Black Lives Matter Analysis

The phrase “Black Lives Matter,” in its nature seems an obvious and unarguable statement, however, this has not been the case for the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement. Like any racial activism, Black Lives Matter groups across the nation have been hit with a slew of counter protests. Counter movements such as, All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter have arisen in contrast to the BLM movement. Black Lives Matter has been referred to as the “new Civil Rights Movement,” possibly because the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is the only form of black activism that white America can recall. Contrary to the belief, held by many whites, that racial inequality ended post the Civil Rights era, BLM attempts to dismantle the idea that we live …show more content…
Racism is not something that can be ignored until it disappears, yet that is exactly how color-blind politics operate. In the article “Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race,” Reni Eddo-Lodge states, “to claim not to see race is to demand compulsory assimilation. Colour-blindness does not accept the existence of structural racism or a history of white racial dominance.” When confronted about racially charged topics and issues the majority of white people become uncomfortable and shut down, claiming that bringing up race is racist. White people do not walk through their everyday lives concerned about the ways racism will affect them. Often times, race does not cross their minds until they are forced to acknowledge it. This is how we have ended up with systems that protect white fragility, by upholding white supremacy. Whiteness is a location of social advantage, and the more it goes unrecognized by the people who benefit, the more harm comes to the disadvantaged black and brown …show more content…
The reality that white people live their lives in segregated spaces, is due to the fact that the quality of white spaces are measured by the lack of POC. For example, schools, neighborhoods, and towns and cities are considered better and safer places to exist in if they lack a racially diverse presence. White people do not posses the ability to relate to the struggles of being a POC in America, yet white people as a whole are still assumed to represent the universal human experience. Along with this, the actions of a singular white person do not reflect the actions of the entire white population, the same cannot be said for black people. Possibly the most important enabler of white fragility is the entitlement they feel to their racial comfort. There is a largely unconscious constant feeling of belonging experienced by whites. With their abundant amount of representation and systems that assume them to be the default race, white people become arrogant in their secured sense of self (Thompson,

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