4 Blueprint
OPINIONS
Feb. 5, 2015
Black Lives Matter vs. All Lives Matter
By Joe Stellato, Editor-in-Chief Print
Whenever I hear someone proudly say “#AllLivesMatter” in an effort to defy “#BlackLivesMatter,” I can’t help but be utterly disgusted by how much ignorance someone can have to an entire demographic of humanity. It’s apparent that most people who support All Lives Matter don’t really know what Black Lives Matter is all about. Some people are unaware of the purpose behind the movement, yet somehow teach themselves that it implies black lives are more purposeful than anybody else’s. “#BlackLivesMatter” is essentially an ideological movement against the systematic and intentional targeting of African Americans. It has also developed over time as a way to recognize the black community’s contributions to society, humanity, and resilience when faced with oppression. After George Zimmerman was acquitted by a jury in 2013 for the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012, the Black Lives Matter movement was created. It was created in order to fight against institutionalized discrimination, the mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals by society and its institutions. Its message has spread across the nation, the hashtag scribbled on posters of protesters flooding city streets. Recently, it has even emerged as a widely debated topic for candidates running in the 2016 Presidential Election. Despite its purpose being surrounded by positive change, many people
combat the movement by referring attention to the specific matter to All Lives Matter. The reason they regarding law enforcement and the do this is because people believe that U.S. Department of Justice purposely Black targeting the Lives Matblack commuter disrenity. gards all If you really other lives think about it, that aren’t the African black as American irrelevant. community The probhas been in a lem with state of represthis is it sion since they actually were brought promotes to the U.S. as racism, slaves in the and denies mid-1500s. The the racial 13th Amendinjustice ment abolished our counslavery in 1865, try they weren’t faces. In able to vote reality, until 1870 and there are Jim Crow laws Students gather around to show support of the clearly flaws #BlackLivesMatter movement continued to be in our laws Photo by Clarissa Moreno enforced until that suggest 1965. Some there is institutionalized racism, and people must not have checked their has led to an epidemic intended to calendars lately, but it’s 2016. It oppress African Americans. frustrates me that, even at this day Let’s get one thing straight: all and age, there is still race-related lives do matter. Despite our varidiscrimination in our judicial system ous amount of differences in culture, and society. race, religion, personality -- all of our For those who still chant “All Lives lives are valued equally. Black Lives Matter,” and for those who still insist Matter does not renounce that idea. that racism isn’t a problem in AmerIn fact, one of the guiding principles ica just “because we have a black of the movement is diversity, “compresident,” here are some statistics mitted to acknowledging, respecting that may have you believe otherwise. and celebrating differences and comAccording to the NAACP, the US monalities.” People’s misconception holds five percent of the world popuis that it puts black lives before any lation and has 25% of world’s prisothers, but it instead brings people’s oners. African Americans consist of
nearly one million of the 2.3 million people incarcerated, and they are also incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. In terms of law enforcement, U.S. police have killed roughly 1,186 people in 2015. Around 500 of those killed were white, and over 300 were black. This may seem to disprove racial injustice, but white people make up 70% of the country’s population, whereas blacks only make up less than 15% of the population. When the population and number of deaths by law enforcement are accounted for between each race, it is concluded that African Americans are 21 times more likely to be killed by cops than white men, according to ProPublica analysis. People do not understand that when you say All Lives Matter to counter the Black Lives Matter, it is racist. It may sound obscure, but doing so implies that everyone is oppressed. Ultimately, it is distracting society and dismissing the issue of racial inequality -- an issue that Black Lives Matter seeks to bring awareness and revolution to. The statistics plainly reveal that there is and has been a clear problem with the African American community being oppressed, incarcerated and killed in this country by the same people who are supposed to serve and protect their citizens. If you don’t see the problem, you are a part of the problem. Contact Joe at jste1881@csd99.org
Foreign parents: a view from first generation Americans By Marcela Calderon, Copy Editor Unna Fernandez, Staff Reporter Asma Zaman, Co-News Editor Where there is a country filled with immigrants, there is a country filled to the brim with foreign parents. While any parent can get the job of making their child cringe with their goofy antics done fairly easily, foreign parents take the cake because of their unmatched ability to stand out from the crowd but to do so in a manner featuring a hilarious lack of cultural assimilation. I, like most children of immigrants, love my parents, but I can speak for all of us when I say that sometimes we can’t help but look the other way when they’re caught doing things that don’t fall under the ‘norm’. Marcela: A prevalent moment featuring my Peruvian dad’s crazy shenanigans was when my little sister was upset she never got to sit on Santa’s lap like my brother and I. She threw one of her famous temper tantrums, and they left for the nearest mall.
What my dad didn’t know, as he was not aware of the U.S.’s unmatched ability to commercialize the heck out of Christmas, was that a session with Santa costs money, and a pretty decent amount at that. He drove my sister all the way to the mall, just to realize that not only would my little sister miss sitting on Santa’s lap this year, but she couldn’t even be on the same floor level as him without paying. Since then, my dad has never returned to the mall during holiday season. And although my dad and sister remember that day by their embarrassment, the rest of my family remembers it by the photo of my little sister smiling next to Santa, who is not even facing the camera, let alone on the same floor. Unna: There’s one thing that Filipino parents love to do with their kids; they love to make them fat. At every Filipino party we go to my mom makes me eat A LOT of food, especially rice. If I don’t eat enough, there comes the dramatic scene and the waterworks. Once, my grandma made this dish called Pancit, and wow... it was bad. Of course, I didn’t want everyone to look down on me because I didn’t
want to eat it. My mom kept encouraging to me to eat my grandma’s dish, so, like a brave soul, I did. My Grandma stared me down while I was eating it. I kept eating and eating, to the point where I’m sure I gained five pounds. The one thing my Grandma forgot was the salt, but I sure felt salty enough at my mom for making me eat my Grandma’s dish. Asma: Growing up in America, I nearly had the picturesque childhood experience. White picket fences, weekend baseball games and the annual Fourth of July barbecue made up most of my childhood. Keyword: ‘most.’ There was just something that was different, and that set me apart from the rest of the children. It was the fact that alongside my daily shows of Arthur and building forts out of pillows, I also had a string of other activities, such as folk dances, which connected me to my Bengali heritage. I can attribute the differences to my parents; my foreign parents. Although I tried very hard to try to assimilate into American culture, the fact remained that my parents’ birthplace was far different from all of my peers. That simple
difference contributed to a string of other differences. In Bengali culture, it is often the norm to eat meals that include rice, with your hands. Along with the fact that many people find this unsanitary, it also provides for some rather uncomfortable situations when it came to bringing my friends over for dinner. Although, thankfully, we often ate with utensils when there were guests, there may have been times when my parents often indulged in being a little bit more.. Comfortable with their ways. As my friends would stare awestruck at my parents, I would have to sheepishly explain that in our house, this was customary and not considered rude.. They would then go on to ask questions such as “do you guys eat noodles/soup with your hands too?” Although our foreign parents may be embarrassing, weird, and sometimes a tad clueless on American culture, they will never fail to put a smile on our faces with stories of their funny predicaments, or us seeing it unfold right in front of our wincing faces.