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Julius Jones, an activist with #BlackLivesMatter, went on national television and told his CNN host those who respond to the movement’s signature and hashtag statement with an “all lives matter” jab are actually promoting violence – that the phrase itself, “all lives matter,” is violent.
Jones first told host Wolf Blitzer he believed “black lives are actively under attack and we are in a terrible war with our own country,” he said, Mediaite reported.
Jones claimed “African-Americans are Americans [but] we’re not treated like that, we’re not treated as if black lives matter.”
So saying “all lives matter” when confronted with the “black lives matter” phrase is actually violent, he said.
His exact words: “And when people say ‘all lives matter,’ it’s a violent statement because the only time that people say ‘all lives matter’ is in opposition to ‘black lives matter,’ and it’s the most violent statement of love that you can do. It’s like, ‘all lives matter.’ Yes, we understand that, it’s true, but in this country for the longest time, the United States acts like black lives don’t matter.”
The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter grew out of the violent protests that rocked the streets of Ferguson, following the shooting death of a black man, Michael Brown, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Protesters believed the shooting was unjustified; subsequent police and U.S. Department of Justice investigations proved Wilson shot in self-defense.
The #BlackLivesMatter phrase nonetheless went on to become a rallying cry for subsequent protests and rallies around the nation involving police and members of the minority communities.
