Do Black *and Brown* Lives Matter?
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2016
Author(s)
Abstract
During the first Democratic presidential debate last October, an African American boy posed a politically charged question to US Senator Bernie Sanders: “Do black lives matter, or do all lives matter?” To the untrained ear, the dilemma sounds false. Aren’t black lives a subset of all lives, so that affirming all lives automatically affirms black lives, too? But more is at stake in the phrase “All Lives Matter” than logic. The platitude is in fact white America’s color-blind retort to “Black Lives Matter.” This political slogan, and its eponymous social movement, emerged in the summer of 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of African American teenager Treyvon Martin. Sanders’s affirmation that black lives matter was the right answer, for it echoed the movement’s insistence that black Americans are specifically and disproportionately subjected to violence and murder. Sanders refused the false universality that allows whites to ignore the persistence of white supremacy in the United States.
In this talk, I want to ask a follow-up question: Do black and brown lives matter?
In this talk, I want to ask a follow-up question: Do black and brown lives matter?
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
None
Event Title
Wrestling with the Angels: The Theoretical Legacy of Stuart Hall
Event Location
Dortmund, Germany
Event Date
25.-27.02.2016
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
248492
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
open.access
Name
Do Black and Brown Lives Matter ABSTRACT.pdf
Size
25.19 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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