Why We Say Black Lives Matter | Opinion

In this country, Black lives have not mattered for more than 400 years. Black lives have not been afforded respect and safety since the time Africans were captured in Africa, stacked in filthy, crowded ships, then auctioned, and enslaved in America.

Even after the Civil War, when slavery was legally ended, Southern whites subjected Blacks to lives very much like those from which they were supposedly free. They were forced by law into labor contracts that required them to work, or they were falsely arrested for “vagrancy,” and then, without pay, leased to white-owned businesses and plantations.

In the north, too, Blacks were victims of racism and discrimination in housing, employment, education, health care, and political rights.

Today, the legacies of slavery and racism and the associated trauma continue to affect Black lives. The police killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Daniel Prude, and many others are not unlike the lynchings suffered by African Americans (often for trivial matters that were not illegal). Between 1877 and 1950 there were over four thousand lynchings of Blacks in the American South, which were often treated as entertainment for whites.

Some people think that racism and discrimination and their after-effects are things of the past. Not only do they persist, mostly unseen or unacknowledged by whites, but the generational trauma from centuries of being violated and denied remains active.

In every aspect of contemporary life, Black lives continue not to matter as much as white lives. Here are a few examples:

· On average, middle-class Black people earn 70 cents for every dollar that middle-class white people earn. Also, according to a 2020 Duke University study, Black people without criminal records earn, on average, $39,000 per year while socioeconomically similar white people with criminal records earn $49,000 annually. These income disparities have significant negative impacts, creating chronic stress that negatively affects every part of their lives.

· The US Department of Agriculture’s Dietary Guidelines push dairy products, even though 60%-80% of Black Americans are lactose intolerant. For lactose intolerant individuals, dairy products cause diarrhea, extreme stomach pain, and other digestive illnesses. Black children are served dairy products in public schools due to enormous pressure from the dairy industry, and not out of concern for their health.

· Mortgage lenders are 80% more likely to deny home loans to Black people than to white people with similar financial profiles.

· Black people are more than twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than white people. The virus’ increased spread and impact in their communities is due to decades of discrimination in housing which forced Blacks and people of color into tightly packed neighborhoods, often near industries that pollute their air, water, and soil. In addition, those neighborhoods tend to lack healthy, affordable food that leads to diabetes, obesity, cancer, and heart disease that make people more likely to die by the virus.

· Black women, who are “essential workers”, typically make only 63 cents for every dollar paid to white men in similar positions. Because Black women face such a large wage gap, they are less able to afford education and professional training that would enable them to advance or move into other better-paying fields. The same holds true for Black men.

· Public safety is not safe for Blacks. Here are a couple of examples out of thousands. Minneapolis, Minnesota police used secret and fake social media accounts to monitor Black individuals and groups, even though they were not involved in any criminal activity and there were no clear public safety reasons for doing so. Consistent with national statistics, a 2020 analysis of traffic stops in Minneapolis found that Blacks are more likely to be pulled over and more likely to be searched, despite being less likely than whites to be carrying illegal substances.

· In Manchester, New Hampshire, where the majority of the state’s African American students reside, per-pupil spending is just 74% of per-pupil spending statewide. Also, in New Hampshire, an analysis by the Division of Children, Youth & Families found that Black children in the state’s judicial system are more likely to receive harsher punishments than white kids when they get into similar trouble, including higher rates of arrest, detention, and incarceration.

The treatment of Blacks in America has always violated the American ideal of “all men are created equal” and the constitutional right of “equal protection of the laws.” Only when Black lives matter, will we be closer to the ideal of “All Lives Matter.”