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  • 13 hours ago
In this episode of ESSENCE Now’s “Kitchen Table Talk”, activists get real about the phrase “Black Lives Matter” and why white people are so offended by it.
Transcript
00:00In your Twitter avatar, notice you're wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt, right?
00:09So you're really involved and part of it.
00:11So you tell the story from your perspective and in a way that you think you can affect
00:15change.
00:16Is that?
00:16Yeah.
00:17I mean, it's so crazy.
00:18Anytime I wear that shirt, like I get a lot of mixed reactions.
00:22I have white people that are like, come up to me.
00:27They'll be like, I don't like, I don't get your shirt.
00:30Like, I don't, don't all lives matter.
00:31And I'm like, oh my, here we go.
00:33Don't all lives matter me.
00:35Oh yeah.
00:35All the time.
00:36That picture was taken actually on the day of the inauguration.
00:40And then I have, you know, I have some people that thank me for wearing the shirt.
00:44I have some people who are offended by me wearing the shirt.
00:47And so, but I think wearing a shirt that says Black Lives Matter is just making like a very
00:54simple point that Black Lives Matter.
00:56And white people need to be at the forefront, putting our bodies on the line.
01:01That is where we do the work.
01:03As Tina said, she shouldn't, you know, Black people shouldn't have to be putting themselves
01:07on the front lines, putting their bodies at harm because they're already doing that
01:10every single day.
01:12But me as a white person, I can put my body on the front lines at the forefront physically,
01:18like not in any metaphorical kind of way, but actually physically using my body to protect
01:23those who are not protected by the color of their skin.
01:27She makes a really good point about kind of what we're up against in terms of like you
01:30having that Black Lives Matter shirt on and the fact that people see the word black and
01:33feel attacked instantly.
01:34Like that is what we're up against.
01:36We can't even talk about race.
01:37This is race baiting or whatever that means.
01:39You know, just bringing the words up, talking about the issues you face, not complaining
01:44or attacking someone personally, but just talking about this is what I've been through.
01:47And so that makes that's difficult for some people.
01:49Like that's the initial hurdle.
01:51We can't even get over that to even start the conversation because people are concerned
01:55with feelings and being offended and, you know, saying the word black and can you say
01:59black and, you know, all that kind of stuff.
02:00Yes, it's ridiculous that people feel provoked when they read the words black lives matter,
02:05but isn't it such a litmus test for one's racism that those words would be challenging
02:11at all?
02:12Like what in those words is so hard to deal with?
02:15Why do you feel the need to push back against that?
02:17Would you attribute that some of it to the educational system or is it the values that
02:21you learn at home?
02:23What do you attribute that to?
02:24I think Alex got it really right that just the idea of any sort of black power or any
02:33kind of acknowledgement is really threatening to people.
02:37And I think it's about this country's history.
02:40Certainly education by and large is a story about white people.
02:45And yeah, I think it's just really, really challenging for people to have any sort of idea that there
02:52could be shared space or that like, this is not the dominion of white people.
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