Story Hour BIG TALK: Black Lives Matter

In regards to the shooting of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old father of two, in his own back yard by police officers in Sacramento, California:

Yes there are many sides to a story. Yes police officers have a difficult job. Yes 'death' is merely the death of the body, and a there is a LONG and thoughtful conversation to be had on THAT... But today, can we just agree that all lives matter... and that saying 'all lives matter' is such an obvious OBVIOUS NO BRAINER TRUTH that it seems almost crazy to warrant saying. Of COURSE all lives matter.

Black Lives Matter is NOT saying black lives matter MORE. It's saying black lives ARE human lives. It's saying black lives matter NOT LESS than other lives. Black Lives Matter is saying that when particular human lives (wrapped in more heavily pigmented skin than mine, for example) are being extinguished with such a frequency and regularity that it stands to reason that the amount of said pigment is playing a primary role in these most sacred of robberies, these robberies of LIFE... it's saying that THAT AIN'T RIGHT!!! Can we agree it's NOT okay to end the life of another unless under SEVERE and IMMINENT and UNEQUIVOCAL danger, i.e. true self-defense? Can we agree that black lives are being violently ended at the hands white cops at an UNREASONABLY HIGH RATE?

Can we also agree that it's okay for any human to empathize with the unnecessary suffering of another, and that this empathy is not an attempt to own a pain that is not directly that of the empathizer's? I am white. I am blogging about Black Lives Matter. My claim is not that I understand what it's like to be black. My claim is that as a human being, I am spiritually appalled and morally nauseated to know that we humans are treating each other as anything other than an extended village. (Flesh of my flesh and all! It's for REAL.) My claim is that I do not suffer as a black person, but as a human person capable of empathy and hoping to play whatever role I can as a white girl (because that's the package I got!) to SPREAD empathy, compassion, joy, connectedness, and all that GOOD stuff. Whew. There. Evy out. Peace be with you.