In my 34 years as an educator I had to keep relearning a simple fact. Not all students learn at the same speed. Some pick it up quickly. Others more slowly. Some really struggle. But if what you want the students to know is fundamental to their learning, you can’t give up until everyone gets it.
So here we go again. If I say black lives matter, that’s exactly what I mean — black lives matter. I’m not saying only black lives matter. I would need to say something like no lives but black lives matter to say that. And I’m not saying black lives matter more than any other lives. I would have to say something like black lives matter the most of all to say that.
Now a lot people say all lives matter. But if you believe that maybe black lives don’t matter as much as other lives — say maybe you witnessed on TV mass murderers who are white being arrested civilly by police while a black man who possibly tried to use a fake $20 bill is coldly murdered on a Minneapolis street by rogue cops — then you can’t in honesty say all lives matter because it’s apparent they don’t.
Look, of course it’s obvious that all lives should matter. Black lives, white lives, brown lives, red lives, yellow lives, even orange-fake-tan lives matter.
But until they all matter, you can’t say all lives matter. Because right now, there is a lot of evidence out there that proves they don’t.
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