Some Thoughts and Perspectives on the Black Lives Matter movement

The Black Lives Matter movement has gained some traction and notoriety in recent years.  The movement began after the death of Trayvon Martin (black) was killed by George Zimmerman (white) in 2012.  I should point out that Zimmerman was actually acquitted of the murder.  I should also point out that the jury was comprised of six women, none of whom were black and five of whom were white.  You can read what Black Lives Matter has to say about itself on their web site which is located at http://blacklivesmatter.com/who-we-are/.  I found their definition of themselves fascinating and sad at the same time.

Basically, this is the gist of what Black Lives Matter are saying.  It’s all the fault of white people and the government.  Black lives are degraded and treated like garbage by white people and the government. 

Trayvon was one black guy killed by one white guy in 2012.  According to the FBI’s Homicide Table 6 for 2012, there were 192 other black people killed by white people making 193 black people killed by white people in total for 2012.  What a travesty.  During the same year, 431 white people were killed by black people.  In other words, there were 2.23 times more white people killed by black people than there were black people killed by white people.  This leads me to ask the people who belong to Black Lives Matter, “don’t white lives matter too?”  There were more than double the number of white people killed by blacks, then there were black people killed by whites.  Why is it then that only black lives matter?

While in 2012, 431 white people were killed by black people, a staggering 2,412 black people were killed by other black people.  This means that black killers murdered 5.6 times more black people than black killers murdered white people. 

In 2012, 193 black people were murdered by a white killer.  2,412 black people were murdered by a black killer.  So this means the number of black victims who were murdered by black killers was 12.5 times greater than black victims murdered by white killers.

I suggest that black lives matter should concentrate more on stopping black people from killing other black people before they concentrate on white people killing black people.

To be fair to Black Lives Matter, this organization is about more than just black murders.  They deal with mistreatment of blacks by police as well as other ways in which black people are mistreated or treated unfairly.  It does seem blacks are profiled more than whites even though the number of homicides perpetrated by white killers was roughly equal overall to the number of homicides perpetrated by black killers.  In 2012, there were only 21 more homicides committed by black killers than there were by white killers.  This shows that white people seem more interested in killing other white people, then they are killing black people.  In fact white killers took out 13.5 times more white people than black.

Wow that’s a lot of numbers and you can see them all at https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/offenses-known-to-law-enforcement/expanded-homicide/expanded_homicide_data_table_6_murder_race_and_sex_of_vicitm_by_race_and_sex_of_offender_2012.xls.

So let me summarize all of this.  It’s really simple.

·         A lot more black people were murdered by black killers than were murdered by white killers.

·         White killers murdered way more white people than black people.

·         More white people were murdered by black killers, than there were black people murdered by white killers.

I can only conclude that the people running Black Lives Matter are either unaware of these numbers, or are ignoring these numbers.  In fairness to them, they are concerned with more than murder statistics.  I believe, for example, that black people are profiled by law enforcement much more than white people are.  This is unfortunate given the roughly equal number of black and white killers.  That is, the number of white people guilty of homicide is very close to the number of black people guilty of homicide.  And while I do not have statistics, it seems to me that more black people live in poor areas of America than white people.  So there is definitely some inequity.

But the 2012 homicide numbers show that blaming everything on the state, or on white people, is irresponsible and actually does more to hurt the black people this group supposedly represents than either the state or white people do.  Why?  Because black people need to take responsibility for themselves.  When you have blacks killed by blacks greatly outnumbering blacks killed by whites, it is the black community who must ask why this is?  Obviously black lives do not matter to black people.  Why should they matter to anyone else?

I know this is harsh, but you have a situation in which black men beat up on black women.  Black killers murder black people.  Black pimps prostitute black women, and black drug dealers push to black users.  To put it simply, black lives must matter to black people first, before they can find the equality they are seeking. 

Yes, the government can and should do its part.  Yes, many whites feel uncomfortable around blacks.  Yes, black culture differs from white culture in many ways.  But when movements like Black Lives Matter blame everything on them without taking a good hard look at us, they do more harm than good because they mask the problems within the black community, and those problems need to be solved by blacks, for blacks.

I can honestly say I never suffered racial discrimination even though I am half Japanese.  My Dad was in the military so we moved around a lot and I observed, even at a young age, that black people were treated more harshly than other minorities.  In my case, if I was treated unfairly, it was more likely to be from other Japanese, not from other white people.  But I am legally blind and I have experienced more than my fair share of discrimination because of this.  Much of the discrimination I experienced was unconscious or even well-meaning.  For example, people took pity on me when they had no need to. 

I learned a long time ago that I could sit around and talk about how unfair everything is.  Why can’t I see like normal people?  It’s not fair that they can drive but I can’t.  I wish I could do <insert something> like other normal people can.  And on, and on, and on.  And the irony is, most of my list of unfairnesses are true.  It’s really not fair that most of you can drive and I can’t.  The irony is that realizing these things is next to useless.  You can sit around and wait for them to fix it.  You can wait for them to make things right.  But they are never going to, at least not completely.  That’s because they have many other things to worry about.  The best person to rectify things is you. 

In other words, the downtrodden black person may well be right about many injustices in our society.  I think, for example, we have school segregation again but this time along economic lines.  And since areas of poverty are inhabited by a lot of black people, the education of blacks suffers.  But they aren’t going to care as much as you.  In this instance, the government who are they have many other issues, like what China is doing in the South China Sea, North Korea, the effect of the falling oil price on US oil based industries, and on and on.  You are just one more issue in a long list of issues.  So my advice to Black Lives Matter is simple.  Make black lives matter to other black people.  Stop blaming the state or white people even if you are right in some cases.  Doing so is useless.  If you are poor, work harder just as I had to work harder to make up for my disability.  It’s not fair but who cares.  Some things are worth doing regardless of whether the circumstances are fair.  It’s not easy.  It’s much easier to blame everything on them.  But if black lives truly matter, you must bear some of the responsibility.  Otherwise, black lives will continue not to matter.