Onyx Contributor:  Johnny Silvercloud (@JohnnySilverclo)

Black Lives Matter.

This phrase exists both as the name of an organization, and a movement, and a statement.  For some strange reason, there has been a large concerted effort to demonize, ostracize, and derail this whole thing.  One of the biggest things I’ve noticed in current events is how people make the counter-claim that “all lives matter” when the phrase black lives matter is said.  As a socio-political observer, I find this very interesting.

Usually, I would ask “to whom?” when someone says all lives matter.  From there, the person would give a stock answer like, “Me.  Everyone, Billions of people!”  These answers never really address the problem of institutional racism as a whole.  These answers, much like the phrase all lives matter, is like presenting an empty banana peel to replace a hand of ripe bananas, with the person with the empty peel expecting you to eat it.

When I ask what’s the issue with the phrase I get the same answer each time:

“It’s saying only black lives matter!” ~ Stupid People

How is that possible?  To facilitate that message, you have to INJECT the “only” word in the phrase.  Technically, all of these people are seeing something that’s not there at all.  These people are hallucinating.  The word “only” is a very specific word, and much like most words, it must be present to modify the sentence or statement.  To see adverbs when they are not there, is pure idiocy, or insanity, or both.

Strange enough, this logic would not fly if you place it in any other context:

• If I asked the plumber to fix this sink, it doesn’t mean fuck the toilet.
• If I said “save the palm trees”, that doesn’t mean fuck pine trees.
• If I turn my computer in to get fixed, that doesn’t mean fuck my cell phone.

No one ever applies this all lives logic anywhere else.

Interestingly, if someone were to say the stock phrase “Support the troops”, no one ever runs out in break-neck speed and say “support all people!”  Likewise, when someone says “think of the children”, No one ever feels the urge to inject the notion that adults are being left out.  No one ever tries to make the troop supporters or those mindful of children feel like they are wrong for doing so.  Should those who support the troops be considered a hate group?  What about those who are mindful of children?  Why not?  They didn’t make mention of all lives, all people, correct?  Here’s a couple of other examples of where this logic falls apart:

• “Support the Troops.”  Why not say, “Support all Professions?”  Isn’t it elitist? When you say “support the troops,” you are really saying support ONLY the troops.  They commit crimes.  I don’t see military uniforms.  I’m professionblind, yet, I’ll show you some internet links to war crimes troops commit.  When you say “support the troops”, that offends me. That’s offensive.
• “Think of the children.” Why not say, “Think of all People?”  When you say “think of the children”, you are really saying think of children ONLY.  That’s offensive because I’m totally age-blind and I don’t see children.  And by the way, here’s some links to babies vomiting and pissing and shitting all over the place, to include people!  Adults get killed and die, and I’m going to blame you for it.  You should be a hate group.
• “Breast Cancer Awareness.” Why not say, “All Cancer Awareness?”  When you say breast cancer, and are saying breast cancer ONLY, which neglects all other cancers out there.  I’m totally illness-blind, but, here’s some links to other forms of cancer.  You saying breat cancer awareness means you support other forms of cancer.  When someone dies of skin cancer, I’m going to blame you for it.  You’re a cancer lover!
• “Save the Rain Forests.”  What about Deciduous trees?  What about pine trees?  When you say “save the rain forests” you main ONLY rain forests, and that’s wrong.  I’m totally leaf-blind, but, here’s some links on why rain forests are bad — they take up space for freeways and malls.  You are a freeway hater? A mall hater?  You should be considered a hate group.
• “God Bless America.”  Why not say, “God Bless All Nations?”  You call it patriotism, but it looks more like fascism.  It’s fascist.  It’s jingoistic.  When you say “God bless America” you are really saying God Bless ONLY America, and that’s deeply offensive.  I’m nation-blind, but, here’s some internet links showing Americans doing crimes against humanity, torturing people, burning down people’s houses and locking everyone up in prisons, and invading other nations with minimal justification.  Non-Americans get killed, and I’m going to blame you for it.  Oh by the way, #GodBlessAmerica should be a hate group.

Technically, if these all lives matter folks were honest they would be incredibly busy people.  They would be injecting an “all people” answer to every single mention of a specific group.  No one ever says for example, all lives matter when Israel is in conflict, when there’s commercials that passively demand that you donate to Jewish people.  Yes, I went there.

There’s no such thing as an #AllLivesMatter movement, organization, or group.

Need I mention the fact that all lives matter is not a movement?  When something happens such as an unarmed (variable race) person gets killed by cops, there’s never any all lives matter people showing up, speaking to media.  There’s no all lives matter organization either.  In fact, had there been, holistically there would be radical changes in society.

• If All Lives Mattered, we would abolish the death penalty.
• If All Lives Mattered, The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) would be 100% accepted as a good thing with conservative circles.
• If All Lives Mattered, then civilians could get the same bulletproof vest and sidearms cops do.
• If All Lives Mattered, gun regulation bills would receive no kickback.

The list could go on.  All lives matter, simply isn’t congruent with conservative logic by the time of this column’s publishing.

The problem is that the phrase all lives matter assumes all lives are under the same threat, which in turn ignores the exact statement black people are saying.  I think, with white people, there’s a core wish to share victimization of some sort.  Many white men I’ve talked to, lament the fact that they seem like it can never be them who suffer from racism.  When these men give me clues to how they think and feel, I find myself baffled… I as a man don’t need to feel the pain of sexism to be aware of it.  I don’t get butthurt over the fact that I’m highly likely to not suffer from sexism.  But for some reason, these men feel that they must be included to uptake the cause.  Currently, black lives matter is specifically calling for a greater amount of police accountability, which is something everyone benefits from.  But at the same time, everyone is NOT under the same threat of state sanctioned violence.  Colorblind policy, if that’s where the noble effort is placed, doesn’t work.  There’s not a single scientific study that support colorblindness and claim that it’s an effective means of countering racism.  In fact, being blind of a problem never solves that problem.

Black lives matter — that doesn’t mean other lives don’t.  The word “others” isn’t there.  The word “don’t” exist there.  The word “only”, isn’t there.  Stop hallucinating, people.

To say all lives matter in the face of black lives matter as a means of a counter argument, by design is against black lives.  That means, it’s against life, period.  Martin Luther King once stated “I have a Dream.”  Would you dare take his microphone away, and inject, “all dreams matter”, or “we all have dreams”?  Can you understand how dismissive that is?  Are you capable of reason?  Stop hallucinating.