Contrasting Viewpoints on the Term “Black Lives Matter” The term “Black Lives Matter” was coined from the movement that came about to address the deaths of African American lives to police brutality. Whether the term “Black Lives Matter” really stands for just that or much more is up for question, others even go as for to ask how valid the term is. In Peter Katel’s CQ Researcher article “Is Black Lives Matter a valid slogan?” he pieces together the viewpoints of authors who are for and against it to see the reasonings behind their opinions. Why those in Mr. Katel’s article are against or for this term, my opinion, and the opinions of others surveyed will be the make of this essay. Starting with the portion of the article that is against this
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By defending black criminals it is not morally sound and not all truthful when the saying is “Black Lives Matter.” (Green) In contrast, we have Jack Hunter’s article with all the pro reasoning on why Black Lives Matter is reasonable. Mr. Hunter, the editor of Rare Politics, thinks that just because some Black Lives Matter members do questionable criminal-like things it shouldn’t discredit the realities most African Americans experience just for being black. He believes the rise of Black Lives Matter came about to question the realities of why African Americans experience a disproportionate amount of racial profiling, being targeted by the police, and also being imprisoned at rates higher than any other race. Even fellow student Sadie S. agrees by saying that, “Black Lives Matter, to me, seems justifiable in the case that many African American people feel that they are singled out by police for their …show more content…
To Jack, the lost lives of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Erin Garner, and countless others seem to confirm that, “Black Lives are valued less than others.” The range of clarity in these incidents can be as clear as day like the police officer charged with the death of Walter Scott in Charleston or very uncertain in the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson. As the number of these cases rose it started getting the attention of people around the nation who in retaliation started recording theirs or others experiences with the police. Jack goes on to remind us that just because these experiences are now being caught on film doesn’t mean this is just barely becoming a reality, for example, take Sean Bell’s case in 2006 and way back in 1999 with Amadou
By defending black criminals it is not morally sound and not all truthful when the saying is “Black Lives Matter.” (Green) In contrast, we have Jack Hunter’s article with all the pro reasoning on why Black Lives Matter is reasonable. Mr. Hunter, the editor of Rare Politics, thinks that just because some Black Lives Matter members do questionable criminal-like things it shouldn’t discredit the realities most African Americans experience just for being black. He believes the rise of Black Lives Matter came about to question the realities of why African Americans experience a disproportionate amount of racial profiling, being targeted by the police, and also being imprisoned at rates higher than any other race. Even fellow student Sadie S. agrees by saying that, “Black Lives Matter, to me, seems justifiable in the case that many African American people feel that they are singled out by police for their …show more content…
To Jack, the lost lives of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Erin Garner, and countless others seem to confirm that, “Black Lives are valued less than others.” The range of clarity in these incidents can be as clear as day like the police officer charged with the death of Walter Scott in Charleston or very uncertain in the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson. As the number of these cases rose it started getting the attention of people around the nation who in retaliation started recording theirs or others experiences with the police. Jack goes on to remind us that just because these experiences are now being caught on film doesn’t mean this is just barely becoming a reality, for example, take Sean Bell’s case in 2006 and way back in 1999 with Amadou