but the phrase ‘All Lives Matter’ is a way of indirectly denying the problem that minorities are dealing with. It is a way to put yourself in a subject which you personally have never had to deal with and is a provocative and opposing way of reacting to the crystal clear patterns of racism against specific group of minorities who belong to a specific ethnic, religious or cultural background. The phrase ‘All Lives Matter’ is the antithesis of ‘Black Lives Matter! Black Lives Matter’ has become a representation against racism and bigotry today! As it is mentioned in the Qur’an 49:13, the world is made up of different families and tribes; and everyone is part of one big family or nation before God. The world would be gray and cold if everybody belonged to the same idea or to the same colour. We live in a beautiful world, a beautiful garden where we are all diverse flowers in different shapes and different colors. But we are still just flowers. That is what makes the world so beautiful. We shall not let anyone destroy our garden through bigotry and ignorance. Hence, the biggest cure against bigotry and ignorance is knowledge. You fear things you do not know anything about and if you feel a trace of fear and hatred towards a specific group of people, then YOU are the problem. Muhammed stundar meistaranám í félagsfræði við Háskóla Íslands, með sérstaka áherslu á rannsóknir og aðferðafræði. Þessi grein er birt í samstarfi við Róm. Rómur er vettvangur fyrir ungt frjálslynt fólk til þess að láta að sér kveða í samfélagsumræðunni.
Þessi grein er birt í samstarfi við Róm. Rómur er vettvangur fyrir ungt frjálslynt fólk til þess að láta að sér kveða í samfélagsumræðunni.
Skoðun Þegar fjölbreytileikinn verður ógn: Afneitun, andstaða og ótti við hið mannlega Haukur Logi Jóhannsson skrifar
Skoðun Við þurfum ekki að loka landinu – við þurfum að opna augun Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir skrifar