Persuasive Speech On Black Lives Matter

GivA a few months ago, in my Living for change class at Tacony High, we had a discussion on black lives within America. During that discussion, a girl spoke on the Eric Garner situation where she began to justify his death by saying, "If you look at his record he was a terror to society, him being dead makes it one less criminal for people to worry about." In that moment of anger and rage, I realized how disposable black bodies are in this country. When we are killed by police they scream “threat,” then use our skin as evidence. Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Renisha McBride are all examples of how police use our skin to justify why they killed us, to begin with.

Three brave women Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Garza started the …show more content…
The phrase “black lives matter” also has an implicit “too” at the end. The phrase is stating that black lives should also matter. But responding to this by saying “all lives matter” is going back to ignoring the problem. It’s a way of dismissing the statement by falsely accusing that it means “only black lives matter”. “Imagine a group of Black people standing in a room. They are shouting, "Black Lives Matter!" Then suddenly, a larger group of White people come in and they stand in front of the Black people and begin screaming, "All Lives Matter!" They drown out the Black people because they simply outnumber them and no one can hear them any longer “ (Abarcar …show more content…
It 's not a movement, it 's merely a response to deflect from the real issue. When we say that #BlackLivesMatter, were saying that no one else matters. That 's ridiculous and doesn 't even need to be said. We are just pointing out that our lives are just as important and matter just like anyone else.

When a Black man is killed, the media and other outlets scramble to find out if the victim has a criminal record. Or ever been suspended from school. Or ever had a speeding ticket. But that 's not done when Whites commit crimes. It sends a message that the Black man that was killed was a criminal anyway, therefore it doesn 't matter that he 's dead. He has headed down the wrong path in life anyway. Because Black people aren 't allowed to make mistakes, right? If they aren 't perfect, then the media will find something to make this Black person deserving of their own death. This phenomenon is not done with Whites.

The BLM movement was born out of this double standard. Our lives matter whether you think so or not. Of course All Lives Matter, but we 're saying that Black Lives Matter just as