The hashtag that should not be used

The fight against racist violence persists. The Black Lives Matter movement is trying to call for solidarity and support. In parallel, a hashtag appeared on social networks: #AllLivesMatter. We will explain to you why the latter is far from unanimous.

As the fight against discrimination and racist violence is in full swing, a new hashtag has appeared. The slogan "All Lives Matter" – in French, all lives count – is used in response to movement "Black Lives Matter." This initiative, which has been widely used on social networks, is generating a lot of debate. All Lives Matter could ultimately serve the cause of anti-racist activists when at this time, more than ever, racialized people need support, recognition of the violence they suffer. We told you about it, a while ago, solidarity with black people is necessary. For this, white people also have a role to play. Uniting is a priority and hashtags like #AllLivesMatter could well divide populations when it is the opposite that humanity needs the opposite.

A hashtag that reduces the extent of archiving on the black population

By opposing #AllLivesMatter, the value of all human beings is not questioned. All lives count. Everyone has rights and no one should be subjected, for example, to police violence. However, #AllLivesMatter darkens the visibility of racism and the scourge it represents. #AllLivesMatter works on social networks when the subject is not there. What is being raised at the moment is the discrimination faced by black people. Putting forward such a hashtag could well reduce and decribe the extent of the harassment on blacks. Thus, the risk is such that the problem of racism risks being invisible by a hashtag, a movement, which in the end does not have reason to be. We must be aware that black people are experiencing a particular persecution but also the place that white privilege takes around this subject.

Singer Billie Eilish raised a crucial point around this when she denounced the use of the hashtag #AllLivesMatter. She explains, addressing those who use it: "No one says that your life is unimportant. No one says that your life is not difficult. (…) It is not about you. You are not in need." Thus, no existence is called into question with the Black Lives Matter movement which, in fact, simply takes the time to denounce the inequalities faced by racialized people.

What Black Lives Matter Means

In addition, Billie Eilish continues by focusing on the situation of black people, questioning #AllLivesMatter and the unwarranted presence of this hashtag on social networks: "If all lives count, why are black people killed just because they are black? Why are immigrants persecuted?" Few years ago, Illustrator Kris Straub highlighted the importance of not using the term All Lives Matter. Here is his example: if two houses are burned and one of them suffers a larger fire, inevitably, we will first focus on the biggest fire, the one that is the most dangerous for the house.

The Black Lives Matter movement is simple to define. He claims that black people are human beings, like everyone else. Indeed, he does not say "The life of blacks is more important" or "superior". The values ​​of this movement simply explain that we must stop abusing and killing people for the sole reason that they are black. It is simply a hashtag which denounces racist crimes and which unveils racial inequalities around the world. A black person is not treated in the same way as a white person, whether through ordinary, hostile or structural racism.

See also:
How to support the anti-racist movement?
How did Assa Traoré become a symbol of the fight against racism?
The fight against racism: A fight also waged by those who are not victims

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Video by Laetitia Azi


by Melanie Bonvard