Black Lives Matter

 Why Black Lives Matter. Some reply "Don't all lives matter?"  Of course, that's a given. But we as a society and a government have acted for far too long as though black lives matter less. It's in our Constitution as Article I, Section 2 where it counts negro slaves as 3/5  of a person.  American White people have considered black people beneath them because of, first, slavery, then poor education, and then many jobs that black citizens were forced to do. White people have white privilege.  I have it and I did nothing to earn it. I know, I've heard it said. "I haven't ever had white privilege." Have you been stopped by a police officer for driving through a white neighborhood?  A black neighborhood?  Been asked to leave a store because of the color of your skin?  Got a dirty look for being anywhere because of the color of your skin?  Did someone call the police on you for having a barbecue, sitting, swimming?  Going into your own house or apartment?  There's a long list of things you can't do while being black.  You can do all of them while being white.  We must emphasize that black lives matter every bit as much as white lives, as much as brown lives, as much as anyone else's life.  Until black lives matter as much all other lives we cannot honestly say all lives matter.  Black Lives Matter.