‘Black lives matter’ might be too exclusive

Dear Editor:

Being a member of the vibrant community of Kingston requires that we lift up each other, and work as a proverbial megaphone for one another.

I plan on doing exactly that for Martha Pearson, who wrote the letter “I care about all people” (Oct. 3 2020). Amen, sister.

“Black lives matter,” the succinct calling card and mission statement of those fighting for racial equity, might indeed be too exclusive. For instance, in highlighting the staggering imbalance of death by police for Black people (more than three times the likelihood of white people, according to a new Harvard study), just think of all the things that are not said.

Did you ever realize when someone says “Black lives matter,” they almost never seem to simultaneously say “babies are cute?” Do BLM supporters hate babies? I’m not sure. But the exclusivity of their mission statement certainly doesn’t broach that topic. (A little too convenient, if you ask me).

I care about all people, too, and it’s time we let people know it. Just the other day, when checking out at the store, I was asked if I wanted to donate money for breast cancer research. Appalled by the specificity of the charity, I declined. Do they simply turn a blind eye to colon cancer? Heart attacks? AIDS?

By taking BLM in a myopic, purposefully unnuanced manner, it might seem that it makes the world “way too small.” Counterpoints: Your feigned outrage might be too big, and your heart and mind too small. Deborah McMahon

Kingston