WHY BLACK LIVES HAVE TO MATTER

WHILE I'M ON THIS TEAR...(and it looks like it may be a while)... WHY SUBSTITUTING "ALL LIVES MATTER" FOR "BLACK LIVES MATTER" IS HARMFUL AND OFFENSIVE. It seems so simple to the unwary. Of course it's true, or ought to be, that "All Lives Matter," not just Black people's. Please, do not be misled. The switch is conniving, underhanded and insulting to those who protest blatant and violent discrimination by race, by some people, in law enforcement, prosecutions, and incarcerations. It is an attempt to change the subject, to divert attention from the outrage of gunned down, wrongly convicted, and disproportionately imprisoned black citizens. If guardians of the status quo can get people to make that shift, then they don't have to deal with the issue of injustices specifically to blacks. They can avoid the subject entirely--yet again-- and do nothing. The fact is that all lives cannot matter until Black Lives Matter. If we allow white politicians, civic officials, and TV demagogues to throw their whitewash over a very real and very serious social injustice, we are not assuaging, but inflaming justified anger and resentment. The only way to end a problem is to deal with it, not to deny it. When Black Lives Matter, then All Lives can.