Why saying 'All Lives Matter' is unethical by Saleena Livera

Recently, the Black Lives Matter movement has been gaining a lot of prominence after George Floyd was unjustly killed by police officers. But whenever someone says ‘Black Lives Matter’, a lot of people say ‘All Lives Matter’ in response, with this statement being used on social media, in right-wing media and shouted at protests. But why is it wrong to say ‘All Lives Matter’, because surely they do? Well, let me explain. 

Firstly, we have to look in the context it is used in. As it is mostly used in response to ‘Black Lives Matter’, we can see it is said as an opposition to it. However, it is not helpful as it deliberately undermines what the movement stands for and pretends there is an ‘only’ in front of ‘Black Lives Matter’. However, that is not the case, the reason why it is called ‘Black Lives Matter’ is because black lives are in danger, not because people want ‘black supremacy’. The mission of the Black Lives Matter is ‘working for a world where black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.’ They are not trying to say black lives are more important, they just want black lives to be equal.

So, let's talk about why it is unethical. We’ve already established that black lives are in danger and that saying ‘All Lives Matter’ is used to gaslight the BLM movement. But why is it unethical? Well, let's look at the house analogy. In this analogy, there is a house on fire. But when the fire department comes, they only go to that one. Why? Because only that house is on fire. The firefighters won’t go to the other houses, but they still matter. If you can understand that, then you can understand that saying ‘All Lives Matter’ is unethical, as it would be just like misdirecting those firefighters; and if they couldn’t get there in time, everything would have ended for that house. It would be immoral to do that, and therefore, it is immoral to say ‘All Lives Matter’.