Why the Facebook Live Assault of a White Chicago-man has Nothing to do with Black Lives Matter

Why the Facebook Live Assault of a White Chicago-man has Nothing to do with Black Lives Matter
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Chicago ended 2016 with a record 762 murders, the highest murder rate the city has seen in two decades. However, the out of control violence in Chicago was a mere blip on the radar of most national news outlets until this week when a white, mentally-challenged Chicago-man was allegedly attacked by four Black suspects and streamed on Facebook Live.

While the attack on this man was brutal and undeniably wrong, the fact that his attack has garnered national headlines, while the 762 murders that occurred in Chicago last year were largely ignored speaks volumes. Why was there no outrage for those 762 victims? Certainly, they were loved by their families and friends as this man is. Unfortunately, the stark difference between the victims of those 762 murders and the victim tortured on Facebook live is that most of the murder victims in Chicago were young Blacks and the Facebook Live victim is White.

Over the last several years we have seen the videotaped murders of Black men across the country – from Eric Garner in New York, to Walter Scott in South Carolina, to Laquan McDonald in Chicago. While these murders made headlines and prompted discussion, there has been little to no discipline of the perpetrators and there has been marked backlash towards the Black Lives Matter Movement which has been at the forefront of bringing attention to these shootings. As the facts of the Facebook Live assault have come to light, the conversation has been reignited around the social justice movement, Black Lives Matter, which was created in 2012 after the murder of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his killer sent shock waves through the Black community. Many have taken this as an opportunity to again try to discredit Black Lives Matter because the accused in this case are Black.

While Black Lives Matter is a powerful movement bringing attention to the issues that face Black people nationwide, the term Black in Black Lives Matter has gained nearly as much attention as the movement itself. In response to Black Lives Matter non-marginalized groups have responded with their own movements, including: All Lives Matter and after the shootings of five Dallas police officers, Blue Lives Matter: both an attempt to minimalize the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement and bolster the unfounded claims that Black Lives Matter is inherently exclusionary and therefore divisive, invalid, or ineffective.

It is not simply the term Black in Black Lives Matter that has those who oppress Blacks in America concerned. The real concern is the strength that Black Americans will gain against institutional racism if we truly unite. The Black Lives Matter movement is giving Black people a united voice in our fight for our human rights. As Huey P. Newton said, “`There's no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively - I am one with the people”. The strength that comes from the Black Lives Matter movement is a threat to the oppression, dehumanization, and inequality that Blacks face in America. The movement empowers Black people in a way that we have not been empowered since the Civil Rights Movement or the Black Panther Party. The word Black does not undermine the movement, and the movement has nothing to do with this particular crime.

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