Who's Life Matters?

It is fair to say that we can determine how much a person’s life matters based on how much media attention and public outrage there is when that life is lost. The organization, Black Lives Matter, was created and named because the founders of the organization believed that in our society black lives didn’t matter, that when a black person was killed, nobody cared, there was no media attention, no public outrage. And that apathy displayed by the public, the media and the politicians, was proof that black lives, in our country, did not matter.

Almost twice as many white people are killed by police officers than black people every year. We know the names of Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Freddie Gray, Anthony Smith, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and other black people who have been killed by the police. All of those killings became national news stories, and some even created national movements. George Floyd had one funeral and two memorial services – former Presidents and celebrities showed up to acknowledge the tragedy of his passing. BLM rioted for five straight months, supported by celebrities and politicians, to express their outrage over his death. Can anyone name the name of one white person who was killed at the hands of police officers in the last 10 years? Ever? Did any of those people’s deaths become a national news story? None of those killings created a protest, or even solicited a single comment from the President or any politician. If society believed that white lives mattered more than black lives, there would be more media attention and more political activism for a white person being killed by police than a black person, but you never hear a word about the deaths of white people at the hands of police. Those people’s deaths simply go unnoticed, as if they don’t matter.