Old Guy Who Writes

Black lives matter. They do. Absolutely. Same as white lives and brown lives and green lives (hey, there could be some somewhere, and they would matter, too, since all lives matter). So why not just say “black lives matter, too” when the subject is lives mattering? It would take a lot of steam out of any come-back that may come, that (whatever-color) lives matter. That’s like responding to the statement that the sky is blue by declaring that the sea is blue. Well, yes it is. That doesn’t change the truth of the original statement, but it leaves an opening for an argument if the listener is argumentative. Unless the statement that the sky is blue is part of an ongoing discussion of other properties of the sky, why not begin with, “The sky is blue, too”? Then, unless the listener wants to go on listing all the other things that are blue, like robins’ eggs, Irish eyes, and blue-bells, what could he say but, “yep” or something similar? Because what they are saying about lives is that (whatever-color) lives matter, too–unless what they actually mean is that (whatever-color) lives matter more, in which case, an argument (or a race war) is definitely being sought. If the initial declaration is made inclusive by adding “too” right off the bat, what kind of come-back could a person make other than “I agree” or something similar without coming off a blatantly racist?