[JoeAltmaier]

Yeah its a knee-jerk reaction and sad. The more accurate slogan would be "Black Lives Also Matter" but that isn't as effective. I think we all really understand that's what "Black Lives Matter" means. The real question is, why the strong counter-reaction? Why the sophistry around the slogan? What is that covering for?

[StavrosK]

I don't live in the US, so I'm out of that particular loop, but I was talking to an american friend of mine about police shootings and he told me about BLM, and I said "but it seems to me that the issue isn't that the police shouldn't be killing black people, it's that the police shouldn't be killing anyone!".

It seems that the argument has been framed around black people's mistreatment in general, which is fair enough, but, when specifically talking about the police, it seems to me that getting the latter to be less trigger-happy would alleviate the problem for all races, which is why I find the focus on black people a bit odd.

[JoeAltmaier]

Only if you don't know the stories. Its famous that white serial killers are treated better in some circumstances, than black people selling cigarettes on a street corner. One gets taken to McDonalds on the way to jail; the other strangled and killed.

[StavrosK]

Really? Wow. Yeah, that's... a problem.

[cloudsloth]

Why are you belittling it as a knee-jerk reaction and sad?

A group of people is experiencing horrible and unjust treatment. The implication of the situation is they don't matter, and the correct reformist statement is that they do matter.

Black lives matter also is not the correct statement. It is the correct understanding of the while situation but you need to keep in mind the nuance of language.

[JoeAltmaier]

Sorry if that got misinterpreted. Its sad that folks react with "All Lives Matter" as if the slogan "Black Lives Matter" isn't clear.