WhiteLivesMatter

The blog title alone is enough for some to cry racism. If so, why would BlackLivesMatter be different?  The reality is that AllLivesMatter, but as democrat candidates for president found out, this is not an acceptable response.  It's either BlackLivesMatter, or you are a racist.  But when you examine the BlackLivesMatter movement, you find much that is illogical.

First, the movement began during the unrest in Ferguson Missouri, when Michael Brown was supposedly shot in the back while surrendering to a racist cop named Daryl Wilson. The "hands up, don't shoot" mantra was repeated by demonstrators then, and still is by the BlackLivesMatter crowd today.  The premise was definitively proven to be false by a thorough investigation conducted by local law enforcement, the FBI and the Justice Department.  It didn't happen.  Yet, there is a group of people who continue to chant "hands up, don't shoot" in spite of the facts.  They are either off the grid, completely uninterested in facts, or hopelessly stupid.

Second, the movement seems to believe there is a significant problem in America with innocent young black men being targeted and killed by rogue policemen. The facts don't support this at all. Each year, police kill roughly 1,000 people.  Of these, approximately 12% of the victims are black. Blacks are 13% of the population in the United States. Doesn't sound like conspiracy to kill black men.

In business we are taught to tackle problems by breaking down individual issues into related categories, them attacking categories based on the contribution rates, highest to lowest. Based on FBI data for 2013, 90% of all black murder victims were killed by other blacks.  All other categories in total make up only 10% of the problem.  So if the BlackLivesMatter movement really believes that black lives matter, they should be spending their energy discovering why there is such a black on black crime wave in their communities.  That is harder, and thus less likely to get appropriate attention.  It also exposes difficult facts, such as the breakdown of the black family.

If the BlackLivesMatter crowd was trying to solve these problems:

• 72% single parent rate in black families
• 73% black births outside of marriage
• 30% of abortions performed on black women
• total abortion deaths greater than all other forms of black deaths combined

then they would convince me they are working on the right things.

There are huge problems and injustices in the American black community, but blaming minor contributors won't solve the major problems.  If BlackLivesMatter, the movement needs to prove they believe it.