While this poll could easily be viewed as an in-road to race bait, I think the issue it raises is very relevant.
It's unfortunate that some posters don't quite understand the context behind the slogan "Black Lives Matter" and, as such, choose to marginalize it rather than attempt to understand the underlying message. To that, reinoe, Zinthaniel and Urethra Franklin explain the meaning behind the message so well, their words deserve repeating:
My primary concern has always been the lack of accountability. When I make a mistake at work, there is accountability. When someone at McDonald's makes a mistake there is accountability. When a cop makes a mistake there's no accountability if there's nothing caught on camera or there are no witnesses. Many people who reflexively defend cops seem to ignore that cops are government agents. I can't wrap my mind around why someone would be comfortable with government agents making mistakes and then facing no accountability. Why do teenagers who work in fast food have higher standards of accountability than government agents who use deadly force? That does not make sense.
"Black Lives Matter" is not just a response to the constant shooting of unarmed black men and women. It a sentiment from a minority in this country that is still by and large not liked by the majority.
Many black people feel like there are in a country that doesn't want them, that seems to hate them, and see them as monsters. Many African Americans feel like that don't matter to the one race in this country that is pulling most of the strings here.
Josie said:
So really it's not "black lives matter" it's "black lives only matter when whitey kills them".
No, I don't think it does mean that. But if whitey has ended a black life because it was a black life, that adds another dimension and needs to be explored.
There's a reason Black people are so upset at local police these days. The perception is that police are shooting Black people first and asking questions later. It's not so much that we don't care about life itself no matter whose life is lost including Black people. It's the perception that ALL Black people are inherently violent and, as such, WE ALL pose a threat to society. Now, you could say cops react the way they do towards Blacks because of appearances (i.e., sagging pants) and/or attitudes (i.e., refusing to show proper ID when asked), but it's more than that.
Many Black people view police as a threat due to the history White cops have in their dealings with Blacks. This comes from White police officers historically abusing their power of authority when it comes to their approach to Black people. There doesn't seem to be this "self-protection at first sight" attitude from some cops when they approach White people except when the threat is obvious (i.e., car theft, high speed chase that results in a stop, convenient store robbery). But what we're seeing as portrayed in the media is cops take a harsher, more "self-preservation" approach the moment they realize they're dealing with a Black suspect no matter what the situation, whereas, with a White suspect unless they're told by dispatch that the suspect is or may be armed and dangerous, they don't necessarily enter the situation with guns blazing. And that's the problem here...a constant negative perception by (White) police that because the suspect is Black he/she is automatically dangerous.
Now, just as racism is geographical when it's just plain White people -vs- Black people, the same holds true with prevailing attitudes with White cops when dealing with Black people. It's as if their anxiety level is automatically kicked into over-drive by the mere mention of the word "Black". And truth be told, in some areas around the county there's good reason for it. But that doesn't mean that a Black man should be shot at a gas station when asked by police to get his ID from the glove box, or a Black kid deserved to be shot to death when it was obvious he held a toy gun in his hands, or a Black homeless person deserved to be beaten and shot because he wouldn't (and couldn't) respond to the police officer's questions, or a that a Black man should lose his life over a single cigarette when all he was doing was exercising his freedom of speech verbally defending himself or a young Black man should be shot in the back while attempting to flee the scene unarmed or a young Black man should die from his injuries while in police custody allegedly from neglect.
(Continued...)