by Wonder Wachara
A few years ago, if someone would have asked me if black lives matter or all lives matter, I would have given them a quizzical look and replied “both” without a second thought. Today, when asked the same question, even the best of us find it difficult to answer.
Why? Because the question is unanswerable. Anyone who digs under the surface of this question realizes that what is said is not what is being asked at all. As it is, answering that question requires answering a host of others which many people are unsure of. In an America where we are raised to believe that all men are created equal, but constantly forced to choose sides, answering this question becomes extremely difficult.
If we look past the politics of the question, it is pretty clear that the correct answer is both, because black lives and all lives are not mutually exclusive. Treating black lives and all lives like they are mutually exclusive forces us to consciously or subconsciously confront the realities of race, and for most Americans, this is unpleasant at the very least.
To remember that once, black lives did not matter, is a painful truth. Realizing that all you have to do is turn on the television to see that we have not yet overcome many of our issues weighs heavily on the minds of many people. To some, it may seem innocent, but the question only divides and confuses Americans as we try to navigate the maze of racial taboos created by our history.
Many people have trouble recognizing what the question is really asking because although the true question is as old as American history itself, it is never asked the same way twice. The true question being asked is not about what matters, or the value of lives, it is whether or not we have overcome our problems with race.
Each time it reemerges, it must adjust to a new social order; with each new order, the question becomes harder and harder to ask. Because after all this time, it is difficult to admit that as a nation, we still struggle with race. In this question lies the faint echo of a deeper much more insidious voice that reaches forward from the deepest darkest parts of our history to crow at our progress and weaken our confidence in our beliefs.
We have answered the question many times over, and yet, it continues to haunt our collective conscious. Although we have been trained to look for the sticks and stones in racial disputes, many of us did not even notice the pain that words inflicted on us. As unpleasant as it is to face this question anew each generation, what we should fear most is not being able to answer it. It is especially important that the most difficult questions be asked are answered to ensure our vigilance in solving our problems.
