“Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter” 1
“Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter”
Derek Stone
University of Northwestern St. Paul
“Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter” 2
Abstract
Racism in the United States, between blacks and whites, has been an issue for a
very long time. We thought we had defeated racism and segregation in the mid 1860’s.
This issue had gotten better and we were starting to get along with each other.
However, the conflict was never completely gone. Recently, conflict between the two
races have sparked and things are getting worse and worse everyday. Two rival
movements have started, one called “Black Lives Matter” and the other called “All Lives
Matter”. Although both “Black Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” have similar values,
they are both bad for this country. I believe that both of these movements are dividing
our nation; however, they are protesting for very similar things.
Both these movements are protesting violence against a certain group of people,
claiming that the violence needs to stop. However, both BLM and ALM have caused
issues and more violence towards each other. Both of these movements have very
similar motives, but they are both very stubborn and not seeing the other side. These
two movements are causing more conflicts and are dividing our nation. So how did both
of these protests start?
“Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter” 3
“Black Lives Matter” (BLM) is a country wide protest, that started in the African-
American community. BLM protest against racism and violence towards black people.
“Black Lives Matter” was started in 2013 after the murder of 17 year old Trayvon Martin,
George Zimmerman was accused of the murder, but was not found guilty. It all started
when an African American man, Trayvon Martin, was walking back from a convenience
store in Sanford, Florida. George Zimmerman fatally shot him when on his way back.
Zimmerman claims to the police that he shot the 17 year old in self-defense, after a
scuffle. Shortly after George Zimmerman was found not guilty, the Black Lives Matter
movement was started. Another unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri was gunned
down by a police officer, he was not indicted, and did not face criminal charges. This
made the supporters furious. “When they say, Black Lives Matter, we are broadening
the conversation around state violence to include all of the ways in which Black people
are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. We are talking about the ways
in which Black lives are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity” (2016). African-
Americans are feeling that they are being treated unfairly in the judicial system, that
white people aren’t being prosecuted for racism and violence towards blacks. The Black
Lives Matter movement is on a mission to end violence against African Americans. BLM
mainly consists of African-American supporters, but obviously not all supporters are
black. There are many different races that support “Black Lives Matter”. Recently, some
professional sports players have started kneeling during the playing of our national
anthem. These athletes are making a statement that our nation isn’t treating them, black
people, fairly. One of the biggest misunderstanding concerning the Black Lives Matter
movement is that their supporters believe that only black lives are important, which
“Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter” 4
“they” say isn’t the case. Shortly after “Black Lives Matter” got larger, it sparked another
movement which was called “All Lives Matter”.
“All Lives Matter” (ALM) was started shortly after “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) was
created. ALM is not nearly as big as BLM but it is continuing to grow everyday. “All Lives
Matter” claims that “Black Lives Matter” overlook certain groups of people, which
includes police officers, who are also being killed due to violence, and other
nationalities. A total of 11 police officers were shot and killed by “Black Lives Matter”
