PATRICIA HOLT

JHop Times Staff Writer

All lives matter.

 

Why is there an all lives matter hashtag? All lives will matter when black lives start to matter. All lives will matter when black unarmed men stopped getting used as target practice getting fatally shot down in front of their mother’s houses and in neighborhoods they lived in all their lives. How many more black mothers are going to have to bury their black sons until black lives start to mater? All lives will matter when police officers who killed and harassed unarmed and innocent black men are no longer called heroes and the officer who killed Eric Garner is in jail, but I guess saying “I can’t breathe” isn’t a sign to let me go and that’s not saying that you’re killing me and its perfectly fine to walk outside with a black hoodie and snacks unless you’re another Travon martin then it could get your life taken. Why is it that I fear for my life every time I walk outside?

I find it very confusing when my friends and I can just be walking outside and get stopped by a police officer because “we looked suspicious” but Dylann Roof can kill 9 black people in a church and could be given a bullet proof vest to walk outside and be called a trouble teen. I also find it very confusing that in school we only talk about black history during the month of February; the shortest month in the year but that's none of my business.

All lives matter only because black lives started to matter. Saying all lives matter is like being at a breast cancer run and saying cure all diseases yeah that’s cool but right now we're running for breast cancer. All lives matter is cool and everything but all lives aren’t being taken right now.