Week 9 - Anika Troeger - A03

Anika Troeger

ASA 002

Section 3

Week 9

In his piece, “Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice”, Santos F. Ramos explains why the Black Lives Matter movement should be one that all minority communities believe in and work together to advance. He explains the history of Black Lives Matter - it was founded by three black women and its cause was to intervene in this world where Black lives are “systematically and institutionally targeted for demise”. Black Lives Matter has definitely become much more popular over the course of a past couple years, almost becoming a household name. One criticism that Santos has surrounding Black Lives Matter (BLM) is the usage of its name by other justice groups, such as Native Lives Matter, Latino Lives Matter, and Asian Lives Matter. While these justice groups mean well and are most likely fighting for a good cause, using a similar name to another cause is actually pretty insensitive. Black Lives Matter was founded by Black people, for Black people, to fight against the oppressive experiences that Black people have faced. What right do other minorities have to take the name of this group just because it’ll make their new group names get more attention? Instead of doing this, other minorities should be supporting Black Lives Matter by simply saying that black lives matter, or coming up with their own new slogans, such as APIs 4 Black Lives. If minority communities are going to be supportive of Black Lives Matter, they should do so in a way that doesn’t just steal a name because they’re uncreative enough to come up with their own. Not only is that selfish, but that is also a lazy way to be an activist. Non-black people of color have definitely been caught being anti-black, and it is important to make sure that these communities keep each other in check. Those oppressed should be working together to fight the system, not taking away what little each group can get.

Question: What can we do to stop minorities from being pitted against each other?

References:

Ramos, S. F. (2016). Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice. Enculturation, 1-6. Retrieved May 28, 2017.

Iroegbu U. (2015). When Asian American politics and Black Lives Matter met at Macalester. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/when-asian-american-politics-and-black-lives-matter-met-at-macalester/