A book full of angry black feminist op-eds and rants written by this black girl so keep your misogynoir to yourself ✨
i am not a teacher so please don't ask me teach you or educate you... google is free✨
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by Jasmine
One thing I don't understand is the Black Lives Matter Movement. I support everything they do; I just feel like they're missing something. There's no doubt I believe that black lives do matter, but I believe that all black lives matter. That probably sounds weird but allow me to explain what I mean.
Usually, protests and rallies held by BLM are a response to a black man killed by police. Rarely do we see the same attention brought to the death of women. In the case of Sandra Bland and Korryn Gaines, there wasn't as much outrage.
Black women are being beaten, raped, and killed by police and their stories need to be told. "Black women and girls account for 20 percent of unarmed people killed by police in the U.S. since 1999, despite comprising just 7 percent of the overall population." (Mire, 2016) These injustices need to be brought to attention. Understanding what is happening to these women is the only way police reform will happen.
Although police brutality is an issue that needs to be solved, there are issues in the black community that need to be addressed as well. For one, violence against black women in all aspects should be discussed so something can be done.
It seems like the only black lives that matter are the ones that belong to black men and occasionally black women. What about black lives in the transgender community? There isn't enough attention on violence against black transgender people. Black trans people are at a disadvantage because they face racism, transphobia, and sexism.
"With at least 21 people being killed in the United States alone, and 17 of them trans women of color," (Mitchum, 2016) something needs to be done. There is not the same amount of frustration and outrage surrounding the deaths of trans people. Since their stories are not told, nothing is being done. Silence about trans deaths is what's making the problem worse.
This is not meant to discredit the Black Lives Matter Movement. They've done a great job in getting support and calling people to action to fight the injustices that black people face every day. I just feel like a person can't chant, "Black Lives Matter" if they aren't talking about all black lives. There needs to be an effort by BLM to make sure they're being inclusive when talking about the black lives that matter.
